If you are ready to start your own online business, you will need a website. No matter your level of technical skills, you’ll find there are a ton of options available for anyone looking to launch a site. One of the most popular ways to start your website is with one of the many WordPress hosting sites. These sites are usually affordable, user-friendly, and offer a variety of features that can help your business grow. I personally use a WordPress hosting sites for all my businesses, so I’ve found there is a difference in quality among these different sites. Here are my recommendations for the best WordPress hosting sites for beginners.
Why Choose WordPress Hosting Sites For Your Business
Before we get started, I’d just like to talk a little bit about why you should choose a WordPress hosting site for your business instead of just any general web host. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) and there is a variety of other CMS you can choose for your site. However, WordPress’ CMS is the best for a number of reasons:
1. WordPress is free: Many of the other CMS options on the market charge you a premium for their service or they require internal hosting which limits your options for growth.
2. WordPress does not require special skills: WordPress doesn’t require any specialized coding knowledge like other CMS. So it doesn’t matter if you know HTML, CSS, or other programming languages. The interface is extremely easy and if you know how to use a basic word processing program, you can easily use WordPress.
3. The design possibilities are unlimited: With WordPress CMS, you can design any type of website you’d like with any aesthetic that represents your brand. There are tons of free and affordable templates you can customize for your site and the CMS is so easy, you can even build one from scratch. No matter how you want your site to look or function, you can make it happen with WordPress.
4. There are lots of different plug-ins: WordPress is the largest CMS in the world, so nearly every company looks for WordPress compatibility when designing their plugins. Whether you want to add a storefront, incorporate a blog, or simply have powerful analytics to track your visitors, WordPress has the plugins you need.
5. Outsourcing is easy: Since WordPress is by far the most popular CMS in existence, finding people to help work on your site is simple. Just use a service like Upwork.com or Freelancer.com if you ever need help changing something on your site that is too complicated. There are hundreds if not thousands of people ready and willing to work on your WordPress site.
I truly believe of all the CMS options, WordPress is the best for beginners. With that in mind, I also highly recommend using a WordPress specific hosting site.
What To Look For In WordPress Hosting Sites
There are thousands of WordPress hosting sites, so it can be difficult to decide which option is the best for your business. However, no matter what you are trying to do with your website, there are some basic things everyone needs:
- Easy Migration: During the process you will eventually have to migrate your website to your hosting platform. This can be difficult for anyone who isn’t familiar with all the complex technical aspects of website hosting. I recommend looking for a WordPress host that offer automated migration so you can simply plug and play, rather than having to go through complex steps to get your site up and running.
- Good Bandwidth: You want good bandwidth so your website loads quickly and can handle many users at once. This is crucial to keep all your customers happy when they visit your website.
- Lots Of Storage: I recommend looking for at least 10GB of storage when choosing a hosting site. A large amount of storage will make sure your website is fast. Also, a large amount of storages ensures that your design and content isn’t limited, so you can build the website that truly helps your business.
- Quality Customer Support: As with an service, you want good customer support. This is especially important when you are a beginner because you will find you have a lot of questions through the process. You want to make sure that they have easy-to-access FAQs, as well as live support for the more difficult questions you have.
- Strong Security Options: Security is critical nowadays. You want to make sure that you pick a host that protects both you and your customers security and privacy. No matter what WordPress hosting site you choose, make sure they offer a SSL certificate for your website.
- Affordable Pricing: Affordability is a no brainer when you are first starting out because you want to keep your startup costs low. However, be wary of any deal that seems too good to be true, like free or extremely discounted WordPress hosting sites, because there are often hidden fees and limitations that can end up costing you more.
- Scalability: Finally, you want to make sure that your website is scalable. As you grow, you’ll need more storage, bandwidth, and features, so make sure that you can upgrade your site to meet your future demands.
The Three Best WordPress Hosting Sites To Consider
SiteGround is a popular WordPress hosting site because it is affordable. It offers some of the important features like good storage and speed as part of its basic package. They have good customer support and are relatively easy to use. However, some of the features you need require additional fees, so it is not as affordable when it comes to meeting all of the basic website needs. It’s a good option for beginners.
InMotion is also another popular option because of the pricing. They offer more features that SiteGround as part of their basic package with more plug-ins, features, and domains, but it is not as user-friendly as some other options. A beginner can learn to use InMotion in time, but it will be a challenge at first.
WP Engine is a little more expensive than these first two options but you get everything you need at one straightforward price. Its interface is easy to use and has some great extras that will make it even easier for beginners. I say it’s worth the investment, so you ultimately get more for less.
Who I Think Is Best: Of these options, I’ve personally had the most success with WP Engine, so it is my top choice for beginners of these three. I would definitely consider it as a good option for anyone just starting out with WordPress hosting sites because it has everything you need for one low price and it’s incredibly easy-to-use. This is also the best option for those who aren’t very techinacally knowledgable as WP Engine handles absolutely everything for your from site security to backups and updates to everything else that is required to properly maintain your WordPress site and the server it resides on. WP Engine is who I use for all of my WordPress sites (more than two dozen of them!).
Best of luck as you begin your journey into the world of WordPress!