Looking for a free web host for your WordPress site? You can’t make a mistake with Godaddy. Not only do they provide some of the most popular and trusted web hosting services out there for free, but they also allow you to install and run a fully-functional WordPress site with their shared hosting platform for as little as $2.95 per month.

Features

Installing WordPress to host a blog or a website is easy. After you enter your payment information, you will be presented with a login screen. Just click on the login button and you will be taken to the WordPress dashboard. From the dashboard, you can access all the features your hosting plan provides.

WordPress is a free and open-source CMS (content management system). It is one of the most popular tools for creating content-driven websites, blogs, and social media platforms. As you may have guessed, content is what drives visitors to a site. Without content, a site may not exist as long as there is no one there to read it.

That is the whole point of a CMS. It is designed to make content creation easy and accessible for everyone. In CMS lingo, content is king and the functionality provided by a tool such as WordPress makes it easier for everyone to access content.

Security

Installing WordPress is only the first step towards having a functioning site. Now that you have WordPress installed, it’s time to secure it. The first step towards securing your WordPress site is simply taking precautions to prevent unauthorized access. This includes keeping your website’s password secure, changing it frequently, and only giving access to those who need it.

There are generally two types of people who want to access your website: those who want to harm it and those who want to do it good. For the first group, breaking into your website and doing it bad is called a hack. For the second group, restoring your site to its original state is called a clean-up. Both types of hacks and clean-ups are easier to perform if you allow remote access to your website through FTP or SSH.

Flexibility

Anyone who has ever tried to run a business or a blog online knows that things change. Shifts in technology and social media bring about innovations that change the way we interact and consume content. If you are looking for a web host that can evolve with you and your projects, give Godaddy a try.

With WordPress, you can update the content on your site whenever you want. If there is something you feel that your audience would benefit from learning, you can create a course and offer it to your readers. Or, if you want to test out a new product you have created, you can install a WordPress site to do so. The possibilities are endless.

Pricing

At this point, you should know what type of web host you are looking for. If you want to create a traditional blog with recurring blog posts, you can find a free web host that will do the trick. Or, if you want to test out a new product and need a bit of a budget, you can find a bargain priced shared hosting plan from a host that offers WordPress hosting. Either way, you are in the right place!

If you go with a free web host, be prepared to invest in tools that can enhance your blogging experience. For example, if you are running WordPress on a free web host, you will need to purchase a Premium (Grape) theme to have a fully-funded and functional site. And even then, you will need to make some minor changes to the default theme to make it look like you want. For more information about this, read this post:

How to Create a Professional-Looking Blog in 3 Steps

As a blogger who wants to create a professional-looking blog, you may not need a $2.95/month web host. You can use Bluehost, which is also the favorite of many WordPress users. Bluehost provides one of the most popular free web hosting plans that also comes with free domain registration. This is a perfect combination for those looking to launch a new blog or website.

Best Practices

If you are looking for best practices to follow when creating a WordPress site, check out these helpful guidelines from the WordPress team:

Secure FTP

Any experienced web developer or IT specialist can configure your web host to provide you with secure FTP access, which gives you the capability to upload and download files directly to and from your website. This is a great feature to have if you want to move large files from one location to another. Plus, it provides better security for your files.

Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

A content delivery network (CDN) is a collection of servers that are distributed across the internet. When a web user requests content from a website, the content is often delivered from one of these servers located near the user. This reduces download times for users and provides faster page delivery for the site owner.

CDNs were created because content on the internet has become so popular that creating and maintaining a large content library at a web host is no longer practical. In addition, using a CDN provides various benefits, including:

• Increased security
• Faster page loads
• Simplified support

If you have a large audience and are looking to improve your blog’s performance, you can use a content delivery network. It is, however, important to keep in mind that not all CDNs are made equal. Some of them are more expensive than others. So you will need to do some research to find the best one for your needs.

Backup Your Website

Taking backups isn’t a bad idea. Having a copy of your site somewhere safe and accessible is often considered a best practice for those creating a WordPress site. Fortunately, there is an easy way to back up your entire WordPress site (including the database) for free. Just click on the Backup button located in the WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions.

WordPress provides several back up options. You can select the type of storage you want (MySQL, Local, or Amazon S3) and click on the Backup Now button to begin creating a back up. You can also select a restoration point in the future (just in case you ever lose your site) by clicking on the Choose Site… button and entering a name for your backup in the resulting dialog box.

WordPress makes it super simple to create a back up. You can even save it as a template so you don’t have to recreate it each time.

Monitoring Key Performance Indicators

You must monitor the performance of your web host. Even the best web hosts out there have bad days (that is why they are called “hosts”). So it is important to have tools that can detect any problems before they become serious.

One of the simplest yet most effective tools for monitoring key performance indicators, such as uptime and response time, is Hootsuite.

Hootsuite is a social media tool that can be used to monitor the performance of your web host. It provides a digest of the important performance indicators for your site. You can access this information from the Hootsuite dashboard, which is conveniently located at the top of your WordPress dashboard. Just click on the Hootsuite icon and you will be presented with the dashboard.

Hootsuite can also be accessed from a mobile device, which makes it easier for you to check your site’s performance while on the go. If you want to create a traditional blog with recurring blog posts, Hootsuite can be a good choice since it provides a variety of features, including:

• Detailed reports about the performance of your site
• Ability to engage with your audience
• Insight into the performance of your competitors
• Groups that can be used to organize your community
• Actionable insights from social media users

Make Sure Your Host Is Online!

Even if you are using a top-notch web host, it is still a good idea to make sure that your web host’s servers are online and functioning. You can do this by visiting the Status page of your site. This page will provide you with crucial information about the health of your site’s server.