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What Type of Server Does Your Website Need?

6 Types of Website Hosting: What Are the Best Options for Your Site? When you’re launching your website, using a hosting provider is ideal to ensure that people can access your content. This essential element in establishing a website isn’t something to take lightly.

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Web Hosting for E-Commerce: Which is Best for Your Site?

What Does Web Hosting for E-Commerce Mean? E-commerce, web hosting, and WordPress e-commerce is taking the online world by storm. With all these tools, it can be a lot to determine what’s best for your site. As you build your e-commerce store and your hosted e-commerce platform, there’s a variety of software to help you find your footing.

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Best Web Hosting For Writers To Get Work Noticed

 

Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers.

Paul Wheeler

Even if you are a good writer, it’s hard to make an impact online.

This is especially true for those whose work is centered around growing an audience, typically writers. A strong online presence won’t be possible without the best tools out there.

A website is an excellent way to manage your creative career as a writer, no matter where you are along your journey. The earlier you invest in a quality web hosting service, the more digital tools you equip yourself with.

But what are these tools, and how does web hosting unlock them for writers?

Here, we will break down everything you need to know about finding the best web hosting for writers. We’ll assess the best practices to optimize your web hosting experience. Lastly, we’ll go through our top recommendations for hosting platforms.

Let’s start with why you should invest in a web hosting service.

Why do writers need web hosting?

There are a few compelling reasons to build an author website. We’ll expand on them when we look at the website styles available to you. At the most basic level, though, they’re all founded on the same core principles:

  • Online visibility
  • Audience growth
  • Centralized content hub
  • Funneling traffic
  • Communication

These are the main benefits for writers and any creative dealing with an audience. Take online visibility, for example. As a writer, you can establish an online presence through a few methods: social media, guest blogging, interviews, etc. The problem is you don’t control any of the platforms these methods rely on.

With web hosting, you don’t just create a platform with full ownership, you can tailor it to your specific needs. From your content layout to how you construct your sales funnel, web hosting gives you the customization tools to create a bespoke experience for your audience.

The best part? Web hosting doesn’t need coding skills, not with the right platform. So you can create the perfect website from scratch without paying a web designer. This gives you an incredible amount of flexibility when managing your site too.

Simply put, you’re always in control.

Let’s break down the 4 main website styles writers use to leverage the benefits of web hosting.

5 Common types of websites for writers

Each website style is optimized for a different purpose. Writers need online platforms for different things, based on available resources, situations, and career goals. Here’s an overview of the main website styles to help you pick the best one for your writing.

1. Author website

An author website is your professional page for all things related to your writing career. It’s where people invested in you and your work find the information they’re looking for. Your marketing efforts should funnel people here for the most part. Whether you want to get leads to your sales page or grow an email newsletter, this is your central platform for doing that.

By building it through web hosting, you can create a layout that moves web traffic through the audience journey (stranger to reader to fan). Web hosting also lets you own your domain name, giving you sole control over your online identity and digital footprint.

2. Blog

As a writer, you probably have content you want readers to find easily. Whether you’re a published author or freelancer, blog content is a powerful way to pull in traffic and generate leads.

Here’s where web hosting is crucial. Instead of hosting your blog posts on a third-party platform, you can keep them on a site designed to serve your goals. There’s no competition from shared hosting. Once your audience lands on your blogging platform, you decide where they should go next.

4. Online portfolio

Web content isn’t limited to blogging either. You may want a place to host a portfolio of your best work to promote your freelancing or small business. The right website builder can help you create a gallery layout that showcases the best of your creative skills.

Online portfolios, like blogging, are a powerful SEO tool, meaning they help your website rank higher in web searches. This is key for freelancers who want to attract customers and authors who want to be visible to their ideal readers.

This style is also perfect for hosting a journo portfolio as well as promotion via book marketing.

5. Community page

Web hosting offers you a way to engage with your audience long after you’ve led them to your website. By using a web builder, you can create a community forum where fans of your work can share, connect, and engage with each other.

Community pages generate incredible traffic through constant interactions between forum members. Your site can leverage even a small following through multiple interpersonal engagements. These metrics get picked up in Google Analytics and encourage organic growth.

How, might you ask?

Community websites generate SEO keywords like a micro version of blogging. Forum comments, discussions, and threads all count as user-generated content (UGC), which gets picked up by the ranking algorithms that determine your website’s placement on search engine return pages (SERPs).

Even when you’re not posting content to generate that metadata, your community is.

What writers should look for in a web hosting service

Whichever platform style you pick, you want a web hosting service with the right features to accommodate your needs. If you don’t have much experience in web design, it can be tricky to know what to look for. Every service is different, so we’ve tried to include some variation in our recommendations.

