So I purchased the hosting account, manually uploaded the WordPress program to my blog web hosting account, followed the directions to install the MySql database and all the other nifty techie stuff I needed to make a blog work.
Problem was, I'm not techie! It wasn't easy and it took me about two days to get it up and running.
Fast forward. Many of today's blog web hosting providers offer one click installation of WordPress and other blogs. Heck, if you pick the right blog web hosting provider, it should take you less than 30 minutes to have a fully functional WordPress blog up and running!
Here are 5 Features you need to make sure that your blog web hosting provider includes before purchasing a hosting account.
CPanel - The blog web hosting provider you choose should have CPanel so you can easily maintain your blog. There are other companies like DreamHost, GoDaddy and 1and1 that have their own custom dashboards that work as easily as CPanel does.
Fantastico - This is an auto installation program that will install a number of programs and scripts for you with minimal effort. Often times with only a click of a button. It makes it really easy to set up a blog or personal website. Programs such as WordPress, bulletin
boards, photo galleries and much more. Most web host provide Fantastico with CPanel, but not all. It pays to check.
3. Multiple Domain Hosting - If you're just looking to host a personal blog, then this will not matter to you. But if you're looking for easy web hosting so you can run multiple blogs or websites, then make sure the blog web hosting provider offers the ability to host multiple domains on one account. Some will only let you host 1 domain while other will allow you to host more than one.
Domain Registration - Although it's pretty easy to buy a domain in one place and then host you website in another, not everyone wants to fool with this. For this reason, you may want to make sure the blog web hosting provider you choose offers domain registration.
What's even better is if the blog web hosting provider will give you a free domain for buying their web hosting services.
Customer Service - Before I sign up with any blog web hosting provider, I email the company and ask a few simple questions. This gives me an idea how well they take care of their customers.
Don't worry too much about storage space or bandwidth. If you're running a small to medium sized blog, chances are you'll never have to worry about this.
If you're running a Family type blog or other type where you'll be uploading many files such as pictures, don't upload all those to your blog web hosting account. Instead, use a service like Flickr then find a WordPress plugin that will display all those pictures on your blog. Besides, those plugins make your pictures look really cool!
You also won't have to worry about running out of storage or disk space on your blog web hosting provider's server which will cause them to suspend your account.
