Is there literally anything like the best web hosting companies? Most times, before choosing a web hosting company, you do a lot of research, read a lot of web hosting reviews and of course, have a chat with several customer care representatives of web hosting companies you are comfortable with.
At the end of it, you make an order with the belief that you are actually sitting in one of the top web hosting companies. But here is the challenge, few months with your new hosting company, there is an issue and they will never take responsibility, because it is always your fault.
Yes, this is the worst advise I have ever heard from the worst web hosting companies since I hosted my first website in 2011. They will tell you, your theme is bloated. Oh… you consume way too much resources, you have to upgrade, then they bring all bunch of graphs and charts to make the fraud look legitimate.
Here is a simple trick to help you when selecting either from a list of the best web hosting companies for small business or generally looking for the top web hosting companies to host your huge web files, assuming it is for WordPress.
Never select a web host that do not have a “live chat”, this is very vital feature that must be in a hosting company if you really care about the business you are putting online. Relying on the old fashioned “mail-only” format, even when it is set to escalation mode may hurt you because some really bad web host will not reply you in days.
Most of the little issues I have fixed have been done through live chat, it is super amazing knowing you can get real time answers to not-so-much complicated issues. At times, even what you think it is complicated, it could be fixed with that little underrated live chat feature. This is the first thing I look out for when differentiating the worst web hosting companies from the best web hosting companies for WordPress or business.
Folks, the only amazing alternatives to the best web hosting companies is a frustrated life out there. You will waste time and money moving from a terrible web host to another and this drains the state of mind. There is nothing I dislike most that migrating from one web host to another web host. It’s a daunting process, trust me. I don’t want you to get drained or get swallowed up in a process that is not worth anything.
The new trend is to critically read other web hosting reviews before you make your final decision. So, I am not going to be dishonest with you and tell you to rely on just what you read here. But here is the deal, I am going to write a list of the top web hosting companies based on my experiences with them. If you find the same hosting companies in two to three other web hosting reviews, then you can place a bet that that host could be the real deal.
However, I do have an affiliate link with Bluehost if you choose to host with them. I will love you purchase your hosting plan through the link on this blog which is equally hosted on Bluehost, but I am not going praise them too much, I will leave the best hosting decision for you and I believe that is a bit fair.
Best Web Hosting Companies: The 4 Rules Of Purchase
The art of purchasing a web host requires all factors to be weighed to reach a common front. There are certain questions you must ask yourself before you purchase a web host.
Do I Need Access To Cpanel?
Folks, don’t make a mistake thinking all web hosting companies will provide a Cpanel for you. No, they won’t and you have to know what you want before you purchase a web hosting plan.
I purchased a web hosting plan just to realize that I can access my files only with an FTP client. Dealing with web files, I rather not access them with an FTP client. If you are like me, chances are that you may fall for this trap if you are not critical about it. So, you have to find out, use the live chat feature to get a head on.
Am I Hosting A WordPress Site?
WordPress is a heavy content management system, it gets even worse when you begin to install all kinds of unnecessary plugins.
The goodnews is that there are tons of web hosting companies that now offer dedicated managed WordPress hosting services that is cheaper than an unmanaged VPS in most cases. I will advise you to get a managed WordPress hosting plan, it will eliminate the odds of getting a high CPU usage warning from your host.
Should I Pay Monthly or Yearly?
The benefits of choosing a yearly plan is that you get discounts and it lets you focus on your business instead of thinking of clearing up the next bill month after month.
The generally rule is that you carefully read the refund policy of the web host you eventually select before making payment. This would be helpful if for whatever reason you decide to migrate to another web host.
Managed Vs Unmanaged Web Host
Lessons learned during the last few years working with hosting companies was the choice of picking either a managed server or an unmanaged server.
A managed server literally has everything set up by the hosting company so once you get your welcome email, you can hit the ground running. An unmannaged server, you build the infrastructure from the ground to suit your requirements. You need a good deal of technical knowledge to get things working the way you want it.
The single most important advise I have to give you before I roll out the list of the best web hosting companies is that you must have an answer to all the four rules of purchase before you read the next section of the web hosting review.
Choosing The Best Web Hosting Companies For WordPress: 9 Laws You Must Obey
These laws are gotten from successful mistakes I learned from failure with several web hosting companies. What if I told you my first ever blog hosted online disappeared from the internet, it was hacked and there was no back up. Months of hard work gone, you certainly don’t want that kind of experience.
These are the things that nobody told me about, I learned from personal experiences and I have to tell you that it is quite better to learn from people’s experiences whose expert instructions or reviews you can trust. It will save you time and all the hassles connected with a terrible personal experience, especially when it has to do with hosting companies.
Alright, here are the laws:
- Do not buy a hosting plan that has no data to support its uptime and reliability scores
- Find out what server upgrading options are available
- Take time to check out the security status of your preferred web hosting company
- Compare the sign-up and renewal price
- Avoid hosting companies with shoddy refund policy
- Don’t get carried away by offers of disk space and data transfer capacity, at least for now
- Ensure there is a good back up option for your files incase hackers gain access to your website
- 24/7 live chat/support is a must have feature
- Use only web host with easy-to-use control panel
The One Thing You Should Never Do When Choosing A Web Host For Small Business
Here is something you need to know before choosing any of the web hosting companies I am going to review. It is the one thing you should never do, it is so important that never use the same hosting company for your domain name and your web files.