That said, a quality hosting provider will offer you the following essential features across the board.

1. Support

Web hosting is meant to be simple and accessible to the average Internet user, but site issues can still come up. When they do, you want a provider with responsive customer service to help you troubleshoot as problems come up.

A hosting provider that invests in customer support gives you a direct channel to technical support when you need it most. If your web host doesn’t provide 24/7 service, they should still be responsive enough to help you within 24 hours. Even in the worst-case scenario, your site shouldn’t be down for more than a day, so make support a priority.

2. Security

When you own a digital platform, you’re responsible for the data that moves through it. For writers, this means using a web hosting service with enough security to protect both personal and customer data.

Focus on hosting providers that offer a strong list of security features. That list will usually involve a combination of:

  • Web Application Firewalls (WAF)
  • Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates
  • Physical backups (secondary servers)
  • Digital backups (files to restore crashed websites)
  • User authentication
  • Network monitoring

Web hosting security goes beyond preventing data leaks or hacking. It also means security against site failures and limiting possible disruptions. All these features work together to keep you and your audience safe and your website functional.

3. Speed

Without fast loading speeds, it’s difficult to keep people on your website and move traffic through it. The consequences of slow uptime aren’t limited to people losing interest in your site, either. Slow loading speeds reduce visibility and traffic altogether.

Search algorithms attach a lot of value to loading speed when generating results on SERPs. When users go through the search engine, Google recommends websites that are geared towards the user experience. Loading times are key to that. The faster your website loads, the higher it will rank through search engines.

4. Storage

If you’re posting content on your website, it needs to be stored somewhere. For web hosting, that data needs to be stored on a remote server so your web host can use those files to generate your website. The amount of storage provided will vary per provider, but it’s best to weigh up how much you need first.

Media like high-definition images and videos take up more server space than, say, a text-only article. Your storage needs will come down to what you want to upload, but remember that data accumulates over time. Even if you opt for a smaller storage package initially, make sure you can upgrade later when you need to.

5. Specialized services

Lastly, you’ll want a hosting provider who offers you features geared towards your specific goals. The four considerations above are crucial for any website. However, as a writer, there are specialized services that can offer you extra value.

For example, has your hosting provider integrated email features? You’ll need email functionality if you want to build a newsletter through your website. Even if you only plan to use email as a contact channel, it’ll be easier to install with a provider that’s optimized their platform for email.

Domain names are another factor. Will your chosen provider give you one as a free part of the service or do you need to buy it separately? If it’s the latter, you’ll need to account for annual renewals. In an inclusive web hosting package, this would be a part of the standard service.

3 Ways to get your work noticed with web hosting

Now that we’ve looked at the main concepts behind web hosting, let’s talk about how you can apply them. Marketing your writing through a website is about moving people through the buyer’s journey. Even if you aren’t selling books through your website, you can benefit from the same sales principles.

A buyer’s journey is just the process of compelling your audience towards certain actions. Whether you want newsletter signups from readers, commissions from freelance clients, or book sales, using this process to build your website is the way to go.

We can break down the buyer’s journey into three stages to help you achieve your goals:

  • Awareness
  • Consideration
  • Decision

Here’s what that journey looks like on a writer’s website.

1.Generating traffic (awareness)

Your hosting provider can help you generate traffic by increasing your website’s online visibility. This usually comes down to search engine optimization (SEO) tools that get search algorithms to rank your site higher.

To optimize your content for visibility, you’ll want a website builder that makes it easy to add SEO-friendly features to your site. Features like:

  • Internal and external links
  • Sitemaps
  • Customer reviews

To optimize the site itself, look for:

  • Guaranteed high loading speeds
  • Server location options (the closer to your target audience, the better)
  • Mobile optimization

61% of website traffic in the US comes from mobile devices, and search engines know this. A web hosting platform that’s mobile-friendly, and loads quickly, get priority in search algorithms.

2. Moving readers through content (consideration)

Once a person finds your website, you need to guide them to the most compelling pages and information to nurture interest. Web design does this in three ways:

  • Clear, easy to follow navigation
  • User-friendly content layout
  • Responsive engagement tools (e.g. embedded videos or interactive tabs)

All three focus on making the user experience as seamless as possible. Regardless of the content you post to hook readers, your website should help you move them through your most compelling writing.

3. Action points (decision)

Finally, once you’ve done the work of developing interest, you need to place a call-to-action (CTA) at the decision point. A CTA on a writer’s website might be “sign up for my newsletter” or “buy my book”. The decision point is where the customer is primed to follow that action, like at the end of a blog post or the bottom of your author bio.

