Blogging Tips with Francis Alaeto

Just before I dive into the topic proper, let me try and explain Hosting, so even a complete newbie can follow through the rest of this article.

Hosting Explained.
Hosting can be said to be the place/location of your website/blog on the Internet. This location is normally called server (a type of computer that host your blog).

What does it mean to host your blog?
Imagine you are trying to start a new business. Where would you prefer to locate your business, if money and space were not a problem? I know you won’t want to have it located where it will be difficult for anyone to find it or perhaps where someone wanting to do business with you will require a map just to get to the location of your business.

This would mean the death of your business even before it got started. It doesn’t matter how cheap you got the place, your decision would be killing your new business.

…This is simply what you should bear in mind when making your decision

Therefore, if you do not want to have your subscribers, customers and or visitors finding it real difficult locating your blog then one very important issue every blogger must consider with all seriousness is where he will be hosting his blog(s).

Though you can always change host if you notice anything “funny” but you definitely don’t want your blog going down or having any avoidable challenges just because you made the wrong decision at the very start. It can easily have some negative impact on the productivity and success of your blog.

So, it’s very important that out of hundreds of hosting options available you are able to choose the right hosting service provider for your blog. In this article I have outlined 5 important checklists to look out for, when you are making any blog hosting decision.

Now, I need to say this, if you are looking at using a free blog then you don’t have to worry about hosting as any free blog platform you end up using will be taking care of the hosting for you.

However, if you are considering “a paid blog” (setting up a blog only after registering and hosting your domain) then this article is for you.

…Let now take a look at the topic of the day.

Top 5 Blog Hosting checklists.

1) What are your hosting needs:
This is the very first thing I try to find out from people who seek my assistance in hosting their blog. It is very important you try and picture what your needs are before looking at any other criteria.

At this point every blogger must consider its own needs. Just as our blogging goals and activity do differ from one another in some ways, don’t you think our hosting needs may as well be? This reminds me of the saying “different stroke for different fox.”

It is very vital you know what you are looking at achieving. For instance, before I opted for the hosting plan I currently use, I had to pay someone to take care of my hosting for me since he had a hosting plan that could accommodate as many domains as possible.

That singular act saved me a lot as I didn’t have to pay on a monthly basis, infact what I paid for a year was not up to what I could have paid for two month if I had opted to take care of the hosting myself.

So, one question I do love to ask, especially to a first time blogger is “why would you want to get a hosting plan that can host unlimited domains just to end up having a single blog on it?” …Do you actually need it? …you are the only one who can best answer the above questions.

Today I personally host all my websites including those of my clients with Kiosk. You may choose to opt for this hosting plan if you are looking at hosting quite a large number of websites/blogs. But if you are just starting out and won’t be hosting a large number of site you may get someone to do the hosting for you.

Also, you should be able to determine what features you will need to help ease your hosting process …this I will explain below.

2) 24/7 customer support:
If I must say, this is very …very important. Personally I hate to wait for days, even hours just to get answer/support on a pressing issue and I won’t mind paying some more for good customer service. So you want to be sure that the hosting company you are looking at choosing has a 24/7 support system in place.

To find out just go ahead and open a support ticket. To do that just use their support section, though you may need to have an account with them before you can gain access to their support section. This shouldn’t be a problem as most of them do all you to test drive their service for a month for as little as $1, if not completely for free.

All you may need to do once you gain access is to ask the web hosting service questions about their service …you might want to ask them about their complete service or an aspect of their service …telling them you need to know more and be sure this a good choice of hosting for you.

With this you should be able to see how there response goes …how knowledgeable and friendly are their support staff? …is the response positive and most importantly, is it quick? If they get back to you within 48 hours that may just be fair enough but anything above that is completely not good for your blog.

…Remember you are still test driving their service. So, if they don’t meet up to expectation you definitely know what is best for you to do. You also want to make sure that there are different ways by which you can contact their support service …phone, e-mail, live chat, or online ticket submission etc.

3) CPanel and Fantastico:
When it comes to hosting you blog you actually want to make sure that your hosting provider has the basic features that will help simplify your work. Among these features you want to be sure it comes with a CPanel (the easiest of all control panels).

The CPanel should also come with Fantastico apart from the many other important web application that you get to find in it, such as the web mail application (use in creating your personalized e-mail addresses).

With the aid of fantastico, you can easily and automatically install many web scripts (e.g. WordPress automatic installation program). With it the installation of your blog is effortless and almost instant. Can be setup within minutes, if you know how.

One thing I can assure you is that you definitely don’t want to go through the stress of having to do without these features and you don’t have any reason for not having it as part of the features that comes with your hosting plan as many hosting service providers do offer these web applications.

…These are very important features that you should be on the look out for.

4) Reliability:
The reliability of the hosting service provider is very vital. In making a decision, you need to be sure that you can actually rely on their service. You do not want a situation where something goes wrong, whether it’s due to power outage or due to a problem with where the server is located, only for it to keep the activity of your blog in suspense.

You want to be sure they have backup servers as well as backup power sources (e.g. generator). It should be a seamless backup.

Recently, the company I host my blogs with where kind of moving, I received several email from them on what was happening however, I did not bother to follow up with the emails as it really didn’t affect any of my blogs.

In summary, you want you blogs to still be online …you do not want them down no matter what.

5) Consider the cost of the service:
I actually decided to write on this as the last part of the five checklists, if not I will actually have it as part of the other checklists (I should be writing them latter). This is because I think a lot of people, when choosing a host tends to place there decisions on the price.

While looking out for the price is not necessarily bad, I think pricing shouldn’t be more important than the other four factors already listed. After all, it doesn’t really cost that much to host your blog. If you take out time to search, you will definitely find alot of hosting service at what I may call a giveaway price, but is that what you are actually looking for? …Is that your true need?

Taking a look at some of the hosting price today, you should notice that they range from $1 to over $150 monthly, depending on what you want. This simply makes hosting quite affordable though some seems to be a bit on the high side.

However, using a cheap service might cost you more on the long run. I will never recommend you choose your host based on the price. If you are truly serious about blogging then pricing should not be a problem.

Now, I need you to know that, these are the basic factors you have to consider. So go ahead and make your hosting decision. Like I said, I use the hosting service of kiosk and I highly recommend it, you can be rest assured that it meets all of the above criteria.

Also, you need to know that their monthly charges are just $44.5. It is a bulk account that can host several website/blog. However, you can open an account with them today for just $1 and test drive their service for 30 days. That is indeed a fair advantage.

Hosting your blog isn’t that difficult. Infact many domain registrar service and hosting providers have a well detailed guide that anyone can follow to get things done.

However, if you are new to blogging (paid blogging) and don’t just seem to understand how hosting works …I mean you are still trying to figure out how to install blogs …use cpanel, fantastico and all other complexities of self hosting your blog then you might as well find someone to do it for you.

Finally, if after reading this article, you think or still find it quite a hassle to self host your blog or you just can’t afford the monthly hosting plan, I will likewise advice you get someone to do it for you.