How to: Find the perfect webhost for your blog

Posted by Jean-Baptiste Jung on Nov 17, 2008 in Blogging Tips • 32 comments

This is a fact, one point often neglected by bloggers and webmasters is hosting. Most of the time, you pick-up the first cheap host you were able to found and sticks to it…until your blog grows and problems starts to happen.

To be honest, I have neglected hosting numerous times: First, when I launched lyxia.org, my blog in French. I purchased a cheap host with a cheap quality. The first months, it was ok because I had something like less than 100 unique visitors per day. But after 6 months, the blog started to be popular and the cheap server shown its limits: The blog became incredibly slow, and readers started to get mad at me for that.

Another recent story: Last month, when I launched WpRecipes.com, I didn't imagine that after one month online, the blog will be already so popular. The host I picked-up before the launch have a limited simultaneous MySQL connections. Which means, that only 2 persons can be connected to the database at the time. If a 3rd person tries to connect, he'll see the "error establishing database connection" error message. Not very professional, isn't it?

The problem of hosts, among the fact hosting is often neglected by bloggers, is that they're just too many. Sometimes you pick up a hosting plan and one week later, you find something else which sounds better and is cheaper.

Web Hosting Search

Happilly, they're online tools to help you to find a good web host and/or a domain name. I have tried lots of them, and I must admit that most of it were just affiliate links crap.
One I like and read often is WebHostingSearch.com. Why? Because that website isn't only another "compare hosting rates" site: In addition to hosts comparison, they also provide usefull articles as well as customer reviews.

Multiple domain search

WebHostingSearch also provide a tool I enjoyed lots, and which allows you to search a specific domain. Just enters the domain you'd like to buy, and the web app will returns the price it costs on different registrars.

As you can see, I made a search on WebHostingSearch to buy the wprecipe.com domain name at the best price. And I have to admit that this useful website made me save money.

WordPress hosting

I know that most of you are bloggers, and uses WordPress. Good point to WebHostingSearch.com, they also have a nice WordPress Hosting section to help you find the better host for your blog.
As you may know, some hosts are better than others to run WordPress. The WebHostingSearch staff checked out many hosting plans and maintains a list of quality hosts for your WordPress blog. And it's just so good to be able to compare prices and offers of many hosting companies on the same page.

And you, did you already know Web Hosting Search? Do you like it? Tell us in the comments!

32 reactions

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1 - David Lemcoe on Nov 18, 2008, 1:45 am:

Or you could use me as a host! jk

I know a bunch of people that use 1and1 and a host and they are very satisfied. Just thought I’d through that in here.

-@WDC
2 - samsuga on Nov 19, 2008, 8:26 am:

i can very learning of webhost search,multiple domain search and wordpress hosting.
perhaps can up quality my blog.Sometimes I can pick up a hosting plan and one week later, I find something else which sounds better and is cheaper on the blog.
Thanks
3 - Web Talk on Nov 19, 2008, 7:46 pm:

Let’s see if this comment doesnt get caught by Akismet since they claimed to have solved my issue…As far as I am concerned i use bluehost and it has never proved to be flawy! Anyway i will cast a brief look to the link you provided!
4 - Budi on Nov 20, 2008, 12:50 am:

gee thanks a lot, because I’m looking for hosting that will be used to my blog. Honestly, I still newbie to learn about the web things.

Best Regards
Budi
5 - Steve Rickmount on Nov 20, 2008, 5:20 am:

Many things have to be considered in choosing webhosting. However reliability and speed acces, data transfer, disk space, technical support are my main consideration. I have visited and bookmarked WebHostingSearch.com. This site has very complete info about webhostings. Thanks!
6 - Pan fruit on Nov 20, 2008, 9:51 am:

I suppose quality is always better than quantity.
7 - Informixx on Nov 20, 2008, 2:09 pm:

There are really many web hosting providers available on competing prices. Well, it is our choice now to choose based on the reviews made.
WebHostingSearch is a very good help in choosing the best web host for our blogs.
8 - Richard from Aussie Jobs on Nov 21, 2008, 5:32 am:

I suppose it depends on exactly how popular the blogs are, but I’ve been with Godaddy’s premium plan with some of my domains now for a while, and they seem to be really good.
9 - Bali Villas on Nov 21, 2008, 10:29 pm:

There are many web hosting providers with competing prices, I usually choose one of them by people review and their prize. ‘Cause I believe there is no great service if they give us cheap prize.
10 - Pink Boutique on Nov 22, 2008, 12:51 am:

I have been through many bad hosts in my time, but have found Bluehost and am very happy with them. A site like that would have been useful when I was looking.
11 - Mikael Rieck on Nov 22, 2008, 6:53 pm:

My preference when deciding on a web hosting company is to ask friends and online relations what they’re using and if they like it or not (and why). Personal recommendations are my favorite solution but other that that I agree that review lists can be helpful.
12 - Tom - Entrepreneur Interview on Nov 23, 2008, 6:56 am:

I chose my host by going to a hosting forum and reading a lot of reviews from both happy and unhappy customers.
13 - Black Hat Tips on Nov 23, 2008, 9:38 pm:

I have my own reseller plan on a dedicated hosting (no company) and one HostGator account but I’m not usign it completly.