5 Best web hosting for writers to help get their work seen

Ultimately, the best web hosting service should give you the flexibility to build your site as you see fit, regardless of your design or coding experience. It should offer you an optimized platform that’s SEO-friendly and speedy. These are our top picks for web hosting platforms that are optimized for writers.

BlueHost (top pick for WordPress optimization)

WordPress is the most popular web building platform globally for a reason. The platform offers over 10 000 templates and over 50 000 plugins to help you create your website. There are hundreds of web hosting providers optimized for WordPress, but only three are recommended directly by WordPress.

BlueHost is one of our favorite options for users and the web host powers over a million sites around the world. But what can you get out of a web host that comes so highly rated by none other than WordPress?

Pros

  • Free domain name
  • Easy WordPress installations
  • 140+ beginner-friendly plugins
  • Officially recommended by WordPress
  • 99.99% uptime
  • 24/7 customer support
  • 100% WordPress compatibility
  • Fast server and loading speeds
  • Daily file backups
  • Large app integration library

A2 Hosting (top choice of bloggers)

A US-based web hosting company that provides highly trained customer service “gurus” to help you understand their services. A2 Hosting is the best bet for large to small businesses and individual bloggers. It boasts of its comprehensive platform that supports Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla. A2 Hosting offers money-back guarantees which tells you they are the best in what they do.

Pros

  • Turbo-speed hosting with various speed upgrades
  • Guaranteed 99.9% uptime
  • Has server locations across 13 countries
  • Unlimited bandwidth and storage (for tiers 1 and up)
  • Top-notch customer support via live chat, phone or email
  • Easy domain management

WP Engine Hosting (premium integrated WordPress hosting)

If you are a writer looking for a more premium way to integrated with WordPress, then WP Engine is the best for you. Its features are designed to fit your the growing needs of your business and work. It focuses on hosting exclusively for WordPress and offers the best way to design, manage and fully customize your site. It also brings you closer to your readers with top-notch data and insights just within your reach.

Here are their pricing plans:

Pros

  • 24/7 full customer support
  • Create a WordPress as easy as one click
  • Perfectly optimized for well-versed WordPress users
  • Easy-to-use website management tools and features
  • Unbeatable consistent performance
  • Depending on your package, it offers backup and disaster recovery for free

Wix (best for user-friendly web design)

Wix is a standout hosting platform for web design beginners. The whole platform is optimized for web building and offers enough support tools to make running a site just as easy. Our favorite tool is the drag-and-drop website builder which uses visual tabs to simplify the design process.

Pros

  • Free custom domain
  • Free SSL certificate
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Drag-and-drop website builder
  • Advanced security monitoring
  • Automatic hosting set up
  • 99.9% uptime
  • Data backup protection
  • Built-in SEO tools

Squarespace (best choice for professional web design)

Squarespace is an all-inclusive content management system (CMS) with excellent features. With over 100 professionally designed, mobile-optimized templates, you can create sleek websites through an intuitive web builder.

Pros

  • Free custom domain
  • Optimized for mobile
  • Live view when editing website
  • Customizable, pro-level templates
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Built-in security
  • Built-in SEO features
  • Social media integrations
  • Site analytics
  • Free SSL security
  • E-commerce tools for sales
  • On-site content creation and editing

Now that you have an idea of how web hosting works, and what you should look for, maybe it’s time to get started. Your writings deserve to be seen, that’s why your web hosting should be able to work it out for you as well. To view more web hosting options, you can read full reviews of these web hosting providers for writing, personal, and business use.

  • Best Web Hosting For Videographers That Won’t Slow Down Site Speed

     

    Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers.

    Paul Wheeler

    Looking where to host your video-heavy website?

    If you’re a videographer or a filmmaker finding the best spot where to showcase your work and reels better, having your own website is simply ideal. Start off by finding the best web hosting for videographers for your video production business.

    But with so many video-sharing platforms out there, do you really need to go through the hassles of setting up one? Let’s weigh it out.

    Do videographers need a website?

    Video-sharing platforms have invaded the internet and are helping more videographers and filmmakers get their work out there. Some can even monetize their work from views alone. So why bother setting up your own website?

    More than just using video sharing services, having your own website increases the chances of showcasing your work to more high-paying clients. Having your work across a YouTube channel or even a TikTok account can be helpful. However, potential clients, partners, and future employers prefer a portfolio where they can see your original work, including those that you’ve done for private brands and clients which can’t be shared on other platforms publicly.

    There’s also the freedom that comes along with it. If you have your own website as a starting videographer or an aspiring filmmaker, you’ll have more ways of expanding your clientele and your video production business. You’ll also have unlimited options in branding your business which is something other online video-sharing platforms can’t give.

    Think about it as owning a place vs renting- You can design, customize, build, and just do everything with your own place.

