5 Cheap Hosting Providers for Small WordPress Blogs

The right web hosting can help you grow your blog quickly and efficiently. At the same point in time, the right web hosting does not mean that you should spend over $ 15 per month on shared web hosting services. We will today share with you cheap WordPress blog hosting options which are not only affordable but also reliable.

It is imperative that you choose the right hosting for small WordPress blogs to gain maximum uptime and reduce the loading time of your blog. This will help you rank in the search engines which in turn will help you gain traffic and grow your blog.

We will now list below 5 cheap WordPress blog hosting options which you can easily choose from.

1. BlueHost:

bluehost-wordpress-hostingBlueHost is one of the oldest companies on this list. It was started in 1996. BlueHost is one of the few companies which are recommended by WordPress.org. It is also one of the most convenient hosting services in the market. It provides you with the dedicated custom panel to manage your hosting needs. When it comes to customer support, it has 24/7 customer support which ensures that you can get your issues resolved in almost real time.

BlueHost is a US based hosting company and their main data-centers are based in the US:

  • Provo, Utah, US Main Data Center
  • Orem, Utah, US Secondary Data Center

In addition to these, BlueHost offers hosting services in China, India and United Kingdom too. These are the additional data-centers that are available only through bluehost.cn or bluehost.in

  • Hong Kong, HK Data Center
  • Mumbai, India Data Center
  • London, UK/Europe Data Center
  • Utah, US Data Center
  • Shanghai, Mainland China Data Center

Bluehost offers hosting packages in all of these locations. This means that you will be able to host your website according to your target audience which is a definite advantage. The WordPress hosting packages are further optimized for running WordPress. Thus, the loading time will be reduced due to not just the location of the server but the optimization of the hosting package which ensures that your website will be blazing fast.

In addition to the prices just starting at $ 2.95 per month, BlueHost also offers a free domain with their hosting plans. Moreover, the cPanel provided by BlueHost allows you to install WordPress in a single click. This ensures that you are able to get your WordPress website up and running in no time. When you combine all of these features, it is a no-brainer that you should go for Bluehost when you set up a new WordPress blog.

2. HostGator:

hostgator-wordpress-hostingHostGator is a well-known hosting company among the digital marketing circles. According to the company, it hosts over 8 million domains. It is well known for its low prices and 24/7 customer support. Moreover, it has dedicated WordPress hosting plans. This ensures that you can get hosting specifically geared towards WordPress. Some of the unique features of the hosting packages offered by HostGator are:

  • SSL certificates included
  • Auto backups
  • Phone support

HostGator has on offer 3 different support channels. You can either use the 24/7 live chat support of phone support or email support. If you prefer the traditional method of support that is through mailing, you can use that as well. The plans start at just $ 3.95 per month which means that you will not have to spend a significant amount of money in order to get web hosting for your WordPress blog. The server speed is pretty fast as well which means that you will be able to reduce your website loading time.

Hostgator guarantees 3 things on its website. These are:

  • 24/7/365 support
  • 45-day refund guarantee
  • 99.9% uptime

The best thing about HostGator is that it actually delivers on all of these 3 promises. This means that you will have no complaints at all when you go with HostGator. Thus, if you’re looking for fast web hosting along with superior customer support, HostGator is a pretty good option for you.

3. InMotion Hosting:

inmotion-wordpress-hostingInMotion Hosting is another hosting provider which has plans specifically geared towards WordPress content management system. These plans have additional functionalities like free website transfers and support for WP-CLI. The site loading time is pretty decent. However; it is a bit slower as compared to the upper 2 options which we have discussed.

When it comes to support options, they reply to live chat queries pretty swiftly. In most of the cases, they get back to you within 3 minutes. You also have the option of Skype support or phone support. Thus, the support options which are provided are up to the mark. If you are on the fence about InMotion Hosting, you need to take into account 2 additional features provided by this web host. These are:

  • 90 days money back guarantee: If due to any reason, you are not satisfied with their services, they provide a 90-day money back guarantee on business, VPS, reseller hosting plans. They also offer a 30-day money back guarantee on shared hosting plans.
  • Security plug-in for WordPress: InMotion Hosting comes along with Sucuri Security plugin pre-installed for WordPress users. This plug-in regularly scans for the vulnerabilities and risk in your WordPress site. It also backups your WordPress site and provides antivirus protection. Thus, for WordPress users, this is actually a pretty robust offering.

These 2 features make InMotion Hosting a much superior option as compared to some of the other WordPress web hosting providers.

When you look at the plans, they start at just $ 3.99 per month. This plan allows you to host up to 2 websites which is a definite advantage. Thus, you will not have to opt for separate hosting for each blog. If you are specifically looking for hosting which is geared towards WordPress blogs, you can go with InMotion Hosting. They have quite a few extra features for the WordPress hosting plans which make it a pretty good choice.

