Over a year ago I asked for some advice on selecting a hosting company for my blog, but despite a couple of suggestions I have still not transferred my site. I have since been advised to use a UK hosting company so that we are both under the same legal criteria and unfortunately the earlier suggestions were both US companies.
I have done some research and have found several companies that appear to meet my requirements, but I’ve realised I don’t know how to tell a good hosting company. Of course, I want to spend as little as possible, particularly as my blog doesn’t make any money (yet), but I’m happy to pay more for a reliable and helpful company. I have read that you sometimes need to be careful of the very cheap provider; so how do I tell? I have found several UK review sites, but I’m not sure I can trust any of them as they seem to be mostly about promoting affiliate links.
For the blog I want to be able to run WordPress. Plus if you have ever visited www.darktea.co.uk you will have discovered I run Coppermine to share photographs, I want to continue with that and have the bandwith to share short videos of my daughter. I would also like to be able to host more than one domain name as I’m thinking it maybe time to buy this blog its own domain; and of course some form of backup would be a bonus.
Do you have any advice for what I should be looking for in a hosting company? Or do you have any experience with these (or other UK hosting companies)? There are no affiliate links in the list.
It really depends on what you are looking for – each hosting company has their things they do better than the others. If you are looking for high availability, you should go for a more expensive host like peer1.com
I’ve used 34sp.com for a few years now, and would usually jump at the chance to recommend them. However, at the start of April they removed their lowest package (although, it was perfectly suitable for my needs), and replaced it with a higher spec, but more expensive account.
In all other respects they are definitely worth a look – it’s just a shame they’ve upped their target audience.
For blog, I’ll advice you a plan or company who would be dealing with wordpress hosting. I suffered total data loss in past on my previous host and they have worst support for their users(They are US based).
As you have a .UK domain name, you don’t need a UK host to rank in Google.
So, consider jaguarpc.net, asmallorange.com and hostgator.com as alternatives. If your host doesn’t offer SSH, Cpanel and Fantastico as standard, you may run into problems/increased work later. I wouldn’t bother with a host without these, now.
You can install _and update_ WordPress with a few button presses using Fanstatico.
First of all you shouldn’t trust web hosting review sites. Not only they are filled with affiliate links and fake advertisements, but most importantly most of them are owned or have very close relations with web hosting firms. Through their “reviewsâ€? try to manipulate their visitors by promoting specific companies and at the time share fake info about antagonistic web hosting agencies. You should trust independent reviews by experienced webmasters, forum posts, uptime and money back guarantees, and finally the price/quality ratio. Personally I have managed to start a small website which is related to web hosting industry and all… Read more »
Have you considered hosting your videos at a third party like YouTube or other similar providers? That way you don’t have to pay for disk space or bandwidth (which video is pretty bad with) and don’t have to worry about whether your web server is up to the task either. You’ll still be able to embed them into your site etc. Just a thought…
For me one of important things in choosing a webhosting is whether if the service provider provides Cpanel with Fantastico functions. It makes installing scripts so much easier.
The only tip I can give, never use HostPapa. I’ve been a year with them and the support is awful. They don’t have a clue and you always get copy and paste answers where you really see, they didn’t even check your problem. The only good thing: hardly any downtime as long as you don’t have a problem. If you have one – nightmare – it took them 2 weeks to install my backup file!! Really bad for our small business. I don’t want an US or Canada based company anymore. Considering 5quid now. Let me know how you get… Read more »
Hi Kate, how are you getting on with 5quidhost? I’m currently looking around for hosts and am wondering if you still rate them? Unfortunately there are mixed reviews on review sites and forums, but it’s impossible to tell if they’re genuine or not!