    6 Steps To Follow When Setting Up Your Own Website

    Before anything else, it’s also vital to consider what are the things you need to know to set up a good performing website. Here’s your step-by-step guide:

    1. Register a domain

    Choosing a domain name should be aligned to your brand name, and well, your business name. Before registering your domain, it’s always important to consider your clients. Is your domain name too hard to spell? Keep it simple, short, and unique. It’s also important to choose a top-level domain (TLD), as it works better for online searches.

    2. Choose the best web hosting provider for you

    The foundation of a website lies in its web hosting provider. While it’s tempting to scrimp on some features and functions, also consider if you’re going to need them in the future. Choosing a reliable web hosting provider also helps your website’s performance in the long run. A poor service provider can limit your website from reaching visitors and potential clients.

    3. Set up your content management system (CMS)

    Videography and filmmaking need to have the most creative platform in order to stand out. This is why your content management system (CMS) should also be at its best. Choose one that can support all channels, especially mobile. It should also be fully equipped with social media integrations, video platform integrations, marketing analytics, and others.

    4. Design a web template that fits your branding

    When you’re a videographer, designing your website can be the most exciting part of this process. However, you shouldn’t fall into the trap of heavily designing every part of your website. It’s important to go for a simple, yet compelling look, and let your portfolio, videos, and reels do the talking. While you’re at it, consider your design to be SEO-friendly as well.

    5. Customize posts and pages

    Most videographers, filmmakers, and even designers generally think that a good-looking website is all that matters. It’s all good, but then they wonder, why isn’t anybody asking for my services? The nitty-gritty details of customizing your website begin with designing your pages to attract not only visitors but also paying customers. How many pages are you planning to have? What should be seen in your menu tab? Should you have call-to-action pop-ups? Should you have a case study or a reviews page somewhere? It’s best to get planning on these at the early stages as well.

    6. Upload your videos and reels

    Now that you’re all set, of course, you’ll need to get your work out there. Here’s also where you’ll see if you’ve invested in the right website hosting provider for your videography website. Good web hosting helps your website load quickly even if your content is composed of large-sized files, images, and other media. A slow-loading website can only bring your visits down and your bounce rate up, which won’t be helpful for you.

    Remember, setting up a good website is like constructing a house. You have to make the foundations stable and reliable at first. One way to do that is by choosing the best website hosting you’ll need for your video production business.

    Website Hosting Tips For Videographers

    Finding the best web hosting for videographers starts by looking for the most important thing you’ll highly need: a hosting platform that focuses on speed. In creating your website, you’ll be able to properly organize your work, categorize it, make it searchable, and give it a design and feel that precisely represents your own brand. Furthermore, a personalized URL rather than a YouTube link looks more professional and suitable for high-profile clients interested in your work.

    So, what does the best videographer website hosting platform look like? Is there a way to avoid video portfolios slowing down the website’s speed?

    You’ll need a lot of storage and bandwidth to post your high-quality videos. You’ll want an easy-to-use UI, but it’s also beneficial to choose functionality above all. Although there is often a compromise when choosing between these two. Beginners, in general, prefer a template-based method. If you’re a more experienced web designer, you will appreciate more tools and the capacity to modify.

    With this in mind, below you’ll find our pick of the very best website hosting for videographers. We’ll also break down what to look for in the best web hosting solution, how a fast website can benefit filmmakers, and the difference between a website builder and a website hosting solution.

    How A Fast Web Hosting Provider Can Help Videographers And Filmmakers

    When it comes to the best website hosting for videographers and filmmakers, the most important element is speed. Whether you’re a director, animator, filmmaker, camera operator, or visual designer, you’re going to be hosting the video on your website. Video can really slow down site speeds, which can lead to a poor visitor experience on your site. Your platform of choice for video hosting must be very fast and reliable.

    What to Look for When Choosing a Web Hosting Service for Videography

    Always opt for the highest speed.

    A website with an excruciatingly slow loading speed is never a good thing for any business, especially videography businesses that require a lot of bandwidth for online video. Many people think about price first, but do you really want to pay for a web hosting provider that turns away your customers? A slow-loading site might lead to a greater bounce rate, which is problematic if you want to rank well in search engines.

    Consider the costs.

    A greater price tag does not automatically imply superior quality. And getting the cheapest option does not automatically imply a good deal. Pricing factors should not always be black and white when picking a web hosting company for your filmmaking website. Before you buy, think about the features you’ll need, the product’s quality, and the level of care you’ll receive. Consider a decent web hosting company as an investment that you should carefully consider before investing your hard-earned cash.

    Consider the uptime.

