Do I Need A Web Host To Start My Blog?

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Do I Need A Web Host To Start My Blog?

Do I need a web host to start my blog? The short answer is yes you do need a web host to start your blog. Simply put you can have a blog or website live on the internet without a web host.

If you intend to build a solid foundation for your blog or website then you’re better off investing in a reliable web hosting partner from the off.

Let’s take a look at what web hosting actually is, why it’s important and some of the potential options you have.

What Is Web Hosting?

Simply put web hosting provides a home for your website. It’s where all of your websites content and data is stored (written content, media files, HTML, CSS and much more). Web hosting stores all of the things that allow your website to operate and stay live on the internet. Without a host, you wouldn’t have a place for your website to take shape.

Web hosting companies offer server space for you to rent for your website. In exchange for a fee they’ll provide everything necessary for your website to function and be found by anyone on the World Wide Web.

But in order for your website to be found, it needs to have any address. That’s where a domain name comes in. A domain name is like the address in your rental property – whenever someone types in the address they will be directed to your website.

There’s not much use having a hosted site without a domain and likewise having a domain name without a place to host your website is also pretty useless.

When it comes to creating websites and blogs you always have the option of choosing free platforms as well as paid.

Do I Need A Web Host To Start My Blog?

So now we know what web hosting is; do you really need it? Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why it’s important to have a web host.

1 – Complete Control

One of the most important reasons for hosting your website on a platform like Bluehost is that you have full control of your blog or website.

When you opt to launch on a free platform in order to carry on operating you have to abide their terms and conditions.

If for whatever reason you inadvertently break one of their rules you could find your website taken offline and losing visitors as well revenues in the meantime.

2 – Take The Hassle Out Of Web Hosting

When you sign up to a web hosting package you are getting rid of the headaches that would come with trying to host a website on your own. If you don’t have a highly technical background and the experience to match it, hosting your own website would be near enough impossible to do well. If you’re just starting out on your online journey then signing up with a web host like Bluehost is the best option.

3 – Brand Recognition

When you sign up for a free blog hosting platform in most (if not all) cases you won’t be able to create your own unique website name. You’ll have to take whatever name is available from their list and then add the platforms overall address in the URL (web address). So for example if you wanted to started a blog about flavoured teas you might find only flavouredteas21.platform.com (platform = the provider). This may result in visitors not taking you seriously. It will also mean you can’t develop a brand image as easily separate from the overall platform. This not only hurts your credibility but will also limit how much you can customise your site.

It also often means you’ll have whatever adverts they want running on your website. This will limit your own ability to earn ad revenues as the site grows. With some free options you won’t be able to place your own adverts at all.

In addition, as you don’t pick the adverts that run on your blog they may go counter to the message or articles your trying to promote.

When you have your own paid hosting plan you’ll be able to fully customise your website and opt only for the type of advertising you wan.

4 – Full Access To Plug-Ins

A major plus for having your own hosted package for your website is the complete access you get to plug-ins. On free options you’ll only get limited access to plug-ins. This can seriously impact your site’s ability to grow in all kinds of ways. For example there are certain plug-ins that will help you to optimise your site for search engine traffic (SEO); a lot of these aren’t made available on the free hosting options and this could make or break your efforts.

With a full hosting package from Bluehost for example you get WordPress installed automatically and have access to its full range of plug-ins.

What Type of Web Hosting Do I Need?

Once you’ve made the decision to purchase web hosting services, you’ll notice there are a number of different types of plans available.

What would be best for you will depends on what you’ll need in terms of technical knowledge required, storage, technical support, speed and how much you want to spend.

Let’s take a look at the types of web hosting available.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is usually the cheapest option available and the one that requires the least technical knowledge upfront. Because of this it’s probably the best option for you if you’re just starting out with little or no previous experience of setting up a blog or website.

Shared hosting is based on website owners sharing server space with lots of other site operators space from a web host. A server is shared amongst all of the websites on that particular server.

For the price you pay and the little technical knowledge needed, it’s where we’d recommend you get started if you’re new in this space.

Shared hosting works best for static websites (e.g. blogs and information sites) that don’t require much interaction. If you need to load high quality files and media eg image galleries etc then you may want to look at a VPN option.