I can say that HostGator has the best support ever !
14 - Uk meeting rooms on Nov 24, 2008, 2:28 pm:

Thanks a lot JBJ. I have been looking for a hosting company that will be used to for my blog. Honestly, I still newbie to learn about the web things.I have a free wordpress acct but want to host in independently for more control over my data. I’ll be trying HostGator then. paul
15 - Catrin W on Nov 25, 2008, 11:40 am:

That site really looks good and i find it really useful. I wish i could known it earlier. I am at hostgator currently, but as i am not satisfied as them, i will look over webhostingsearch for new one.
16 - Webkinz on Nov 25, 2008, 4:18 pm:

Cool. They have similar functions for VPS and Dedicate servers too. Thanks. I’m going to find some dedicate for myself in near feature.
17 - Raju on Nov 25, 2008, 7:19 pm:

I went through lot of sites including webhostingsearch before buying the domain and hosting for my blog techpp.com
unfortunately I chose a bad host who sends warning mails and moves my website to a temporary server (if I am lucky) or just bring down my website just like that whenever there is a surge in traffic.
I was hoping that this article is about a good suggestion for a shared host or cheap/good dedicated host, but …
18 - John Bishop on Nov 27, 2008, 11:03 pm:

I have never had any problems with hostgator using wordpress. I have tons of blogs on one account and they all load relatively quickly.
19 - Ray Johnson | Make money on the internet on Nov 29, 2008, 2:14 am:

Hostgator has been pretty good so far. No complaints.
20 - Gerald SEO Tips Blog on Nov 30, 2008, 12:05 am:

I have previously had some really bad experiences with my web hosts until I finally found Hostgator. They are pretty inexpensive and their support is great. I However I wouldn’t buy o n who’s the cheapest along if you blogs and/or websites are important to you. If you go with the cheapest you’re probably not going to get quality service.
21 - Derek on Nov 30, 2008, 7:32 pm:

I’ve used several in the past few years and generally been happy with both (hostgator and hostmonster). However, the last few days has been an absolute disaster with hostmonster.com.

A few days ago my blog was hacked into. The 3rd party who hacked it used mySQL databases to spam hostmonster’s server who promptly closed my account while offering zero explanation or support. Needless to say I’ll be seeking a hosting solution elsewhere in the future.
22 - accounts savings on Dec 1, 2008, 4:21 pm:

Cool. They have similar functions for VPS and Dedicate servers too. Thanks. I’m going to find some dedicate for myself in near feature. Like for like all web servers seems to make thesame promises
23 - TechNald on Dec 2, 2008, 6:10 pm:

i already found the perfect host of my blog…
24 - brandon alan scofield on Dec 3, 2008, 3:58 am:

it’s so hard to choose which is best hosting … some of them overselling … some of them overvalued … some of them made excessive ads campaign such as unlimited bandwidth .. which is in fact lie …
a hosting ads state that they offer shared hosting with unlimited bandwidth for 7 bucks a month … Lie ! even dedicated server has limited bandwidth … do you agree folks ? please reply my comment !
25 - Blog Setup on Dec 4, 2008, 5:28 am:

Well, a web review portal is good reference point to start with but at times, we are left with too many choices and worst still, making bad choice. I’m more on following advices from the people I trust and have recently found one that’s pretty reliable in my opinion.
26 - Make Money Blogging on Dec 7, 2008, 6:35 am:

Hmm.. There are lotsa cheap web host around but I think have a good customer support one would be the first choice..
27 - International shipping on Dec 8, 2008, 1:26 am:

Hi There

I have always used Hostmonster as my host of choice. I have never had a problem, have had very little down time and the price is pretty much reasonable for unlimited space and bandwidth.

I am consiodering adding a blog to my companies website and using it as a tool to drive traffic to my website

Is this potentially a good idea?
28 - New Zealand Rental Car on Dec 9, 2008, 10:34 am:

1 and 1 works well for me but that is just my opinion. There are many hosts out there and its just a matter of trial and error at the end of the day hopefully with not to much error involved.
29 - Zeriva on Dec 10, 2008, 2:27 pm:

To be honest, I have neglected hosting for a long time .There are many web hosting providers with competing prices .My preference when deciding on a web hosting company is to ask friends and online relations.I have previously had some really bad experiences with my web hosts until I finally found Bluevoda.
30 - Webkinz on Dec 11, 2008, 10:18 am:

Thanks to banner in the article, I’m now chatting with serverloft sales. Their prices are really very cheap for dedicated servers.
31 - Team Nirvana on Dec 16, 2008, 8:52 am:

I agree with you. A cheap hosting provider is no way useful.

The service I use is Dreamhost.com which is an excellent service provider.

Have a glance at it. I host 3 domains from a single account.
32 - Stan on Dec 30, 2008, 11:19 am:

If you do not know a lot about coding, I would suggest using a host who uses Direct Admin. It is extremely simple to use