In today’s article, Francis Santos gives us some insight on web hosting for blogs.
The blogging phenomenon has been a wonderful thing for individuals and businesses alike. Never has it been easier to publish content and share your thoughts with an audience that actually wants to hear what you have to say. There is much to gain from this practice, but blogging forces you to make some very tough decisions. Among those decisions is where and how to host your blog.
Blog Services vs. Web Hosting
When it comes to a hosting a blog, you pretty much have two choices: you can host it with a free blog service, or you can host it with a web hosting service. Both are viable options for getting up and running with a blog, but each is generally suited for different types of bloggers.
Going with a traditional blog service is the easiest path you can take. They are usually free to use, require very little technical knowledge, and provide all the tools needed to create and manage your blog site. The downside to these services lie in the limitations. With a traditional blog service, you are typically limited in terms of functionality, customization possibilities, and domain. Because of these limitations, this type of service is best suited for individuals.
Running a blog through a web hosting service is the best option for serious bloggers and businesses. This option, often called self-hosted blogging, gives you unrivaled flexibility in the way of features, customization, and even your domain. For instance, you often have the ability to add whatever functionality your blog requires, tweak various core aspects at the source code, and choose a professional domain that reads more like “myblog.com”, opposed to “myblog.somebodyelsesblogservice.com”.
Choosing a Web Hosting Solution for Your Blog
Web hosting is the path to true blogging freedom, but it isn’t necessarily a hassle-free ride. Without a reliable business web hosting provider to back you up, this route can be a bumpy disaster. Take note of the key factors that need to be considering when seeking a web hosting company for your blog.
Blog Software
You will find that most blog-friendly web hosting companies offer a variety of options software. Choosing the right software is crucial because it determines the platform you will be using to run your blog site. Here are three popular choices you may have:
1. WordPress – This software is a favorite of bloggers all over the world. WordPress offers nearly endless customization possibilities, which means you can just about whatever functionality you need.
2. b2evolution – You don’t hear much about it, but b2evolution is quietly one of best blogging platforms out there. This software allows you to seamlessly run multiple blogs, support multiple users, manage your content at an advanced level.
3. Nucleus CMS – Some consider this software a lightweight CMS due to its rich content management functionality. Nucleus is ideal for blogs that require regular updates, and administrators who require a lot of flexibility.
Installation
When you go the web hosting route and take on a self-hosted blog, the responsibility of getting that blog running is all on you. This means you have to install it. I’ll tell you now — unless you’re master of server and database administration, installing a piece of blog software will likely be a challenge. For this reason, you want to look for something that makes the installation process as easy possible.
Luckily, many web hosts accommodate aspiring bloggers with built-in utilities that automate installation. Typically found in the control panel, these tools literally allow you to install a blog in a few clicks of the mouse. Even if you do know your way around a server, the convenience here is hard to beat.
Reliability
Web hosting companies are not affiliated with blog software vendors, so you’re going to have to rely on the community of whatever platform you choose for support. However, the host is fully responsible for providing an environment that keeps your blog online. It would be a shame if you were able to generate tons of traffic, only to disappoint them with a site that runs slow or is always down due to technical problems. Do your research and make sure you choose a reliable blog hosting partner.
Get Your Money’s Worth
Many of the popular blog applications are free, but you have to pay for the web hosting plan needed to run it on your own. Several companies offer service at a very affordable price, so when you take the time to understand what you need and what to look for, you will be able to find a solution that offers the best bang for your buck.
Francis Santos is a writer for Benchmark Email, a best practices event marketing company.
I am a business professional
with an entrepreneurial spirit. Although I have an MBA and managed websites and IT departments
for several Fortune 500 companies ... 
Great information! on web hosting I really appreciate you. your mention all the points are very informative and I hope you write more and more post in future. Thanks for this post.
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I never knew that web hosting is this important for blogging. However, after reading the important information in your post, I can make out that web hosting stands very significant for running a blog. Thanks for sharing.
The more technically aligned should also definitely check out Jekyll with hosting on GitHub Pages. Load times will approximate zero, the service is completely free and you have a lot of flexibility in shaping the blog exactly how you see fit.
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Excellent information for new bloggers. Hosting is one of the most important things that one needs to take into consideration at the time of starting a new blog.
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I think there is an even more simple solution to this problem for those like me who are not technologically-inclined but still very much interested in blogging: use the Blogger platform. The benefit for me is that I can have a custom, private domain set-up easily (and for only $10 a year) and they take care of the hosting. I understand that using Blogger limits me sometimes, but I am overall extremely satisfied.
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These tips are very helpful for those people who want to start their blog but worried about how they will start. Thanks for sharing these valuable information.
