How to Find Fast Web Hosting for WordPress
If you own a WordPress blog, you’ll need to consider web hosting. You’ll find a wide range of hosting packages to choose from, but not all of them are created equal. In this article, we’ll discuss how to find the best web hosting for your needs.
Look for A+ Rating From SSL Labs
When we host websites on our servers, we use a service called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL provides a way to securely transmit your website’s data between your visitors’ browsers and your server. There’s a whole suite of tests that SSL Labs provides to check the security of an SSL certificate, and the certificates that we host on our servers usually pass with flying colors. If you go to https://www.ssl-labs.com/ and look at the left-hand side of the page, you’ll see a list of all the certificates that we host on our servers. Next to each certificate is a little green square with a checkmark in it. If you click on a square to see the details, you’ll see that each one of our certificates has a grade of A+ from SSL Labs, which is the highest possible score.
Go For A Free Domain
One of the best things about web hosting is the fact that it is usually offered for free. You don’t have to pay a penny for a decent web host, but you will need to register a domain name for your blog. Luckily, you can do this through one of the many web host’s control panels. When you register a free domain name with a web host, you’ll receive an email from them with the username and password for your new account. You can then log in and modify the web host’s settings to fit your needs. Most importantly, you can enable your domain to point to your blog’s URL. So if your blog has the URL “blog.example.com,” then all you need to do is grab that domain and point it at your blog’s IP address (usually provided by your web host). When this is done, your visitors will be able to access your blog without having to enter a password every time they visit a different site (think of the days before we had strong passwords).
Avoid These Hosts
Although we don’t have any scientific evidence to back this claim up, we’ve found through experience that it is best to avoid these hosts when it comes to web hosting. Why? Well, it all comes down to greed, as they’ll try to sell you additional services that you don’t need, like domain registration and mail forwarding. However, the most important thing for you to register is a premium domain with a nice design that will make your visitors feel inspired. This is important because according to HubSpot’s research, “design influences buyers’ decisions more than any other factor, including functionality.”
So, if you want to choose a web host carefully, then pay attention to the little things, like the design of your domain. You’ll have a pleasant surprise when you log in and activate your new domain, as it will dramatically increase the amount of people who will visit your site. And, you’ll be happy to know that, for the most part, these hosts don’t offer the same security as regular hosts do.
Regular Vs. Wildcard Domains
A few of our readers have mentioned in the comments that they prefer using a wildcard domain for their blogs. A wildcard domain can simply be thought of as a domain with a * (asterisk) in the place of the TLD (top-level domain). For example, the website www.blogger.com would be considered a wildcard domain, as it has a * in place of the TLD, which is com. Wildcard domains are a great choice for bloggers who want to use multiple TLDs (domains) for their blogs. For example, if you had a blog for women and you wanted to use a different TLD for each section, then you could create blogger.com, mysite.org, and wordpress.com blogs and use the *.wordpress.com domain for all of them. When choosing a wildcard domain, it is important to keep in mind that you’ll have to register all of the domains that you want to use in combination with a wildcard. The good thing is that you can do this through one of the many web host’s control panels.
VPS Or Dedicated Server Is Best
Another important decision you’ll need to make when choosing a web host is whether you want to go with a virtual private server (VPS) or a dedicated server. A VPS is essentially a slice of dedicated server, which we’ll discuss in a bit, shared among multiple users/sites. The main advantage of a VPS is that you can deploy multiple sites on it (usually along with WordPress). The disadvantage is that you’ll need to use shared hosting, which works fine for small blogs but can be a challenge for large, professional sites. If you’re looking for a free web host, then take a look at the various options we’ve listed below.
Dedicated servers are much more expensive than VPSs but work very well for larger blogs and professional sites, providing you with the reliability and performance you need for your content. The best part is that you can purchase a dedicated server and install WordPress yourself (or have a developer do it for you), making the entire process simple and straightforward. When choosing a dedicated server, it is important to keep in mind that you’ll need to set up additional software like Plesk or CPanel to make it work.
Choose A Host That Provides WordPress’ Most Popular Installation
If you’re looking for the best, most popular web hosting for WordPress, then go with one that provides the standard Apache installation. Why? Well, it all comes down to security and performance. If you go with a host that provides the standard LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl) stack, then it will be more stable and secure than those that require you to install additional software for WordPress. Also, you’ll receive a free domain with the standard WordPress installation.
If you’re still deciding which web host to go with, then it might be smart to try out a few different ones and see which one works best for you. When it comes to security and performance, we recommend you go with Bluehost, as they provide great value for money and have top-notch support if you have any questions about how to use their service.