Comparing Web Hosting Plans II

In my previous post I mentioned some criteria that can be helpful in narrowing your search for the right web hosting plan for your website. If you didn’t get the chance to read it, take a minute to review the post here. Now, let’s run through a couple of examples using that information to see how it might help you decide on your hosting plan.

You Have Some Experience

Let’s say you want to have a website to promote your business. The site will primarily be a way to draw customers to purchase your services or products. For this example, let’s assume you won’t be building a heavy eCommerce site, so you don’t need a dedicated or VPS server.

Next, we’ll say that although you’re only going to have one site initially, you definitely want the ability to expand your web presence in the future and would like the ability to host an unlimited number of websites.

And, let’s say that you do have somewhat of a technical background or that you’ve had some previous website experience.

Now you do some research and find a couple of companies with favorable reviews and that are highly rated. For this example, we’ll say you’re considering Bluehost and Web Hosting Hub. Both of these hosts offer great features and unlimited plans. Both also give you a free domain when you purchase your hosting.

As far as prices, Web Hosting Hub offers a cheaper initial sign up plan (renewal rates are somewhat the same). So, if your budget is tight you could choose them to host your site. On the other hand, Bluehost does give you some great SEO tools with their plan. Although you could acquire similar tools elsewhere, it does make it very convenient to access and implement them directly from your Bluehost control panel. If you like this convenience, you might want to choose them.

Beginner

Now let’s use the same criteria in a different situation. Say you’re looking to get your first website going and you have absolutely no experience with this kind of thing. Further, let’s say this will be either a personal site (or a more basic site for your small business). In this situation, you’d like a very user friendly hosting plan and hosting company. So you do some research and come across a couple of good looking prospects. Both 1&1 Hosting and iPage have hosting plans that include user friendly drag and drop or wizard type of website builders. Also, in your research you’ve read favorable reviews on both.

Now, you check out costs and features. iPage will definitely cost you less to get started. They have a much cheaper introductory offer. While at 1&1 Hosting, the set up and site creation is a bit more user friendly and will guide you through each step a little more. So, in this case, if you believe you need more help in getting started, you’d choose 1&1. However, if you’re good at following drag and drop procedures and want to save some money, you’d go with iPage.

Just remember, with so many plans and companies to choose from, by determining some of your fundamental criteria first, you can more easily determine just which web hosting plan is right for you.