You decided to start an online business or you have a business and you want to move it online. What exactly do you need? First you need a domain and you need web hosting. Before you go out and buy that domain or try to find web hosting cheap, you will want to read this article.
As I have always said, I try to help you out the best ways I can. Why? Because I really want to see everyone make money online. That is if they are willing to put in the effort and have the patience for it. The market is huge, more like enormous. I am not worried about it getting over saturated. There are literally millions of niches and billions of buyers online.
Is Cheapest Always Best?
Well as the old saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” While this saying has been around for a long time and it is normally true, it is not always true. Many great things you never have to pay for in life. The same is true in the online business world.
Wait a minute did I just say you never have to pay? Does that mean you can get a website for free? Actually you can get websites for free in fact there are many free web hosting sites. They are not, however, created equal. If you are looking for a free website please see my recommendation for that here. The nicest thing about it is you will also be able to have free training available. No credit card or any other obligation ever.
Free Web Hosting and How it Works
The way free website hosting actually works is you get a free website but you are listed as a subdomain. So if I did not own a domain and used a free web hosting service my site would look like this www.earnextramoneyhome.siterubix.com. Notice the little extra thing in there the “.siterubix” that would be the subdomain of siterubix. That is not necessarily a bad thing but you can never move the site and if the hosting service goes out of business then you lose your website. While you own the rights to the content, you don’t own the rights to the website name. You can transfer the content, if you do the proper redirects, to a domain of your own.
My point is going cheap is not always the best. You can try the process out with a free site but then you will need to build the traffic up later and work on rankings once again if you chose to transfer the site to a domain you own. My suggestion is to go ahead and buy a domain and build it once, work on your search engine rankings and trust just once, and then you don’t have to do it again.
Own Domain Equals Hosting
That being said I must also say, “If you get a domain you will need to pay for web hosting.” That is right. Sorry to burst your bubble but if you have your own domain there is no other way to get it on the internet unless you pay for hosting.
Here is where you need to be careful. You can go super cheap, I mean I have seen as low as $1 a month. That is right, $1 a month. I would suggest staying away from those kinds of services because I would question the reliability of those services and the customer support would be virtually non-existent. Trust me when your website goes down you want it back up as soon as possible. Also you would like to be able to talk to someone who can tell you they are working on the outage. Even if it is lip-service it is nice to hear. It is not a matter of if but when, so I like having the support you need when those times come.
I have personally used Bluehost for a number of years on a couple of sites and have been very happy with them. The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly every time I have had to utilise them. This is not very often but I have had to a few times. Finally the price is at a good point. You can read my full review on Bluehost here.
Paying More For Hosting
I personally like the option of hosting with training, especially if you are a beginner. Yes it costs a little bit more but, the services are impeccable. If you are willing to spend a bit more money each month you can not only have your website hosted but get the training you need to build an online business. There are a few services out there like this. Some even give you a free trail to see if it is right for you.
The other thing with paying a little more for hosting, you typically get more services available. Sometimes to an active community that is willing to help each and every person. Help with building sites and the ability to host several domains on the same account without additional costs.
Conclusion
There are so many hosting companies out there. If you want to build a website you can get free hosting, to very inexpensive, to moderate costs, and even the expensive end. All of them have their own benefits and drawbacks. I have built several websites, made mistakes and stumbled around trying to make things work. I write on this website to help you avoid the same mistakes. In order to learn how to build a successful business online, please see my top recommendation.
If you have any comments, questions or want to share your own personal experiences please do so below.