Choosing the best web hosting for a small business such as yours can be difficult. There are so many options out there and you don’t want to make the wrong decision, right?
But why oh why?
For starters, it could cost you in more ways than one. This is what this article will talk you through today — the best web hosting providers for WordPress, as well as what criteria to use when evaluating them.
For any WordPress website to work, it will need two essential pieces: a domain and web hosting. New words for some of you, but let me explain. This is what I tell my clients, and I will tell you the same, my friend….
- Imagine your domain name is your street address….
- web hosting is the piece of land that your house sits on…
- and your website is your house
And just like any house ?, you want to make sure it is built on a solid foundation.
For the majority of this article, we will focus on the best web hosting for a small business. That’s the piece of land your WordPress website will be built on. Ah, this never gets old! I’ve explained this bit at least 100 times in my career and I love the aha and ooh moments drawn on my clients’ faces.
Disclaimer: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that are at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
What Exactly Is A Domain Name?
So the very first thing you would need to do is to choose your domain. Remember at the beginning of this article I said:
Imagine your domain name is your street address... for example, www.yourdomainname.com
My domain name is thevirtualclick.com
Well, your domain name is your online identity that highlights and represents your business presence on the Internet.
While millions of domain names are sold daily, you should:-
- Buy a domain name for your business website as soon as possible in case it gets taken.
- Make sure that the domain name is an easy to remember address; one that is simple and easy to recall.
- Please avoid complicated names, put yourself in the shoes of your clients.
There are many places you can purchase domain names. For example, GoDaddy and Namecheap are two well-known companies for registering domains.
So once you have purchased your domain you will have your street address and are ready to find your piece of land, your hosting.
What Is Web Hosting And Why Do I Need It?
Websites are a big part of the internet. They can be found in any size and they all have something in common: web hosting services! (your piece of land, remember?)
Your website’s performance depends upon its hosting company, which provides you with access to their servers for viewing your web page or pages– so make sure to choose wisely.
These hosting companies have web servers that hold all of our information on their hard drives which enables your website to be viewed online.
It’s those servers that make the internet be up and running. Lots of geeky info here, but it’s useful to know.
Are you still with me? Good– let’s keep goin’!
So, these providers host thousands upon thousands of websites. For that very reason, a very good connection to the internet is needed. They provide bandwidth (the volume of information that can be sent over the internet) to clients who want their own website, (such as yourself) connected.
Due to the internet’s constant growth, people are constantly renting space. As such, there are now more and more website hosting companies than ever.
You may find that you are dealing with a web host who owns the main server directly or you may come to find you are actually renting from a hosting company who, in turn, are renting their space from a larger web hosting company.
In this case, the server of the smaller company is linked to the servers of the larger company, yada yada yada…
The bottom line is; Hosting companies actually enable your website to be viewed online.
There is no difference to small business owners in terms of the end result. Whether they are dealing with a major web host directly or through a subsidiary — you just want it to be fast and work.
How To Choose The Best Web Host For Your Business
There are a lot of things to consider when choosing the right web host for hosting your small business website. We’re going to make this easier by breaking it down into four steps:
Differences Between Shared And Dedicated Hosting
Choosing the right web hosting company for your WordPress website can be critical. We’ll begin by understanding the differences between shared hosting and dedicated hosting.
Shared hosting
Shared obviously means shared, it has no other meaning. So if you are using shared hosting for your website, then you will be sharing space with other small businesses as well as larger companies. Meaning: other websites on your server could have an effect on the loading time of your site. It is also possible for another website to affect the security of your website.
With shared hosting, you will share a server with maybe between 500-1000 other websites. This means that you may not always have access to all the resources on the web hosting server due to competing sites also using these resources.
Then, there is limited access to web hosting. This means that your access is limited through a control panel that is offered to you by your web hosting provider. So, if the web hosting provider is in charge of the control panel, then they are in charge of every part of your web hosting needs.
Dedicated Hosting
Now dedicated hosting. For starters, using a dedicated hosting server gives you total access. Ahhhhh, now doesn’t that just sound a lot better? Full access in the form of dedicated hosting means that you get the final say in all web hosting decisions. Dedicated hosting also gives you access to the remote desktop manager, which is your gateway to heaven 🙂 oops, I mean the server.
In other words with a dedicated hosting server, not only are you in charge of every aspect of web hosting decisions but also have access to set up how the servers operate making it faster for your WordPress website’s needs.
The Top Web Hosts For Small Businesses
As I mentioned, there are thousands of web hosting companies that can support a WordPress installation over their servers. From the available providers, WordPress has mentioned specific hosts they like to recommend:
These three hosting providers offer a one-click installation of WordPress, so you can get your site going quickly. They also provide round-the-clock support for any questions or help with setting up and any issues maintaining the website.
It seems like the hosting companies are playing a game of chess and each company is trying to outdo one another. Bluehost and Dreamhost offer free domain names on their plans, but SiteGround doesn’t.
Bluehost pricing
When it comes to pricing, Bluehost at present offers the lowest price. That’s If you lock yourself into a 3-year contract, then you will only need to pay £2.54/mo including VAT for their basic plan.