    Nothing is more aggravating on the internet than clicking on a link and having the target site not load. This situation irritates not just the user, but also Google, which begins to regard that address less in organic search results. As a result, make certain that the website hosting provider you choose provides the highest level of availability. This element, often known as uptime, may be quantified by a number. The closer the service availability is to 100%, the better. Keep an eye on this when choosing a website hosting provider, and prioritize the options that have an uptime of more than 9%.

    Look into storage options and capabilities.

    Depending on the purpose of your website, you will want a large or small amount of storage space for the files you upload. Regardless of which scenario applies to you, it’s always a good idea to pick the provider that best fits your demands. If you want a large quantity of storage, ensure sure the website hosting business provides the space you require to avoid running out of memory. Alternatively, if you only want a little amount of space, you may save money by choosing a less expensive plan.

    Make sure they offer top-notch customer support.

    A website hosting provider must be effective in aiding you in addition to providing all of the circumstances for the success of your page. For many users, customer service is critical, and the provider’s capacity to assist you might be the difference between a rapidly resolved problem and a website that is down for several hours.

    Website Builder vs Web Hosting: What Should You Choose?

    Web hosting allows a person or corporation to rent a place on a server that will house all of their website’s data and information. This space may take many various shapes and is frequently chosen based on an individual’s or company’s personal demands and budgetary constraints. A website builder can’t host several websites or operate as a server for anything other than the one you’re working on. It’s not meant to be a hosting platform; instead, it serves as a storage locker and a building site for your website. Videographers can benefit from both. Many website builder vendors offer hosting solutions, so you can get everything you need to create your videography website in one package.

    Top 5 Best Web Hosting Services and Providers for Videographers (That Won’t Slow Down Your Site)

    We chose these five hosting services because they offer excellent website builder capabilities, are ideal for video content, and are rich in features that would suit videographers.

    wp engine

    If you’re searching for a premium WordPress hosting solution with integrated features, WP Engine delivers everything you’ll need and possibly more. WP Engine is solely focused on WordPress hosting and does not currently support non-WordPress sites. This is a good alternative for filmmakers who love the site-building features and video plugins that WordPress provides.

    To keep things safe, top-notch security has been installed. There is also access to a wealth of data and insights about your site and its users. WP Engine is used by both new and seasoned filmmakers for their internet presence for a variety of reasons.

    FatCowIn the realm of current web hosting, FatCow is a dependable web hosting service that needs little introduction. FatCow has been in business since 1998 and offers a variety of hosting options. They are regarded for being one of the most affordable small business solutions, making them excellent for inexperienced filmmakers and videographers. FatCow is a web hosting company that specializes in shared hosting and domain names. However, the corporation also provides a variety of other services, including email, e-commerce, and marketing.

    InterServerInterServer continues to deliver outstanding and dependable web hosting services to both small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations all around the world. InterServer strives to deliver appropriate and dependable hosting and data services at a reasonable cost. For filmmakers who want to host data-heavy videos for streaming, reliability is critical. InterServer guarantees 100% power uptime and 99.9% network uptime to their clients.

    Because of its functions, features, and reasonable costs, InterServer is a popular and dependable website hosting service, making it the best website hosting platform for WordPress, which is amazing. The company’s strategies are quite cost-effective. They provide limitless transmission, storage, and e-mail, as well as free SSL certificates and migration services. You may also have up to twenty separate websites running at the same time.

    iPower HostingiPower is a famous and dependable web hosting provider in the United States. Small and mid-sized business organizations all over the world rely on the firm for comprehensive and simple website hosting solutions.

    It’s worth noting that the firm possesses two cutting-edge and dependable data centers in Boston. This is a firm worth considering if you’re a US-based videographer who doesn’t want to deal with continuous downtimes and data slowness. These web centers provide round-the-clock security, superior hardware, redundant power systems, and cutting-edge load balancing technologies to more than one million users across the world.

    InMotionInMotion web hosting offers a variety of packages and plans to meet the needs of both individuals and businesses. Also, when your business or website expands, they can change their services to meet your evolving demands, which is very useful for videographers who want to release new data-heavy projects on their website. In truth, updating your web hosting service is simple, and your website remains operational throughout.

    If you, like any videographer, want a stable connection, InMotion invests on cutting-edge technology to ensure 99.999 percent network uptime. As a result, your website will be seldom, if ever, unavailable.

    Are you prepared to set up your own website for your video production business? We hope we’ve covered everything you need to know! If you need more help in choosing the best web hosting provider that suits your needs, we’ve written these full reviews about the top website hosting performers just for you.

  • 7 Best Web Hosting Providers Every Real Estate Agent Should Know

     

    Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers.

    Paul Wheeler

    If you’re a real estate agent, having a reliable website is a must.

    A complete, well-thought-out, optimized website, not to mention amazingly fast when loading property photos helps you attract new clients online and to get you to close more property sales.