The reason is very simple, if for whatever reason you decide to leave your hosting company, it is a very terrible process moving your domain and your files. Most web hosting companies will frustrate your effort.
Ordinarily, if your domain is hosted with another hosting company… In fact, I will recommend that you register all your domain names in a separate hosting company. Where there is a need to migrate to another hosting company, all you have to do is update your existing DNS settings to point to the new host. This is the all the time best way to manage your websites.
So, here is the list of best and bad web hosting companies you need to check out.
Best Web Hosting Companies
My personal experiences has thought me not to take certain things for granted and I want you to think the same way after reading through the list of hosting companies you can check out right now.
Bluehost Managed WordPress Hosting
I couldn’t believe it when I decided to move this blog to another web host for the third time, it was a painful decision that I tried every means to avoid. Eventually, I had no other options left, then I started doing a comprehensive review of the kind of host I will migrate to. This I did using the list of top web hosting companies I personally researched.
So, I went ahead and contacted Bluehost three times through live chat before starting the migration process. Bluehost managed WordPress hosting has the capacity to handle the most heavy themes with a large number of php request without having server errors.
This server is optimized for WordPress users, it comes with dedicated 2GB RAM for starter plan, it also has a dedicated IP address, free domain name, managed server and periodic backups. The control panel is equally easy to use with a simple user interface.
Even if you are a novice, there are a lot of tools that can help you get started immediately.
Bluehost promises 2 million monthly page views, I can not verify this claim because this blog doesn’t get close to that traffic margin.
However, you can place a bet on their words because everything they have said so far in respect to other features, I have received.
They do have good support, although they are slow to respond. You may need a pop-corn while waiting for someone to respond to you.
Check out Bluehost official website and discover other plans that may interest you.
Site Ground
SiteGround is a serious and professional web hosting company, it is easily one of the best web hosting companies to date. They have no too-good-to-be true promises, the hosting company has a data for everything you are purchasing.
One of my friends have been using SiteGround and so far, there have been almost zero complains.
I think Site Ground has one of the most technical support in the industry.
Take a look at SiteGround’s official website to discover more.
Linode
This is for developers, guys who have an indept knowledge of different programing languages.
If you need a reliable host for your e-commerce site, or any other heavy website with huge traffic, you definitely want to do business with Linode.
They have incredible support, but they do not have Cpanel and their VPS is unmanaged.
This explains why I said the hosting company is set up with developers in mind. If you are a normal blogger who just need a place to host your blog with little knowledge in web hosting technology, this is certainly not for you.
Take a look at Linode’s official website.
Squidix Web Hosting
The first memory I have as a person when I started my small business online was Squidix web hosting, but at that time there was no resources to take up a hosting plan with them.
However, the web host has been proven over the years to offer speed and excellent technical support.
Head over to https://squidix.com/hosting/ to discover what Squidix web hosting plan will work for you.
MediaTemple WordPress Hosting
This is another managed WordPress hosting company. I actually migrated from MediaTemple to Bluehost.
They do have good support and fast server using SSD technology. However, the reason I left had to do with some technical issues that could not be fixed by their support team.
Basically, the major reason was that they do not have Cpanel. Everything file editing or replacement is done through FTP.
If you are comfortable with FTP, you may consider what they have in stock.
Worst Web Hosting Companies
Something I need to tell you, when you see the names of the hosting companies below, the only thing you need to do is run or take cover.
I am not going to spend time talking about them but I have a personal experience with all of them.
Take a look:
Arvixe: I wrote a review about this bad, terrible hosting company. You should read my Arvixe review, and see for yourself.
Mochahost: I had a website here, it was hacked and the response I got was that I had no backup. I am not sure if they have improved their services, but it was a disaster when I had a spell there.
1and1 Hosting: This is a terrible web hosting company, you certainly don’t want to feel frustrated the same way I felt.
Something to think about is excellence. Do I go for a cheap web host that will ultimately destroy my business or go the extra mile to chose something that I can bank on even when I sleep?
I will advise you to always make wise choices when choosing web hosting companies. For bloggers, migrating from one host to another is a structural change in the eyes of Google that could affect your rankings.
For me, it is wise to make the best choice from the list of top web hosting companies to really make your business online every time of the day.
I have given you sufficient rules and laws to follow through before you make your final decision and don’t forget, it is not a nice idea to have your domain name and web files in the same hosting company. No matter how tempting it is, don’t just do it. This is my little piece of advice and I will like to hear what you think so far.
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2 Comments
Samuel Afolabi
Nice piece of article here Nosa. But, I am surprise to not see InMotion Hosting among your list. I have been using InMotion Hosting for a while now without any trouble. I will also recommend InMotion Hosting too.
Nosagie Nosa-Ero
Hearing that from you, I have to accept that InMotion is worth mentioning. Will check it out. Cheers..