In Part 1 of this article we considered several issues that you must decide about your website before you begin your search for the best web hosting for beginners. Some of those factors that will play into the choice you eventually make include website complexity, how much and what types of content you’ll be publishing, and how involved you yourself are going to be involved in setting it up. Because you just want to start small, a basic personal website will become our model. (The author also assumes that you’ve already registered your website’s domain name with an Internet registrar such as GoDaddy.com or one of many others.)
As we’re talking about this being a basic website, we’ve also come to understand that all the easy web hosting for beginners packages come with enough tools and resources to meet your basic requirements. All packages include an easy-to-use website design program (usually driven by automated templates), quite a few email accounts, and a file manager program to help you manage your website’s files on your server. Many hosting companies are also standardizing around offering unlimited disk storage space and unlimited network traffic as part of their basic packages. (You can always upgrade or purchase more later if needed.)
Beyond those preliminary requirements for your basic website, here are several more factors to consider. Do you plan on keeping your website online for a significant length of time? You can choose an easy web hosting for beginners monthly plan, or you can save quite a bit of money by signing up for a multi-year plan. Since it will take some time for you to get your site established on the web, I’d suggest you purchase at least a one-year deal. You’ll also probably save some money on that, too.
Credit cards are typically the way you pay for your hosting account. Your hosting company usually keeps your credit card number in their database to facilitate auto-renewals of your hosting account; most all send periodic renewal notices prior to your plan’s expiration. Since you don’t want your website to disappear from the internet, I’d strongly suggest having your account set up this way. You won’t run the risk, then, of having your hosting account suspended due to your forgetting to renew it.
The reliability of your hosting company and network should be important to you too, so you’ll want to surf some of their sites and do a little research. Here are a few things to look for when comparing the best web hosting for beginners providers:
- Each plan offered will have a list of features for that package. See what it says about the server hardware you’ll be hosted on. Try to determine if your website will run a generic “white box” server, or on a quality server like those from Sun, HP, Compaq, or Dell.
- Make sure you can call a toll-free 8xx number for technical support; is that included in your potential hosting plan? Email and chat support channels work, but you may want more support than that.
- Be aware that if you’re sharing an IP address with other websites on that same server (as is usually the case for cheap hosting plans), your own website may be at risk. Should any other website sharing that IP address with you demonstrate bad behavior like spamming, that IP address may be blocked. This would effectively render your website useless. Get your own IP address for an extra couple of bucks a month and avoid this issue altogether.
If you keep these issues in mind while evaluating potential providers, you’ll come out way ahead when making your selection. Competition between the best web hosting for beginners providers is keen, so take full advantage of their specials if you can. It won’t be long after that before you have your own personal website up and running on the Internet. Have fun and welcome to the fray!
With 15 years of hands-on experience, author Markys Robertson writes frequently about website design, cheap web hosting for beginners, internet protocols, and other Internet related topics. If you’re looking for the best web hosting for beginners, click here now to see some of Markys’ top recommended providers.
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