Dream host pricing
DreamHost also offers a 3-year contract at £2.59/mo.
Siteground Pricing
Siteground; they charge £14/mo including VAT.
Money-back guarantees
If you’re not sure who to go with you can take each service for a trial run before you decide on which one is best for your needs. Bluehost and Siteground offer a 30-day money-back guarantee while DreamHost offers a 97-day money-back guarantee. You’ll be able to try out each of these providers in order to find what’s best for your website without any risk involved.
Which one do you choose?
One of the biggest questions I get asked is “which one do I choose?” For me, out of the three suggested by WordPress, I would definitely go with Siteground.
In my opinion, Siteground is one of the best web hosting for a small business with WordPress. The main reasons are that they offer excellent service and rock-solid stability. They also have great customer support which I think is vital to any successful website, but most importantly they have better performance when it comes to the speed and uptime of your website.
Wealthy Affiliate
However, if you are looking to develop a business that revolves around affiliate marketing, then Wealthy Affiliate may be a better fit for you. They provide the full package if you want to host and build your own website. It’s great for anyone looking to build an affiliate marketing business.
If you are starting from scratch and don’t know anything about websites and digital marketing they not only provide an excellent hosting platform but more importantly they provide an all-in-one solution. They offer you all the tools necessary to get started.
Their package includes hosting,
- Hosting
- Websites
- Free site migration
- Training
- Free SSL Certificates
- Over 1.4 million Community Members to network with.
- And so much more
How To Get Started With A New Hoste Provider The Virtual Click
The Virtual Click has partnered up with Siteground to provide you with the Best Web Hosting for a small business at a lower price but with the same high-value service. We also provide a website maintenance care plan.
Website Maintenance, Hosting, Security and Care Plan
When a website launches, it’s crucial to protect against potential hacks, breaches, and other threats that can bring your site down. It’s also vital to have a website maintenance plan in place to keep the plugins and other functions on your site updated for security. A fully optimised site helps your page loading speeds for SEO rankings with Google.
Our Website Maintenance Plans provide you with the best of both hosting and maintenance to ensure that your site is secure, backed up regularly, and updated to the latest versions of WordPress.
Why You Should Use WordPress To Build Your Website
Ah, welcome home, honey! As promised, here are the keys to your new home….errr I mean website ?
Now that you understand more about web hosting, here I explain 11 reasons why you should create a WordPress website.
WordPress is a platform that is used to power thousands of small business websites across planet Earth. It allows you to create and publish content on your website with ease while managing it all from one place. Best of all, WordPress is free.
Free Themes
If your business has a limited budget, then this might be the best option for you. You can get started right away without any financial investment. Yep, the best things in life are free!
WordPress has a directory of free themes and plugins that you can use to customise the appearance and functionality of your website. There are thousands of free themes to choose from for small businesses, they have themes for a variety of industries and niches. I particularly like to use elegant premium themes when building sites for my clients. They get a quality premium theme with a lifetime license and updates when they sign up with the virtual click.
Free Plugins
Just when things couldn’t get any better WordPress also has a wide selection of free plugins. Those plugins allow you to add all sorts of functionality to your sites such as contact forms, social media integration, and much more without you having to dig into your pocket.
Built for SEO
Additionally, you have the benefit of knowing that WordPress makes it easier to optimise your web pages and posts for SEO. This means your website will have an easier time showing up in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
User Roles and Permissions
Another reason to choose and love WordPress for your business website. WordPress enables your website to have different user roles and permissions. For example, you can designate specific roles for different types of users and limit access to certain content.
You also can create your own user-profiles and assign them different levels of permissions.
These permissions are:
- Admin role – This will give you full administration access to all of the functions on your website. You can manage users, change settings and add content to the front page of your site
- Editor Role – This will give you access to all areas on your blog except for administration tasks which are limited to an administrative user only
- Author Role- This will assign you with basic permissions such as being able to create posts or pages, but not create or edit other users
- Contributor Role– This will assign you with the least amount of permissions which allows you to comment on posts and pages.
- Subscriber Role – This will just give you the ability to read posts and pages
Data Import and Export
If you are switching web hosts, transferring your site, or just want to move it elsewhere, for whatever reason, WordPress makes this process incredibly easy with its data import and export capabilities.
No Code Necessary
For small business owners who are complete beginners with no coding skills, WordPress would be the best option for your website. You don’t need any code to build a site with WordPress, so it is the quickest and easiest option for those who want to get their business up and running quickly.
WordPress is Used by Millions
Knowing that millions of people, including me, power their own website with WordPress, also gives you peace of mind. WordPress’s popularity is because it’s so easy to use, and all of the necessary building blocks are there for you.
Conclusion
When it comes down to choosing a web host for your business, you have many options. The best way to narrow them down is by considering what type of service will work best with the size and needs of your company. My personal recommendation for you would be Siteground. It’s what I use with my own clients and you truly get value for your money in addition to fantastic customer care.
WordPress loves Siteground just as much as I do– you can’t go wrong with that.
Should you require any assistance with this topic, then please drop me a line for further information and a quick chat about my maintenance services. See you on the other side, my friend <3