Best Shared Hosting Provider

#1 – Bluehost: They get our vote as the best shared hosting providers. They’re the only webhost we use and they proven to be great for our needs.

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Cloud Based Hosting

Cloud based hosting is a setup where your site is hosted on a network of servers. Simply put your site uses the resources from a collection of servers for its needs.

The collection or cluster of servers is termed as the “cloud”.

This can be a good option for websites that expect to get a high level of traffic.

This is because the load of your server is distributed over a number of different servers.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting plan is based on a certain number of users sharing a server but each having allocated resources to share between them. Whereas on a shared hosting plan multiple users share server space with no guarantee of resources, on a VPN plan users share allocated memory, space and hardware.

Each user as part of a VPN has their own virtual machine running a copy of an operating system.

This type of web hosting is well suited to website owners who have outgrown a shared hosting plan but don’t want to pay for a dedicated server for hosting.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Hosting via a dedicated server is the ultimate form of hosting if you want complete control and customisation.

Unlike the other hosting types, with dedicated server hosting you site is the only one on the server. This gives you access to more resources and a higher level of performance than the other types of hosting.

This is the most expensive type of web hosting and tends to suit websites that have high levels of traffic (think millions of visitors a month) and need significant resources to run at their best.

Do I Need A Web Host To Start My Blog?

Do I Need A Domain Name To Start A Blog?

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Do I Need A Domain Name To Start A Blog

Do I need a domain name to start a blog? The short answer is no you do not need a domain name to start a blog however, if you’re serious about making it a successful blog then then answer is definitely ‘yes’.

Going hand-in-hand with buying a domain name is also purchasing web hosting for your site; there’s little point in having one without the other.

Below we’ll take a look at some of the pros and cons of buying a domain name and hosting but before we do that lets find out exactly what a domain name is.

What Is A Domain Name?

Simply put a domain name (URL) is the address of your blog/website that people use to find your site online. Think of it as your online address; you wouldn’t build a house and then not register an address and its the same online.

Readers will type your domain name into their web browser to be directed to your website and its content.

What Is A Web Host?

A web host is where your website lives and takes shape. Think of it as the land where you build your house on except it also provides all of the plumbing, electricity, gas, telephone etc. Without it, your website wouldn’t be live.

A web host will store all of your site’s content (words, photos, videos etc) and keep them live.

Should I Pay For A Domain Name?

There a range of options for creating your domain name and hosting your blog. The main difference between the options is whether they are paid or free.

There are a number of places online where you can get your blog created and hosted for free.

When it comes to domains it generally works as follows:

Sub-domains are typically free. Sub-domains are those that include the overall blog platform in the address of your own blog. For example blogaboutme.wordpress.com

Top-Level Domain are paid for. Top-Level domains are those that are completely customised according to your desires and what’s available e.g. blogaboutme.com.

Some of the most notable free blog platforms include the following:

The free programs on the above will each allow you to setup a free blog with a sub-domain. In addition to a free domain they will also host your blog for free on their platform.

Although when you are first starting out this may sound tempting, lets take a look at some of the pros and cons.

Free Domain and Hosting: Pros

Let’s take a look at some of the pros free domain and hosting below:-

It’s Free

So the first one is obvious; it’s free! There’s nothing quite like a free lunch and with a free plan you get a sub-domain and hosting all for nothing. This is quite useful when you’re first starting out and you don’t quite know what you’re doing.

You Can Experiment

As you’re not paying for the website and hosting, you are free to experiment without any real pressure. This can be a great tool for learning and experimenting with different blog styles as well as writing.

Free Domain Name and Hosting: Cons

Now let’s take a look at some of the cons for free domain and hosting:-

You Won’t Have Full Control

The biggest drawback of free domain name and hosting plans is the fact that you do not have much control over your blog. Firstly you can’t pick the exact name you want for your website. This is a major issue in terms of developing a long-term reputation. You may also find that although a purchased domain you might want is available that particular username may already be taken on the platform so you could end up with a random sub-domain name like blogaboutme2020.wordpress.com as an example.

