Web Hosting Guide

Blogging is extremely popular these days. Many businesses and personal sites use it to communicate with their customer base or visitors. Some people even use blog software as a CMS or content management system. There are several blogging platforms available, many for free but easily the most popular and most used is WordPress.

WordPress is a free, open source blogging software that is easy to set up, easy to use and is highly customizable making is a leader in the industry. Because so many people use it WordPress web hosting has become its own niche in the industry.

Why Blog and Use WordPress Web Hosting?

Personal and business sites use blogging frequently for various means. For businesses, blogging is a great way to keep customers engaged and allow them to interact as a community. In addition, it keeps fresh content on the site and helps to increase search engine optimization by encouraging traffic and incoming links.

The same holds true for personal sites that use their blogging as a means to make additional money with the use of pay per click advertising. Many personal sites also use blogging strictly as a means of entertainment, to write about interesting topics they wish to and share them with friends, family and any general public who stumbles upon them.

Why Does WordPress Web Hosting Need its Own Niche?

Cheap web hosting often offers one click install of blogging software including WordPress. This is a great additional script for web sites. However, sites that strictly use WordPress as either a blogging tool or also as a Content Management System use significantly fewer resources than other sites because there is only one script being run. Customers who only use this one script feel other web hosting solutions are too expensive because they are paying for a lot more than they will ever use. So, WordPress web hosting evolved to accommodate the needs of the customers who demanded another option.

There is cheap web hosting available with servers that are compatible with WordPress installs but give you other features as well and there is also WordPress or blogging specific packages that are offered at a cheaper rate. Whichever one you choose, you will have a bargain rate for your blogging needs using WordPress.

What to Look for in a Word Press Web Hosting Package

If you have a new site and you plan to use WordPress blogging software, one click installation is probably a selling point for you. This makes installation and set up of the software incredibly easy. Some web hosts specialize in catering to the WordPress community and also offer additional free templates that you can choose from to set up your blog. You don't need to have any experience with coding or graphic design you simply plug in the template by following the directions.

If you have an existing blog you will already know what resources you need. But if you are just starting out you may want to go with the smallest available package and make sure you can upgrade if you need to as you get more popular. Some other features you may want to consider include:

• High Uptime Percentage - If you have a busy blog you do not want your blog unavailable to your viewers for prolonged periods. Personal sites may lose viewers when they cannot see your blog posts and it may cause a loss of revenue for businesses.
• Robust Servers - While you may start off small if you have a topic that is interesting to people you may find that your traffic starts to grow. If you get to be too large, though, you may use a lot of the host server's resources, causing degradation of services on your site as well as those sharing the server with you. Slowness on your site can leave viewers and customers frustrated causing them to leave.
• Reliable and Fast Customer Support - If you ever do have a problem you want to be sure your needs are addressed as soon as possible so you can get back to business as usual quickly. If you have a host with a highly trained 24/7 customer service staff you will likely get your needs addressed quickly.
• Good Reputation - One of the best ways to reduce the odds of a negative experience is to search for referrals. Look for other bloggers who have used the WordPress web host you are considering before committing to a package. If they have had a good experience with the host, odds are you will too because you are using the hosting space for similar purposes.

WordPress web hosting is a great way to accommodate your blogging needs. WordPress is the most common and most popular blogging software today. Because of this popularity many hosts concentrate on ensuring they cater to the WordPress community. Many web hosts offer affordable hosting with one click installs of WordPress. Other hosts have WordPress specific hosting plans that allow you to blog at an affordable rate.