Advice on best blog host

[clearskies]

Could you please post your thoughts on the best route for me to take with the following:

I want to do a blog that people can contribute to
May be also vote on, or score, other peoples contributions
I'd also like to have ads on my blog
It must look really cool and arty
My domain name is with godaddy at present
I have no html or web design knowledge

Who is the best to host such a business blog? How much should I pay to the host.

Thanks,
Jay

 

[littleubuntu]

try dreamhost.com
great support and backend with one click installs for all your needs
go with wordpress - tons of themes out there to suit your style or hire a designer if your looking to spend $$$$ at 99designs.com

 

[clearskies]

Thanks littleubuntu.

Would I be able to put adds on the blog?
Is this combination better than wordpress/godaddy?
Do you have an example?

Cheers,
Jay

 

[Freakin]

Jay,

Wordpress is a highly customizable blogging engine. You can do basically whatever you like with it.

Dreamhost & Hostgator are both usually recommended for intro web hosting because of their excellent support, low price, and easy script installs.

Godaddy will be more restrictive and give you less control over you hosting, in my experience.

 

[clearskies]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Rep added.

Jay

 

[Cray]

Dreamhost and the like are all good hosts, but if your site gets popular, you'd be at risk of them closing your site down for overusing resources. Don't fall for the unlimited bandwidth trap... it only goes so far.

Best of luck in your search.

 

[rumsfo]

You need to chose blog software which will be able to support everything you need. Then you will do the search for the blog application

 

[ldcdc]

Don't fall for the unlimited bandwidth trap... it only goes so far.

About as far as you're willing to pay, usually. If the host has a good reputation, you can generally expect to get your $5-$10 worth of hosting, and possibly a lot more if your content is static in nature.

Speaking of static, it's a good idea to use the supercache plugin with your Wordpress installation, because it can greatly improve your blog's performance and prolong your stay with a given hosting solution/provider as your site will be a lot easier on the server.

 

[~ServerPoint~]

Hello Jay!
I assume you will need to pay for the web host as much as that will cost. Also you need to ensure what you are looking for at all. I mean the sizes and amounts of spaca and bandwidth

 

[thebutler]

Actually

Jay,

Wordpress is a highly customizable blogging engine. You can do basically whatever you like with it.

Dreamhost & Hostgator are both usually recommended for intro web hosting because of their excellent support, low price, and easy script installs.

Dreamhost and Hostgator pricing are nuts. Plus you might end up on some oversold flaky server. You have to prepay for months in advance to get any decent pricing. Look around Namepros and you'll find some more affordable and better hosting. I've bought most of my hosting from NP members and had no problems.

Avoid Hostgator and Dreamhost.

 

[CrazyTech]

Jay, Wordpress is the best blog choice and generally any shared host will be able to support the platform. It fits in well with the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) environment since that's what it is designed for. There is some good advice in this thread to be aware of limitations other than just space and bandwidth. A lot of the discount hosts will write into their TOS/AUP certain limits that can really restrict a site that relies on PHP & MySQL. I do recommend that you at least peruse the TOS/AUP prior to signing up.

There are a number of good choices, and you can find offers in the Web Hosting Offers forum here at Namepros.

 

[clearskies]

Thanks very much for the advice - much appretiated and rep added.

BTW I went for DreamHost and will try Wordpress.

Any recommended blogs I could look at?

All the best,
Jay

 

[fcolor]

Hi Jay,

There are some WordPress themes that come with pre-configured ads positions. They usually are sizes 468x60 and 300x250. I would suggest you to try review Brian Gardner's themes. There are also a number of excellent WP themes. As far as about web hosting, there are a lot of good providers. the only suggestion to make is "Just not go with oversellers".

 

[ldcdc]

Dreamhost and Hostgator pricing are nuts.

Leaving aside Dreamhost's $50 setup fee if you want to pay monthly, there's nothing wrong with their pricing. They're operating in the budget hosting market, and they don't do anything that the other big guys playing that game aren't (see Godaddy, Yahoo etc).

You have to prepay for months in advance to get any decent pricing.

$10/month for hosting is decent enough. The less you pay the higher the chances of the server being overloaded or the more severe all sort of limits will be. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[SiberForum]

Thanks very much for the advice - much appretiated and rep added.

BTW I went for DreamHost and will try Wordpress.

Any recommended blogs I could look at?

All the best,
Jay

Jay you are on the right way. Wordpress actually is one of the best blog software and easy to use. I believe you do not need more

 

[thebutler]

Too much

Leaving aside Dreamhost's $50 setup fee if you want to pay monthly, there's nothing wrong with their pricing. They're operating in the budget hosting market, and they don't do anything that the other big guys playing that game aren't (see Godaddy, Yahoo etc).

$10/month for hosting is decent enough. The less you pay the higher the chances of the server being overloaded or the more severe all sort of limits will be. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Dan,

Sorry but $10 per month for shared hosting is way to much in the current marketplace. For someone starting out hosting a few blogs (not running a huge forum or ecommerce site) people end up paying way to much for to many resources they'll never use.

Again look around these forums and find some more affordable hosting if you are starting out. Also most companies allow you to step up if you ever become the next Namepros forums (traffic wise).

 

[Trens]

Try zwhost.co.in This is the host which i am using to host my blog and the support is really great and no 99.9% uptime confirmed..

Try and say your review here

 

[ldcdc]

Sorry but $10 per month for shared hosting is way to much in the current marketplace. For someone starting out hosting a few blogs (not running a huge forum or ecommerce site) people end up paying way to much for to many resources they'll never use.

A big forum or blog typically belongs on a dedicated. Forums have rush hours, when they can affect server performance, a popular blog will have some successful articles running their short periods of fame on digg etc, with the same effect on the server (plus the regular high level traffic).

The space/bandwidth offer is not important at all. It's typically unlimited or virtually so (in budget hosting), because it's not something most hosts care about. But CPU usage is, and if you pay $5, you can reasonably expect to be sharing the server with 500+ other customers. Your "share" is thus quite small.

So, no, $10 isn't expensive by any means. If you get stable service at that price, you're already getting a huge value for the dollar.

The idea that shared hosting stops at the ~$10 level or so is generated by a false impression given by the flood of budget hosting offers. Shared hosting in its various forms (like say the so called semi-dedicated) can very well cost $100. That is expensive, and definitely too much for a couple of new blogs.

But, my expensive or your expensive definitions are not important. The OP's definition is the one that really matters.

 

[TechGuy1]

Justhost is very good for blogging. We are considering them for our "best blog host" award.

 

[.Andy]

Very good for blogging or for affiliate payment? Your site is full of affiliate payouts I think that is trickery and should not be stood for on NP.

 

[clearskies]

Very good for blogging or for affiliate payment? Your site is full of affiliate payouts I think that is trickery and should not be stood for on NP.

Don't think I mentioned a domain or site actually. Wonder where you're getting your info from Andy?

 

[~ServerPoint~]

Don't think I mentioned a domain or site actually. Wonder where you're getting your info from Andy?

I believe he meant if you have request better leave that in the proper section

 

[squatter]

I think there is a sence in looking through the offers of webintellects.com who have the support all the necessary things for blogs. Lower costs and high uptime and overall reliability make them a good choise, IMHO.

 

[.Andy]

I'm reffering to your scam site reliable-hosts How reliable are these hosts besides your walet? Just Host is one of the many that are on the site many times with refferal ids

 

[clearskies]

I'm reffering to your scam site reliable-hosts How reliable are these hosts besides your walet? Just Host is one of the many that are on the site many times with refferal ids

What are you on about, you tool? I don't have a site called anything of the sort. What's the game with you?