    Many realtors underestimate the importance of high-quality web hosting and its effect on their website’s performance.

    Choosing a great hosting provider and suitable plan will help reduce website load times, increase reliability, simplify server management, and improve security.

    In this article, we will guide you better on what are the best web hosting for real estate and give exclusive tips for choosing the best hosting provider every real estate agent and realtor needs.

    How Do I Host My Real Estate Website?

    To help you decide which of the top web hosting for realtors is for you, here is the process of creating a website hosting capability.

    1. Choose a Web Hosting Provider

    There are many web hosting providers on the market, but not everyone is suitable for hosting real estate websites. When choosing a provider, consider key factors such as price, features, and performance.

    Important features for a real estate website include unlimited storage space for images and videos, free SSL certificates, and automatic software updates.

    Performance is equally important because you want your website to remain fast and reliable. You’ll also need options to incorporate for slideshows, image galleries, video hosting, a way for leads to contact you about properties.

    2. Sign up for a Hosting Account

    Once you’ve chosen a provider, you’ll need to sign up for an account. Doing so will give you access to your website’s host server.

    The server is where you’ll upload your website’s files, manage your domain name and email addresses, and create backups.

    Most hosting companies offer different plans with varying levels of features at different prices. The most popular is shared hosting because it has everything you need to get started on a budget-friendly price tag.

    If you have a website with considerable traffic, you may need to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server at a later date.

    3. Set up Your Website

    Once you have access to your hosting account, the next step is to set up your website files.

    You’ll typically use WordPress as your content management area. WordPress lets you manage your website’s content, pages, and blog posts from a single location.

    You can also add plugins to WordPress for added functionality such as social media integration or contact forms.

    Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Web Hosting for a Real Estate Website

    When choosing a web hosting provider for your real estate website, there are several factors you should consider.

    • Price
    • Basic features
    • Performance
    • Security
    • Tech support

    Price

    Hosting providers can offer significantly different pricing, so it’s important to find one that fits your budget.

    Shared hosting means that the server serves more than one website. For smaller businesses with low-to-moderate traffic, this is often sufficient. Most hosting companies will allow their clients to up or downgrade hosting plans on the fly. Make sure you ask before signing the dotted line.

    Shared hosting is typically the most affordable option. It includes all the features you need to get started.

    VPS hosting is more expensive, but it can be a good option if your website experiences high traffic volumes. Dedicated servers are the most expensive option. They offer the best performance and security.

    Basic Features

    Make sure your chosen website hosting provider offers all the features you need, such as unlimited storage space and bandwidth, a cPanel, and SSL certificates.

    Another important real estate website feature to look for is email hosting. Your website needs email hosting so clients can reach you and vice versa. Make sure it’s included in your plan, as well as other features like forwarding, aliases, and spam filters.

    Performance

    The quality of a web hosting provider can greatly affect your website’s performance, so it’s important to choose one that offers fast page load times and uptime reliability. Regarding uptime, look for uptime rates as close to 100% as possible.

    Reducing website load times is a major factor that affects how well your website will help your real estate marketing efforts.

    Slower loading websites can hurt your SEO, reduce user engagement and lead to lower home sales. The best website hosts provide fast server performance and the latest in caching technology.

    Security

    The best web hosting providers use security measures to keep your website well protected from threats. There are many options for protecting your website, including SSL certificates and malware scans.

    Look for built-in features that help secure your website from hackers and malware attacks. If an attack is successful, you’ll want to have a backup of your website. A backup helps you restore the site to its previous state without a lot of work or data loss.

    Look for providers that offer two-factor authentication and other security measures to keep your website safe.

    Tech Support Availability

    Make sure the provider offers good tech support in case you run into any problems with your website. Support could include 24/7 phone support, live chat, and a ticketing system.

    If you have an issue with your website, a good tech support team can help you get it back up and running well in no time.

    Top Web Hosting Providers for Real Estate Websites

    Several hosts exist that fit the bill when selecting the best web hosting for real estate. Let’s review seven hosts to consider using for your realtor website.

    Bluehost Hosting

    Bluehost is a popular web hosting provider that offers shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting plans.

    All of Bluehost’s plans include unlimited storage space and bandwidth, free SSL certificates, and a cPanel. They also offer email hosting with several email addresses allowed per account.

    Bluehost has been in business since 2003. It’s one of the best hosting providers for realtors because it provides excellent performance, security, and tech support.

    The hosting company offers different types of shared hosting plans.

    The Basic plan gives you one website and 50 GB of SSD storage. It includes a free domain name for the first year and allows for five email accounts. You’ll get a free SSL certificate included with the Basic plan.

    Here are the price options available.

