Looking at Hosting Services

I am looking at Hosting Services that I might use in the near future. While there are quite a few hosting services available, I am interested in two. I will be discussing three services, the first being the one I use now and then I will take a closer look at the other two.

WORDPRESS

I love the WordPress look and feel. It enables me to write blogs such as this as well as have a modern and powerful website. Looking to the future I am leaving the WordPress hosting because of its cost.

Why do I love WordPress?

I have been an author since 2003 and have built several websites. I have learned how to do so and am confident I can do it again. But WordPress is a powerful host that provides important tools, such as Jetpack and WooCommerce plugins. They also have an amazing storefront theme that enables me to market my products with relative ease.

So why change?

I got into this problem by upgrading twice last year. First, I upgraded from Personal to Premium and later to Business. But as this year began, I realized that I was facing a large upfront cost that was less than desirable. Yet I love WordPress. What to do?

I decided to look around for a web hosting site that made use of WordPress. I found two that I liked and will discuss after the break.

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Now back to the article.

The next two hosting sites offer plans that can by paid for monthly or annually, whereas WordPress is only on an annual basis. So, let’s take a look at the two finalists in my search for a hosting site.

BLUEHOST

BlueHost has 4 plans: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. I discuss each and note the price.

Basic Plan

This sells at a discounted price of $2.95/month for a term of 12 months. It is aimed at beginners, allows one domain, has free WordPress (WP) installation. While the price is excellent, this plan is meant for someone just getting started. I need more than it offers.

Plus Plan

This plan has everything that the Basic Plan has and more. It offers Office 365, which would be great except I already have that through Godaddy. It sells for the discounted price of $5.45/month and auto renews at #13.99/month.

Plus Choice

This plan has all that the Plus plan has, but also includes Domain Privacy and free (1 year) automated backup plus 20 GB. The plan sells for $5.45/month, auto renewing at $18.99/month.

Pro

Their top of the line plan sells at the discounted price of $5.45/month, includes 40GB, and auto renewing at $28.99/month. It includes all of Plus Choice and free automated backup with no time limit.

All of these plans included WordPress integration, which I consider a must.

SITEGROUND

SiteGround also supports WordPress and has 3 plans: Startup, Grow Big, and GoGeek.

Startup

This plan has a discounted price of $3.99 and auto renews at $14.99. It is comparable to BlueHost’s Basic Plan. It is limited to one domain and is meant for the beginner.

Grow Big

This plan has a discounted price of $6.69 and compares to Plus Choice with 20GB Web Space, 100,000 monthly visits, free WP installation, and more. Like the Plus Choice this plan provides all that I need and more.

GoGeek

The plan is at the discounted price of $10.69/month and auto renews at $39.99. It has everything offered in Grow Big but with 40GB of Web Space, 400,000 visits monthly, and other additional features.

At first glance, BlueHost is the cheapest. However, when I compared the strengths of the two hosts, I found that SiteGround is closer to my needs than BlueHost. As of this writing, I believe that SiteGround’s Grow Big is the plan I will be going with.

Doing so will enable me to have two blogs (one for me and one for my wife Tess), plus three domains.

Why 3 domains?

One will by my primary site, one will be my website which will be linked to the primary but allow people to get to know me and my books. The remaining domain will be for Tess and allow people to get to know her and her books.

I have consulted an expert in domain development and uses and he suggested the above plan that will enable Tess and me to promote our author brands plus link our books to the TR Independent Store.

This move from WordPress will be as smooth as possible and allow you to visit our store seamlessly. I will continue to update you on the website move.

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