Are you interested in staring a WordPress website, but don’t have much money for hosting costs? If you’re like one of the million of aspiring website owners on a budget, then you’re likely tempted to begin your adventure into the realm of websites with a cheap WordPress hosting provider.
Because WordPress is a relatively lightweight framework, which can run on a server that supports MySQL 5 and PHP, it’s not very expensive to reserve server space. Because of this, many hosting providers offer “cheap” or even “free” WordPress hosting. However, is going the cheap route safe and secure? Moreover, can you really achieve your website dreams by doing business with one of the many discount hosting services sprinkled throughout the internet?
While you can achieve your online goals without spending hundreds of dollars, there are several key elements you must consider before making a final decision. If you’re interested in making your WordPress site an enjoyable experience, for both you and your bank account, then you’ll want to spend a few minutes and read our tips for finding the best cheap WordPress hosting service (you can read more about that if you’re interested).
Daily and Monthly Traffic Limits
When you’re looking at cheap WordPress hosting providers, make sure you choose one that’s capable of supporting your anticipated, or current, traffic. This not only means your actual visitors, but the bandwidth your website requires for each visitor. For example, if your site uses a myriad of plugins and images, it’ll require greater bandwidth per visitor than one that’s primarily text content.
Make sure you review these limits, as well as any fees you may incur should your website suddenly become popular.
The Performance of Cost-Effectiveness – Server Speed
One of the most important elements you should consider when purchasing a cheap WordPress hosting provider is website performance and speed. Did you know if your website loads too slowly, Google won’t give you high search engine rankings? Moreover, the average internet user expects a website to load within three seconds on a desktop computer or 5 seconds on a mobile device. Make sure you review the speed and performance of any hosting provider before signing up.
The Cost of Stability – Server Uptime and Availability
What’s the use of having a WordPress website if it’s constantly down? When reviewing potential hosting providers, make sure to do your research regarding their average uptime and availability. As a general rule of thumb, anything less than 99% uptime is unacceptable, even for discount servers. It’s also a good idea to make sure they don’t qualify their “cheap” plans differently than their “standard” plans. Some hosting providers advertise 99.9% uptime, but it’s only applicable for their standard priced hosting services.
Don’t Sacrifice Security for Price – Security Features
This should go without saying, but its importance makes it worthy of a mention. Because WordPress is so popular, hackers are well-versed at navigating its infrastructure looking for weaknesses. Because your website will be hosted on a shared server, which hosts multiple websites, it’s important to review its security features to prevent one website from harming the entire server, which includes your own.
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