Now that you’ve found the perfect design for your website, the next step is securing a web host for your site. Are you unsure of what a web host is and what to look for? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Here’s what you need to know about choosing the right host for your Gridgum theme.
First, What’s a Host?
All websites, including this one, live on computers. Although you could technically host your own website, it would require that your computer stay on and open to the Internet 24 hours a day. And, depending on your site’s traffic, it would require a ton of bandwidth, which may result in astronomical fees from your Internet provider. Plus, it’s extremely difficult to set it up and keep it running, especially for beginners. For most of us, web hosts are the perfect solution. You select a host and then pay them monthly or annually to store your website on their always-on computers (also known as servers). Web hosts will sometimes limit the amount of space you can use on their servers and charge you more for any more space you need.What’s This About Bandwidth?
You may have heard of the term “bandwidth.” This can be a confusing term. Here’s the simplified definition: Bandwidth is the volume of data that can be transferred at one time. Some hosts only allow 5GB of bandwidth. That may seem like a lot of data, but what if you have a surge in traffic one day (because a blog post went viral, or you’ve been smiled upon by the Google gods) and your website is flooded with data requests? If you can’t go over 5GB of data at a time, and your site visitors are requesting at the rate of 20GB, your site crashes. Now, most sites won’t experience a site overload, but you never know when it will be your lucky day. With this in mind, we’ll give you our top host recommendations:Hostgator
- We recently partnered with HostGator as our preferred hosting choice. Why? Because we believe in their award-winning web hosting, quality customer service, and truly affordable prices. Web hosting shouldn’t cost a fortune, and it shouldn’t be hard to get started. With HostGator, you get a one click install for popular CMS, like WordPress. Hosting starts at $3.96 per month for the Hatching plan. This plan hosts one single domain, most common amongst. Next is the most popular plan, the Baby plan. This one is $6.36 per month, and includes unlimited disk space and bandwidth (no need to worry about a crash). The third plan is the Business plan for $10.36 per month. In addition to unlimited storage and bandwidth, users receive free SSL and IP, and a free toll free number. If all of this isn’t persuasive enough, we're offering 30% off using the Gridgum coupon code (GRIDGUM) at the checkout. Join the nearly 10 million users who have HostGator and love it. If you don’t, HostGator is backed by a 45 day money back guarantee.
BlueHost
- Next up is the popular BlueHost. Although not our preferred host, we do notice that BlueHost is one cent cheaper than HostGator and offers a decent feature list. All plans include unlimited bandwidth, but the Starter plan (at $3.95 per month) only offers 100GB of storage space. For $3 per month additionally, you can upgrade to unlimited storage. The best part of BlueHost is their generous refund and proration policy. If you’re dissatisfied with BlueHost, you can receive your money back within the first 30 days. You are also free to stop at any time and receive the prorated balance. You’re not locked into a contract with BlueHost.
A Small Orange
- A Small Orange does not provide unlimited. Users pay $35 per year for the Tiny plan, which includes 500MB of storage and 5GB of bandwidth. For $5 per month, users of the Small plan are upgraded to 5GB of storage and 50GB of bandwidth. The Medium plan is $10 per month and goes up to 15GB of storage and 150GB of bandwidth. Finally, the Large plan is a whooping $20 per month with 30GB of storage and 500GB of bandwidth. Although A Small Orange is a teeny bit expensive for what it offers, it does provide a killer guarantee. Love it within 90 days or get your money back. It gives users a full 3 months to try the product for themselves.
It’s Your Turn Hosting is inevitable. We hope you choose HostGator for your hosting needs. Be sure to use the coupon GRIDGUM for 30% off of your hosting account. [ssba]
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