Best Cheap Web Hosting

I can't believe I wrote this post almost a year ago. I was debating for months about whether or not I wanted to go from using a free wordpress.com blog to hosting my own site. Finally, a year later I can say that I am SO glad that I decided to move to a self-hosted blog. It was a scary decision because I didn't know how long I wanted to keep blogging, or if I would even still be enjoying it a year later.

I don't usually write about blogging topics because I feel like such a newbie and inexperienced blogger, but it might be helpful to some people who are trying to decide whether or not they should self host their blog.

Here is my shortlist of pros and cons I've discovered by switching my blog from wordpress.com to wordpress.org.

Pros

You decide what your domain name is and you don't have to use the wordpress.com add on. Your website name is shorter and easier to remember!

You can use your blog to provide a bit of income if you own the domain and host your webpage by linking adds to your page.

You own your website!

More customization options. You can make your website look exactly the way you want. (I have found my limited computer skills have made this not quite true, but I'm working on it..hahah)

Cons

It's not free.

It takes more time to manage.

Personally, I was wary, but I think the pros have far outweighed the cons. This site also has some helpful tips!

The first step is to find a web host. There are a whole slew of web hosts to choose from. Many bloggers rave about BlueHost. I read hundreds of reviews and stories about other bloggers experiences with self-hosting and ended up deciding that ipage would be the most affordable and appropriate host for my humble blog. I can definitely see the benefits of using BlueHost or other companies for larger blogs with millions of views, but it was a bit pricey for me and I knew I could always switch hosts if I didn't like how ipage was working out. They have been great to work with and have answered all of my questions super quickly.

Next step is to buy your domain name. If you have already purchased the domain name you like from a company other than your host it is pretty easy to switch it to your host. You can also usually purchase the domain directly through your host. Sometimes the webhost will offer a free domain name when you purchase their hosting plans.

Next I redirected my wordpress.com traffic to my new webpage! I still used wordpress so I just updated my theme and spent a lot of time (I mean a lot of time) fixing and refixing the layout over and over until I settled on what it looks like now. There is still a lot of different things I'd love to update, but everything takes so much time!

Bloggers! Do you self-host your blog, when did you make the switch, and are you happy you did? 

Source: Self-Hosting Your Blog