    • $8.99 per month (36-month option)
    • $9.49 per month (24-month option)
    • $9.99 per month (12-month option)

    Bluehost sometimes runs promotions, however. If you get in on a promotion, you might get the first year at $2.95 per month (36-month term), $3.95 per month (24-month term), or $4.95 per month (12-month term).

    If you need more than one website, you can look at other shared plans from Bluehost.

    • Plus plan (unlimited websites, storage, and email accounts for prices ranging from $5.45 to $13.99 per month, depending on the term or special)
    • Choice plan (adds free automated backups and domain privacy for one year to the Plus plan. Prices range from $5.45 to $18.99 per month)
    • Pro plan (adds in optimized CPU resources and a free dedicated IP for higher site speeds. Prices range from $13.95 to $28.99 per month)

    FatCow Hosting

    FatCow has been in the web hosting business since 1998. The company offers shared and WordPress hosting plans, as well as domain name registration services.

    The FatCow Hosting plan includes plenty of resources for you to build your website with unlimited disk space, email accounts, domains (one per account), and bandwidth. You can create up to 100 MySQL databases.

    The FatCow hosting plan comes with a free domain registration for the first year and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

    FatCow has an easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder that lets you create your real estate website in no time with no technical knowledge.

    You can also use WordPress to create your website with FatCow hosting. WordPress is one of the most popular site-building platforms on the web, and it’s included inside the two Fat Cow WordPress plans.

    The Original FatCow Plan or the WordPress plans make the most sense for a realtor website.

    You can get the Original FatCow Plan started for $4.08 per month. At renewal the next year, you’ll pay $8.99 per month. The plan includes the drag-and-drop website builder, an SSL certificate, and unlimited email accounts.

    One caveat to the money-back guarantee is that you must use a credit card to pay for the account.

    Two WordPress accounts exist with FatCow.

    1. WP Starter Plan
    2. WP Essential Plan

    The WP Starter plan costs $3.75 per month. It gives you the free domain name, as well as plenty of WordPress themes to start with.

    The WP Essential plan will cost you $6.95 per month. It adds extra SiteLock security to the Starter plan, as well as a speed enhancement feature.

    iPower Hosting

    iPower Hosting is a web hosting company that provides shared, dedicated, VPS, and WordPress hosting plans.

    iPower Hosting started in 2001, the company prides itself on keeping the lines of communication open between itself and its customers.

    As a real estate agent, you may come in with concerns about a lack of website-building experience. If so, you might choose iPower Hosting knowing that you can get help from a company that takes your concerns seriously.

    Several plans exist with iPower. One is the Starter Plan. Unlike many website hosts, you won’t get a free domain name with IPower’s Starter Plan. You’ll pay $9.99 when choosing a .com extension.

    The hosting plan itself will cost $3.99 per month for the 12-month term. If you do want a free domain name, then you can select the 24-month term for the same $3.99 per month rate.

    You’ll pay a $286.80 annual price for a 24-month term or a $111.96 annual price for a 12-month term upon renewal.

    iPower offers a Pro Plan and a Pro Plus Plan. However, these plans focus on eCommerce stores. As a realtor, you don’t need these options.

    You might look at iPower’s WordPress plans, however. The company offers two WP plans.

    1. WP Starter
    2. WP Essentials

    Both plans offer pre-installed WP themes, customized control panels, and your hosting plan. The Essentials plan adds in extra security and site speed features.

    You’ll pay $3.75 per month for the Starter plan and $6.95 per month for the Essentials plan.

    After the first year, you can continue paying monthly for Starter ($10.49/month) and Essentials ($8.95/month). Or, you can choose annual plans for either plan.

    IONOS Hosting

    IONOS is a versatile hosting provider that prides itself on offering several other services to complement its hosting platform. The website host offers domain name, email, website builder, and marketing and advertising services to help your real estate business grow.

    For real estate agents, the WordPress or shared hosting options make the most sense.

    You can get started on the Business Plan for only $0.50 per month on the first year term with IONOS. The plan gives you one email account and a free domain name for that first year. The second-year and beyond will cost $10 per month.

    As a realtor, getting your website off the ground for $6 spent on hosting for your first year might sound attractive. The plan also comes with unlimited websites and storage, along with a free SSL certificate and 30-day money-back guarantee.

    Another excellent option for realtors is the IONOS WordPress hosting plan. Again, you can get started for as little as $0.50 per month for the first year – an ideal option if you need one hosted WordPress website.

    You’ll get five email accounts, 100 GB SSD storage, a free SSL certificate, malware protection from SiteScan, and a free domain name for one year. You’ll pay $8 per month for the second year and beyond.

    InMotion Hosting

    InMotion Hosting is a superb choice if you are looking for a web host with speedy servers, unlimited storage space, and reliable uptime. The company is well-known for providing a 99.999% uptime service.