4. GreenGeeks:

greengeeks-wordpress-hostingGreenGeeks is a North American hosting company which was founded way back in 2008. Thus, it has gained a lot of credibility as well as trust from its client. It has been around for quite some period of time. When you visit the website of this hosting provider, you will notice that they make a couple of claims which are:

  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • 100% customer satisfaction
  • 30-day money back guarantee

The good thing about GreenGeeks is that the live up to both of these claims. When you read the actual customer reviews of this hosting provider on the Internet, you will realize that seldom, there is a negative review about this web hosting provider. This is the reason why they are so popular.

The best thing about GreenGeeks is that the loading time of the websites hosted by them is pretty less. As a result, your website will actually be bumped up in the search engine rankings naturally. When it comes to support, you will be able to get a reply within a few minutes. The only bit of issue which we found was that the English of the support executives was not that perfect. It is likely that their support might be outsourced.

They offer free migration on their hosting plans which ensures that you are able to get going quite easily. They even offer you a free domain name which you can use as long as you use their hosting. GreenGeeks actually purchase 3X wind credits for energy which they use for running their servers. Thus, they do justify their name.

The regular hosting packages start at $ 9.95 per month. However, they regularly post sales as well as promotions in which you can get the same packages for as low as $ 3.95 per month. Thus, if you’re looking for a fast web hosting provider which has high uptime and good customer satisfaction, you can definitely go with GreenGeeks.

5. A2Hosting:

a2hosting-wordpress-hostingA2Hosting is a dedicated WordPress web hosting provider. The USP of this web hosting provider is affordability. It provides you high performance hosting at affordable rates. A unique feature which this hosting provider offers you monthly payment schedule. Even on the smallest package, you will be able to pay monthly. This can save you money in the shorter term as you will not have to pay upfront for the entire year.

Since it is a dedicated WordPress host, WordPress comes pre-installed on the hosting. Also, there is a free SSL certificate included. This ensures that most of the features which you might need on your WordPress blog are already included. As for the support, it offers 24/7/365 support. You can use live chat/email/phone to contact them. Most of the agents are familiar with the intricacies of WordPress which is another advantage.

The packages start at just $ 3.92 per month which ensures that you will not have to spend a significant amount of money in order to get hosting for your WordPress blog. The server loading speed is also pretty high which means that users will be able to access your website quite easily.

If you’re looking for a dedicated WordPress host which can provide you with good quality support as well, A2Hosting is certainly an option which you should consider.

So, if you’re starting a WordPress blog and are confused among the WordPress blog hosting options available, it is a good idea to go through our top 5 cheap hosting providers list above. We have carefully curated this list in order to offer you only the best web hosting providers for your WordPress blogs. Starting a blog will be a completely seamless experience for you once you choose any of these WordPress hosting companies.

12 Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Business Website

When you create a business website, it is important to have a solid back-end. A back-end is one which does not require you to program code in order to update your website. The perfect solution to this problem is to use a content management system. Content management system ensures that you are able to manage the content as well as the pages of your website without having to change the code manually each time.

There are multiple types of content management systems which are available these days. However, the most popular is WordPress. We will go into the details of what exactly is WordPress and why you should use it below.

What is WordPress?

reasons-use-wordpress-business-websites-blogsWordPress is a content management system which allows you to modify your website without any knowledge of coding. With the help of easy to understand interface, it allows you to publish new content or edit existing content. It is a content management system which provides you with a plethora of options when it comes to themes and plug-ins. Thus, it is easy for you to modify your website as per your requirement.

WordPress is an open-source content management system which is operated under GPLv2 license. This license provides even the permission to modify WordPress or use it without paying any fees. With the help of the content management system, you get proper GUI in order to make changes to your website and to make it look as per your requirement.

As compared to the other content management systems, WordPress has quite a few advantages. We will go into the details of these advantages below.

1. Easy to Use:

WordPress does not require any special configuration to use. You can install it within a couple of minutes and it is ready to use. You can easily customize it according to your requirements as well. The installation instructions are included along with the package. Most of the hosting providers provide one-click installation for WordPress. Thus, even if you’re completely new to WordPress, you can easily install it within a couple of minutes.

2. Free:

WordPress is not only free to use but also you can modify it easily. It is an open source which ensures that you are able to modify it without any problem at all. This helps you in achieving the kind of look which you want for your website. This also means that you can enhance the functionality of your website with the help of plug-ins or you can simply program or code a feature which you need.