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For newbies this post gonna rock..
wordpress is an awesome cms for blogging
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Excellent site, interestnye article! Thanks to the author for the quality of your work!
“Yes, Web hosting has several benefits, entire world will be able to know about your products, services & ideas through it. Really good blog, especially for newbies, thanks a ton for sharing.
“Yes, Web hosting has several benefits, entire world will be able to know about your products, services & ideas through it. Really good blog, especially for newbies, thanks a ton for sharing.
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Yep having your own hosting is definitely important. You get your own domain name and there are fewer limitations. The tricky part is to figure out all the setup and technical details so that your blog runs smoothly. Also too much traffic can crash your site whereas Blogger.com is always up.
I learned the hard way how important selecting a host is. If your host is slow or often has down time it can actually negatively effect your search engine rankings. Likewise the software you choose is equally important for easy, stability, and speed. For most beginners and pros, WordPress is a solid choice.
Having a blog on WordPress is key because you can have it can be another feature of your WordPress-based CMS if you’d like. In addition, WordPress is awesome for SEO.
Great point.Well detailed . I use WP . The other 2 are new to me.
I agree that having your own hosting is very important if you wish to expand. Most important though is the domain name – you are so much better off with your own rather than on another subdomain. Have to be selective about the host you choose, often it’s money vs quality – you have to find the balance.
These tips are very helpful for those people who want to start their blog but worried about how they will start. Thanks for sharing these valuable information.
thanks to the author, and on the establishment of the first site, can be found here
The important factor when choosing a web host is it’s location. To get the best response times, the hosting server should be located in the same country (or relatively close) to the main target audience. Great tips, thanks a ton for sharing.
The important factor when choosing a web host is it’s location. To get the best response times, the hosting server should be located in the same country (or relatively close) to the main target audience. Great tips, thanks a ton for sharing.
I Was never aware that web hosting is this important for blogging.after reading the important information in your post, I can make out that web hosting stands very Important for running blogs. Thanks for sharing wit us.
It really helped me a lot!!
yeah, web hosting in blogging is very important
We are using blog on WordPress and its awesome for SEO.
another is you can connect all your blogs to vote a mother blog..
Selecting the right host provider can save you lot of money. But using a free host service provider shortens the services offered which gives you limitation to access certain functionalities. Like you said, choosing the hosting service as per blog criteria is very essential. Thanks for sharing such an educational post! Keep up the good work!
Businesses who make their first attempt to participate in online marketing often gets into a situation where they fail to select good hosting company. The content provided by you will be helpful to such kind of businesses who need help in selecting a good web hosting provider and also to those who need to be aware of the importance of web hosting. It helped me a lot since I was kind of fussy about investing in a good web hosting service provider. Thanks for sharing this masterpiece!
hum, I have a simple basic 3$/mo blog hosting and everything is OK with 4k unic visitors per days, so i don’t know…
Web Hosting + WordPress is a good blogging solution, thanks for this great article !
Good article. I like the JustHost and recommend it to others as well due to their excellent customer support.
Cpanel is mostly used in my town, is it safe for blogging?
Is it safe free web hosting and blogging??I use a free hosting site but sometimes loading problem happen.
Quite informative article covering most of the essential factors. Good guide for the beginners who are new to web hosting.
There are many great companies that are doing blog webhosting such as SquareSpace, onepager… http://www.heybubble.com live chat software uses these to host our blogs.
try shared hosting server, the price is acceptable and you can have higher flexibility for your blogging platform
I site can’t exist with first hosting it using a preferred web host. So, it’s benefit is more than one can imagine.
Hi
I think a big thing that people get wrong when worrying about where their blog is hosted is how much space they are going to take up. If most of your blog is text and not a lot of images on your site then you will only need the smallest package to start with . It is always easy to upgrade later. Might as well save the money why you can.
Great post lee
We, 3V Business Solutions, have MANY clients that we have enlisted in the last year that have ran a blog from a hosted blog platform (blogspot.com, etc.) ALL of these clients are businesses and in each case we strongly suggest that they blog from their own domain. Our biggest argument is essentially that the further you distance a blog from the source of business the more likely that your blog audience will not convert to business traffic. We have LOTS of data to support this conclusion, but it is still a tough sell when a customer has blogged on a 3rd party platform for a period of time. Anyone with comments on this challenge would be GREATLY appreciated?
I had not heard about the b2evolution software. But, you say it’s worth a shot, so I’m going to look into it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Shared hosting is always better than free hosting as you get flexibility to modify your wordpress blogs as per your requirements.
No shared hosting is just better if you don’t want some serious out of your website. dedicated is the best and if it is managed dedicated then it much better..