Which web hosting services should I choose as an absolute beginner who has no idea what they’re doing?
BlueHost keeps popping up. Not sure if they’re paying more to have their company promoted or if BlueHost is legitimately the best option. I’m going with the former.
Anyway, I want to create a blog with the intention of placing ads for revenue stream.
Here’s what I know: nothing.
I know nothing about blogging. My experiences include reading blogs so I already know what a blog looks like and knowing how to write a grammatical sentence. I suppose that’s all you really need.
I know nothing about HTML and source coding, but with the power of the internet, I can learn and manage, albeit much slower.
I know nothing about ads. I know Google has AdSense so I’ll be looking into that.
After reading this post, which web hosting service would you recommend?
My monthly budget is $10. I see promotions that are less than $3/mo.
I am in located in the US and users are travellers.
Wordpress comes up a lot and I’ve never heard of phpBB or anything else.
I do not have a monthly traffic volume.
I am not looking at VSPs.
I have glanced at the hosts in the sidebar.
What is your monthly budget?
Where are you/your users located?
What kind of site are you hosting (Wordpress, phpBB, custom software, etc) or what is your use case?
Do you have a monthly traffic volume? Estimates are ok.
If you’re looking at VPSes: Do you have experience administrating linux servers and infrastructure?
Did you read the sidebar/check out the hosts listed there? I’ve personally vetted these companies and their services are a good fit for 99% of people.
What hosting service would you recommend for my needs?
Yes, some services advertise as low as $3 per month, but it’s crucial to exercise caution. While they might be adequate if they don’t promise too much, be wary of hosts offering extensive features at that price. Often, their terms include clauses like: “We offer low prices assuming minimal traffic. If you exceed our bandwidth limits, we may require you to upgrade or shut down.”
It’s also important to note that Newfold Digital (formerly EIG) has a poor reputation. They own several popular hosts, such as BlueHost, often promoted on “Best Web Hosts” sites that prioritize payments over service quality. It’s advisable to avoid them.
The web hosts listed in this subreddit’s sidebar are well-regarded by its members. While I personally use and recommend A2Hosting (despite some detractors here), following this subreddit’s recommendations should lead you in the right direction.
Many websites operate on that model, so it’s understandable to question it. However, I haven’t seen any proof that this subreddit operates in that manner.
Alright, so that adds up to about $1.25 per month. Many prefer to register their domains separately to avoid issues if they switch hosting providers later.
As for A2 Hosting, I don’t anticipate any problems. However, I had a good experience with my previous host until they were acquired by EIG.
Upon further investigation, it seems there may have been a misunderstanding, either on my part or on the hosting site’s part. This seems to be a common issue across most hosting providers. Here’s what I’ve found:
Hosting sites often advertise “free x domain” or “free x websites,” but it’s not truly free. It typically costs around $13 per year for a .com domain. What they actually mean is that the package supports X domains. If you want to host more than one website under a single package, you’ll likely need to upgrade to a higher-tier package.
That’s because smaller companies typically don’t overpromise in their budget offerings. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that my warning was specifically aimed at hosts that offer extensive services for very low prices. Unfortunately, there are numerous hosts that advertise “unlimited this and that” at unrealistically low rates, and I maintain my caution regarding such sites.