You will also have to sign up to the platforms terms and conditions with regard to your content

You Won’t Be Able To Fully Customise

Another major drawback is the fact that you will not be able to fully customise your blog to the extent you could with a paid hosting plan.

A significant boost with a paid hosting plan with a provider such as You Can’t Develop A Brand

When you’re just starting out you need to try build a reputation and credibility with your prospective readers and customers. It is difficult to do that when your website has not been fully branded in your image.

When potential customers or readers see that you have not been able to get a paid hosting plan and your own domain it can make them doubt the seriousness of your operation.

You’ll Struggle To Monetise

Monetising a free domain and hosting blog can be difficult as you will not get control of advertising. Typically one of the conditions with free platforms is that they can post their own adverts within your blog.

This can make it difficult to monetise your own traffic for example imagine if you’re writing to promote one particular product but your platform provider is advertising a competing product. You would have no control over this.

In addition, with some providers will not permit you to have a free website for commercial purposes.

Should I Buy A Domain and Hosting?

As you’ve seen although opting for a free domain and hosting plan sounds like a win at first when you delve deeper it’s clear that this is not always the best option for you.

If you have ambitions to grow your blog into a business then you’ll definitely want to look at paid hosting plans.

When buying your domain you don’t have to purchase it from the same place that will host your website. You can purchase a domain from domain registrars like GoDaddy.com and then choose to host it on a separate platform like Bluehost or HostGator.

When you do this you’ll have a domain name of your choosing hosted on a platform that allows you to fully customise your blog. Having your own domain name will give you a much better chance of ranking on Google and driving traffic to your website from search engines.

You’ll also want to install a Content Management System (CMS) once you’re setup on a host platform.

The most popular CMS is WordPress (it’s also what we use for all of our sites). WordPress is automatically installed when you sign up to Bluehost which is one of the many reasons Bluehost is so popular.

Remember that you don’t have to host your website from the same place you bought the domain. For example for one of our sites we bought the domain from GoDaddy but then host it on Bluehost. This can sometimes work our cheaper though at the moment Bluehost include a free registered domain as part of their plans.

You also always have the option of switching the domain to the hosting provider which is simple enough. Where Can I Get A Domain and Hosting?

There are a number of places you can go to find domain names and hosting plans. Below we take a look at some of the best options we’ve come across.

Best Hosting and Domain Name Provider

” class=”rank-math-link”>Bluehost – this is who we use for our websites and we’ve found them excellent. It’s super easy to get setup and the automatic WordPress install makes things all the better from the outset. They work well whether you’re planning to register a domain through them or elsewhere.

A massive bonus with Verdict

So do I need a domain name to start a blog? If you’re serious about blogging as more than just something to pass the time away then a paid hosting plan with a custom domain is really the only way to go.

It will give you the control, customisation and monetisation potential needed to help you grow your blog from a pass-time to a business.

With paid hosting you have a range of options so finding the best solution for yourself is just about knowing what your priorities are and how much you can afford to spend.

As a beginner we’d look no further than

Why Bluehost Is The Best Web Host Platform

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There are many reasons why people love BlueHost so much and there are plenty of reasons why I have to agree! Having used BlueHost for all of my major website endeavours I can personally testify to how awesome it is. Here are the top 3 reasons why I think BlueHost is the best of the crowded bunch:

1 – It’s Very Easy To Use

For me this makes it top of the list; Bluehost is super simple to use. Even when I was an absolute beginner some 4 odd years ago in the blogging and website space, Bluehost was stunningly easy to get my head around.

2 – It’s Great Value For Money

One of the best things about Bluehost is the fact that their services do not feel overpriced considering everything you get included. This is important as it’s likely that you won’t want to spend too much on your website in the early days (or ever for that matter!).

3 – It Will Help You Get Started

You pay for webhosting with Bluehost in one lump sum when you sign up. Whilst this might put some people off I found this exhilarating as I was fully invested from day one for at least one year with no escape button. If I was paying monthly with the ability to abandon the project at any time, there’s more chance of me bailing when things get tough (which they do all the time). As I know I’ve invested a sizeable amount upfront I have a far greater commitment to pushing through the hard times when traffic is slow or I’m struggling to write new content.

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