Best Web Hosting for Your Website or Blog

Bottom Line:

I'd love for you to enjoy the rest of this hub and learn everything you need to know to make a informed decision when selecting a web host, but if you simply want the bottom line, you need not look any further than these top four best hosting companies (In Order):

1. Rochen My top choice, and I'm not alone.  More and more professionals that rely on their hosting for their business are switching to Rochen.  The service, price and cost are all fantastic.
2. Hostgator A long time favorite with Web developers (use customer promotion code "peaches" for a free month of hosting).
3. BlueHost Top notch hosting for those new to web hosting, but still want good service/speed.
4. GOBI Web Hosting An all-in-one site where you can buy domains, hosting, email, newsletters etc., top grades for ease of use and cost.

Good hosting comes down to cost, speed, reliability, ease of use and service. Generally most established hosting companies have good reliability. For smaller operators the difference between 99.9% uptime and 99.99% uptime is negiligible. If you are an Amazon or Ebay, then that minute difference could mean real money.

So your comparison should mainly involve cost, speed, ease of use and service.

Speed: If you are designing a custom site, have a lot of pictures and graphics or are developing a shopping cart. Then speed should be a major concern. If you are simply setting up wordpress blogs or single page support sites then all the hosting will fit your need.

Service: If you are new to the developing websites and working with the backend administration of hosting services, then service should be a major priority. You will want easy immediate access to a knowledgeable technical support person to help you. If you are a seasoned developer and know your way around a web host administration panel, then it is not a big a concern.

Ease of Use: Most linux based hosting companies use cpanel, Godaddy has their own admin panel. More ease of use usually translates to less control, more control usually means a more complex adminstrative backend. Which is better? It's a personal preference. Personally I like more control because I like to tinker.

Cost: Easy, if more than one hosting meets your above criteria, cheaper is better.

There is so much you can do with your own hosting account, I may end up
filling up several hubs, but for now these are the biggies (in my
opinion)

Domains: Whether you have one website or are building an Internet
empire, you will need domain name(s) With most hosts you can host
several domains on a single account, many offer unlimited domains. Sure
hubpages and blogger blogs are free, but if you are serious about having
an Internet presence - you simply must have a domain. Unlike hosting
there is really only one factor when buying a domain from an established
domain registrar like GOBI, price. It's like getting a phone number, it
the service provider (host) that counts, who gave you the actual number
really does not matter.

If you have a business - buy a domain. You can purchase one quickly and
easily for under $10 a year. Buying a domain somewhere like GOBI Web
Hosting is quick and easy. And every hosting account comes with a free
email account. You instantly seem much more professional when your
business card reads sales@acme.com than bob@yahoo.com.

Control: You can build a site with Yahoo or Google, truth is you can
build some fairly nice sites very quickly with their software.
Eventually you will have more individual needs. You will need a custom
site, then you learn that you cannot simply move your site. Your site is
dependent on the web server program they own and you used to build the
site.

With your own hosting account you can easily move your entire website
from one host to another. Your custom site can be anything from a
simple one or two page informational site to the next Amazon.

Email: With your own domain and hosting account your will be able to
have your own email. Plans differ between hosts, some offer unlimited
email accounts. You can create email accounts for all your employees or
family members. You will want to check how much email storage capacity
your host will provide you. One trick I sometimes use is to have my
host forward emails to my gmail account which has an unlimited storage
capacity. For my business I purchased a unlimited email storage
capacity from GOBI for 30 bucks a year

There are three types of hosting. Shared, Virtual Private Severs and
Dedicated Servers (Sometimes called "Managed Servers"). Many companies
also offer what they call "Reseller Hosting". These are usually pumped
up Shared hosting accounts.

Shared Accounts. With this type of account you hosting is shared with several other users on the same server. You share the server storage, memory, bandwidth and processor resources. Most websites don't get too much traffic and this usually works out fine. The cost for a shared server can be as low as $3.99 a month - but you get what you pay for. Be warned that many hosting providers put a very large amount of users on a single server, this means bigger profits for them, poorer service for you. Godaddy is prone to putting a great number of users on a single server. Others like Hostgator and Rochen limit the number of users on a server to ensure a responsive experience for all their customers and their visitors.

Reseller accounts allow you to create accounts either for yourself or customers. Each account will have it's own login and control panel. Many allow you to create unlimited accounts. So although the Hosting company may limit the number of users per server - you in turn, can muddy that up by creating hundreds of accounts on a reseller account. A good number of sites is generally 20-25 per reseller account, but that depends on the size of each site and the amount of traffic they receive.

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Somewhat like a shared account, except that in the case of a VPS, you have an allocation of resources on a server. They do not change and are yours alone. There can several VPS on a single server but each has a distinct slice of the server. The amount of memory, bandwidth and resources vary from company to company. The cost of a VPS normally starts at about $60.

Dedicated Server: You get your own server. Maintained, and managed by the hosting company. You can choose the operating system and ask to have it configured any way you wish. A dedicated server offers you the fastest response times and you control the bandwidth and resources.

If you already have a below par web host, or pick one that you are not happy with, you can always switch.  Most web host companies let you pay month to month, as a matter of fact, if you find one that requires a yearly contract, I suggest you immediately walk away.  Switching web hosting companies, although doable, can be a real pain.  I suggest you take your time and do some homework.  In order to save yourself some time start with the ones suggested in this hub.  I have worked with several hosting companies, a couple of these experiences have been unpleasant.  Some of the best known hosting companies have given me the worst experiences, one in particular 1&1 convinced me to buy in with deceptive marketing, and getting my money back took over 6 months. 

My advice start with the web hosting companies mentioned here, and compare them to several others on your own.