    There are four Shared hosting plans to choose from with InMotion Hosting: Core, Launch, Power, and Pro. The Launch, Power, and Pro plans include unlimited bandwidth and storage and a free domain name for the first year.

    You can also host an unlimited amount of websites with InMotion Hosting if you choose the Launch plan and above. As a realtor, the Core and Launch plans will work perfectly. Here’s the breakdown of the two plans for a 24-month term.

    1. Core: $2.99 per month (Two domains, free SSL certificate, 100 GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and 10 email addresses)
    2. Launch: $5.99 per month (Free domain in year one, unlimited domains, free SSL certificate, unlimited storage and bandwidth, and unlimited email addresses.

    Both plans also give you security and marketing tools, as well as high-speed performance features.

    InMotion offers four WordPress hosting plans.

    1. WP-1000S
    2. WP-2000S
    3. WP-3000S
    4. WP-4000S

    The first two plans offer everything you need when looking for the best web hosting services for a real estate agent.

    The WP-1000S plan gives you one website, a free SSL certificate, unlimited email and bandwidth, and 50 GB SSD storage. It comes with a security suite and marketing tools. If you choose the 2-year term, you can get started for $6.99 per month ($9.99 per month thereafter).

    The WP-2000S plan costs $6.99 per month for year one before going to $13.99 a month in the third year. With this plan, InMotion provides your real estate business with two websites, unlimited bandwidth and email, 100 GB SSD storage, a free SSL certificate, marketing tools, and a security suite.

    Siteground Hosting

    Siteground Hosting is a superb option for real estate professionals looking for an affordable hosting provider with excellent customer service.

    The company offers three shared hosting plans: StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek. All the plans offer discounts on the first year of service.

    If you think you only need one domain from your hosting platform, then you can go with the StartUp Plan. It gives you 1x domain, unmetered traffic, a free SSL certificate, 10 GB storage, a daily backup feature, free email, and enhanced security.

    Go with the GrowBig plan if you want additional domains. You might eventually use a second domain if you expand your business into hosting free or paid courses for clients, for example.

    The GrowBig plan provides unlimited websites, unmetered traffic, a free SSL certificate, 20 GB storage, daily backups, free email, and enhanced security.

    The GoGeek plan includes all features of the StartUp and GrowBig plans. It adds 40 GB of storage and up to 400,000 monthly visits. The StartUp plan allows up to 10,000 monthly visits. The GrowBig facilitates up to 100,000 monthly visits.

    Pricing for the three Siteground hosting plans includes the following.

    1. StartUp: $3.69 per month for the first year ($14.99/month thereafter)
    2. GrowBig: $6.19 per month for the first year ($24.99/month thereafter)
    3. GoGeek: $9.99 per month for the first year ($39.99/month thereafter)

    For real estate marketing, we recommend going with the GrowBig plan. It allows for additional flexibility down the road, and the monthly visit maximum is ideal for a real estate business.

    InterServer Hosting

    InterServer Hosting is another quality real estate hosting provider that offers low-cost plans with unlimited bandwidth and storage. The company boasts 99.9% uptime and 100% power uptime.

    InterServer offers several hosting options, including shared hosting, cloud VPS, and WordPress VPS. However, for real estate website hosting, its standard shared website hosting option works well.

    Its standard plan starts at an affordable $2.50 per month and offers an array of features. You’ll pay an additional $7.99 to register the domain name.

    This plan offers unlimited SSD storage, a free SSL certificate, unlimited email accounts, a website builder, and global content caching for faster loading times.

    If you’d rather use WordPress with your InterServer hosting account, you can do that, too. The hosting company offers a quick one-click WordPress install. Adding WordPress means you won’t need the InterServer website builder and can add a variety of WordPress themes and plugins to your website.

    Your web presence will benefit from InterServer’s InterShield Security feature. Added in for free, InterShield uses machine learning firewall technology to block malware and web attacks. It also comes with an automatic virus scanner.

    Another attractive aspect to InterServer is the free Inter-Insurance feature to bring your website back online if your account is ever exploited, hacked, or compromised.

    What should you choose for your real estate website?

    The bottom line when deciding on the best web hosting provider for real estate is to balance budget consideration and scalability.

    If you think you’ll only need one domain to run your real estate business, choose a one-domain plan for less. However, use an option that offers multiple domains if you think you may need more than one domain or website.

    Your next step should include researching the above hosting providers we’ve laid out. Make your decision based on those criteria, then purchase the hosting plan that fits your needs, and start building out your realtor’s website.

    If you need more help in determining which web hosting is best for your real estate business or service, we can always help. Here’s our full web hosting reviews to help you decide better.