3. Very Flexible:

There are various accessories which you can use along with WordPress. These include:

With the help of both of these accessories, you will be able to change the entire look and functionality of your website. With the help of WordPress content management system, you can easily create a different type of websites like:

  • Blogs
  • Corporate websites
  • E-commerce stores
  • Membership websites
  • And much more

Thus, the WordPress content management system is entirely flexible.

4. SEO Ready:

If you plan on ranking websites in the search engines, WordPress is the perfect option for you. Not only it is SEO friendly but it consists of various plug-ins which can help your website gain natural rankings over a period of time. Some of these plug-ins include:

  • Yoast
  • Jetpack
  • All in one SEO

All of these plug-ins have a free version. You will be able to install them in a single click on your WordPress website. Thereafter, you will be able to change various attributes of your website with a single click like:

  • Title
  • Meta description
  • Permalink structure
  • Page structure
  • And much more

Thus, when it comes to SEO, WordPress is one of the best content management systems which you can utilize.

5. Easy Visual Customization:

Whether you want to change the individual visual aspects of your website or the entire look of the website, with the help of WordPress themes you can easily do so. There are thousands of different WordPress themes available. There are free and paid options both. Thus, you will be able to easily customize your website visually as per your requirement.

It is also very easy to personalize the WordPress themes like adding your own logo or changing the navigation details of your website. This ensures that you are able to get the visual appearance exactly as per your requirement.

6. Highly Secure:

The best thing about WordPress is that in spite of it being free, it is regularly updated. The main aim of the updates is to ensure that the security loopholes are closed. As a result, with each and every update, WordPress becomes more and more secure.

Also, in the plug-in repository, the data is clearly mentioned whether the plug-in has been tested with your new WordPress version or not. As a result, you will be able to download only the tested and safe plug-ins. Since the plug-ins are listed on the official WordPress website, you can be sure that they will be genuine as well. There are quite a few additional security plug-ins which you can use as well like:

  • WordFence
  • BulletProof Security
  • Sucuri Security
  • All in One WP Security & Firewall

Thus, not only is WordPress secure out of the box but you can use additional WordPress plug-ins in order to secure your website even more. This ensures that you are able to protect your website from hackers and ensure that it is functional and at all points in time.

7. Lots of Free Themes & Plugins:

The number of free plug-ins and themes in WordPress is ever increasing. Each and every day there are newer and newer themes which are being released. You can install both of them with the help of a single click. This ensures that you will be able to change the look of your website quite easily. The plug-ins add functionality to the website. As a result, you are able to use the website more easily and integrate the functions which you want with the help of a single click.

8. Schedule Article Publishing:

The main aim of the content management system is to make it easier for you to organize and publish the content. In this aspect as well, WordPress excels as compared to the other content management systems. It is not always possible to be online when you want to publish content on your website. That is why WordPress provides you with the feature to schedule your posts.

You can easily select the date and time to publish the posts as per your requirement. This ensures that you need not be online always whenever you publish your content. You can select the date, time and even the minute at which the post gets published. Thus, you have complete control over content publishing.

9. Great for Building eCommerce Websites:

There are numerous eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce and WP E-commerce with the help of which, you will be able to create an e-commerce website using WordPress. The scalability of WordPress ensures that you are able to list thousands of products quite easily. The strong back-end system means that it will not take you a long period of time in order to populate your website with the various products. Thus, WordPress is much more than just a content management system for blogs.

10. Great for Building Membership Sites:

Similarly, if you’re looking to create a membership website with the help of WordPress content management system you can easily do so. Some of the plug-ins which you can use in this regard are:

  • MemberPress
  • LearnDash
  • Teachable
  • Restrict Content Pro

With the help of any one of these plug-ins, you will be able to easily create a membership website using WordPress CMS.

11. Great for Forums and Community Sites:

WordPress CMS can also be used for creating forums and community websites. You need not modify anything manually in order to do so. You can use plug-ins like:

  • BuddyPress
  • bbPress
  • Cinnamon Boards

With the level of scalability which is provided by WordPress, it will actually be very easy for you to create a hyperactive forum which has thousands of posts. Since WordPress provides you with the SEO friendly CMS, it is easy to index these posts on the search engines and start getting longtail traffic.

12. Does not Require Immense Server Resources:

Last but not least, one of the main reasons why you should choose WordPress is because it uses very fewer resources. You can easily start your WordPress website using shared hosting. This means that you need not spend more than $ 10 per month on your hosting costs. When you use WordPress, you can easily scale up your content and visitors without having to opt for a dedicated server. It has been designed in such a way that it utilizes the minimum possible resources.

So, if you’re still on the fence and thinking why use WordPress, it is important to look into these 12 advantages of using WordPress. This is what makes WordPress the best content management system which you can use for your business website. The versatility, as well as the efficiency of WordPress, make it a superior alternative as compared to the other content management systems.