Ahhh….the wonderful world of Web Hosting.  More like the frustrating world of web hosting.  And if you are new to the web hosting world, then it will become quite evident that there is more to web hosting that just putting up a website.

It really was not that long ago that the idea of putting up a personal website was so daunting that very few people would attempt to do it.  Sure, buying a domain name was a cinch.  But then what?

You start looking at your options and see that there are several free options.  Then after spending multitudes of hours and days you realize that free web hosting does come with a price.  Because it is usually slow, has more ads that you can keep up with, may be down more than up, and is just plain downright unreliable, especially if you are considering a business website.  The worst part is that most free web hosting companies are ad supported.  So if they are not making any money, they will shut down at a moments notice, and all of your work will go bye-bye.

About the only FREE website service I would recommend at this point is Weebly.  Weebly is very good for the simple few page website, that will allow you to add your own content, videos, pictures, etc. And they have been up for a while.

But what if you need more?  Or you want more control over how things are displayed?

Web hosting has become so affordable now that anyone can really afford it.  In fact, because it is so competitive, the prices have really come down to a very low expense in the grand scheme of building a personal or business website.

So if the costs are really that low, then what is the best web host for your needs?

There are several things to consider when deciding on which web hosting company you want to use.  And bigger isn’t always better.  Neither is finding the highest priced always going to get you the best quality.

For example, if you are someone who is environmentally conscious, perhaps you want to consider Super Green Hosting.  They have a built in site builder, as well as easy WordPress installation.  And they use cPanel so it is user intuitive.

Most people are not highly technical and want a web hosting provider to also make it easy to understand, with an interface that is also user friendly.

One good method is to talk to others who have build personal web pages that you like.  Find out their experiences, pros and cons, of the web host that they use and also take into account their skill level.

Also, keep in mind that just because you buy a domain name with one provider, doesn’t mean you have to host your site with that company.  For example, this site domain name was actually purchased through Godaddy.com, while the content is actually hosted on Hostmonster.com.  Why?

Well, because the domain names are cheapest at Godaddy.com (at the time I purchased it), I already had an account with them for other domains as well as some hosted sites.  When I first started my personal websites, and was going through the learning curve, understanding web hosting was not a top priority.  I also was using Frontpage 2000 (and still do), because it was what I was used too and didn’t want to learn another new program to publish my websites.  So I needed a web host with FrontPage extensions available.

Over the last few years I have learned more about WordPress.  So recently I have started using the WordPress blog program, hosting on my own domains, to create and publish certain kinds of websites.  So finding a web host that really made the process easy was vital to me as my goal was to create several sites.  So I was looking for much more of an “easy button” when it came to putting up sites.  That is why I like Hostmonster.com

Hostmonster uses cPanel to make it easier for those of us who are not as technically savvy,  or even for those who may be technically challenged.  There are other hosting companies that also use cPanel.

I will be reviewing some of the better web hosting companies here to help you decide which company to choose.