New Blog Help

Now that you’ve decided to start your own self-hosted blog and you’ve registered your domain name, it’s time to start shopping around for blog hosting…hence the term self-hosted blog. But finding the right host can be so complicated these days. Who are these guys? Have they been in business long? Who is reliable? What features will I need from my host? The list of questions can be a long one but here are a few basics you will need from your host:

Guaranteed Uptime

Your blog host needs to be able to guarantee that your site will be available to your visitors 99% of the time barring any server upgrades.

Unlimited Bandwidth

Every bit of data that is transmitted from your site to your visitors is called bandwidth and if you have a limited monthly amount of bandwidth with your host then at least make sure it is high enough to support how many site visitors you expect to have every month. While someone just starting out a new blog may not need tons of bandwidth to get started, having unlimited bandwidth means you never have to worry that you’ve used up your monthly quota and your visitors won’t get an error message until the month changes over.

Host Unlimited Websites

While you may only ever want or need one blog or website, you may become bitten by the blog bug and want to open a second, third, fourth, or even fifteenth blog. But if you took the most basic hosting from your provider they may have restrictions on how many websites you can host with them unless you upgrade. Since the difference between getting 5 websites or unlimited websites with your web host is probably 2 or 3 dollars per month it just makes sense to choose the plan that offers unlimited website hosting.

cPanel

What is cPanel? Well it’s the interface that you will be able to log into to administrate your blog and it’s workings. In a previous post I mentioned that I like buying domains from Godaddy.com but they do not have a cPanel for their customers so I buy my hosting elsewhere. What is so hot about a cPanel? Well if you’re not too technically inclined then a cPanel will allow you to visually operate your blog behind the scenes with a nicely layed-out graphical interface. You will have access to setting up your blog email addresses, your MySql databases, add-on domains if you want to host more than one website on your account, and of course you will have access to many great scripts that allow you to set up your blog in under 5 minutes. Most cPanel hosts will have Fantastico scripts running in them and will offer several choices of blogging platforms in their blog hosting packages.

Options to Pay Monthly or Semi-Annually

When I first set out to get hosting a long time ago I didn’t know what I was doing and I took hosting with a company for a ridiculous charge that I was billed a year in advance for. It wasn’t until the dust settled that I realized that my host didn’t even have a cPanel for me to use and their service was shaky at best when I tried to access my site. When selecting a host look for the option to pay by Paypal as they should also allow you to pay monthly then in case you change your mind. Don’t get stuck with a host you can’t live with for a year or more depending on their hosting plans, so try to limit your upfront hosting costs to no more than 6 months in advance.

Money Back Guarantee

It’s always nice to get your money back if it turns out blogging wasn’t for you after all and while most companies offer a two week guarantee there are one or two hosts out there that offer 30 to 45 days money back should you change your mind.