• Competition has brought prices down and is keeping it down as web hosting sites are doing their utmost to corner as much of the market they can get.
• Technological advancement keeps on bringing over head costs down and this in turn is helping to bring the price down and make web hosting plans to be more numerous and cheaper.
• New ways of storing data like cloud computing has made it easier for web hosting sites to manage the sites they have and this too has helped to bring the plans down as well make web hosting plans easier to formulate.

There are various types of webhosting plans available and they come with different names. The best approach to trying to get through understanding web hosting plans therefore is to try and give a general description that fits all as much as possible without picking on any web hosting site in particular or what they call there plans.

The free web hosting plan:
This is a plan that almost any web host worth its salt provide for clients. The reasons for this include:

• Leveraging. Free web hosting plans is one of the most assured ways of getting a potential client convinced that the site should be the one they patronize. Moreover, it is usual that those that. Start with free web hosting would find it difficult to switch to another site when they want to start paying for the simple reason that they are already used to the environment. Besides, upgrading to a paid web hosting plan is just a click away and can be done seamlessly.
• Sites use this free webhosting plan to make residual income for these businesses and they may use it to also draw advertisement dollars or may offer a deal with the person that uses it whereas the site or blog is monetized and they get a particular percentage for providing the platform. There are some sites that use this alone to make more than half of their income.

Paid and Graded plans:
The other type of web hosting plan that exists is the paid plans. These plans are graded from the least to the greatest. Each web hosting site decides on what they call each plan but they all follow the same rule most of the time.  The price of each plan is tied to the features that come with it. Each webhosting plan that is paid for comes with a particular bandwidth. Some sites can provide paid webhosting plans for as low as $7 dollars depending on several factors.

Some of the things that determine the cost of the paid plans include:

• The specialization of the web hosting site. Some web hosting sites will tell you the area where they concentrate on and the services and features they have in that area. You will also get to know that they have a number of customers that are really satisfied with their services and patronize them. The prices of the web hosting plans may therefore differ from others because they have a strong brand name.
• Some very popular sites use their popularity and leverage on the fact that they have thousands of customers to give really low prices on their web hosting plans. They are big, so they use their scale to their advantage.
• Uniqueness may be very hard to come by when it comes to providing web hosting plans but it still plays a part in the web hosting plans that are available and their prices.
• Competition is one thing that will always make web hosting plans differ as the industry is something that keeps on growing because of the growth of the internet

• The wordpress hosting site wants to attract different levels of customers.
• They know that someone that takes up a free wordpress hosting service today might switch to a paid one later in the future.
• They want to use up redundant space and make them useful.
• They can still profit by offering free wordpress hosting service as part of their package as they can use it to generate ad revenue.

For the individual that is contemplating using a free wordpress hosting package, we must say here that they do come with their benefits.

Benefits of free wordpress hosting

• It’s free and this is a no brainer. You are not spending a dime as such and you will be given an environment that is assured and controlled by people who know the business and have the expertise.
• You can also use to test run the site and see if they are really what they say they are. Test running the free wordpress hosting site without spending a dime will give you a good opportunity to see how things work within the site.
• It also provides a good environment for you to develop your site management skills without the pressure of knowing that you are burning up money. This is very relevant when you know that you are still a novice in site management.
• Another benefit of free wordpress hosting is that you can earn residual income even though you are not paying for the hosting. There are some sites that will allow you to create content and hook up with ad companies like Adsense and they will tell you what their own cut will be. Aside from that you can set up that free wordpress site to sell things for you and still make additional income. This is one of the most important benefits of free wordpress hosting as you can still make some serious amount of money with the site without having to pay them for hosting it for you.
• You can use the opportunity of the free wordpress hosting to research best practices for your ideas and generally perfect how you would launch your ideas. Since it’s free, you have room to spend time to see which one of your ideas would work and how you can tweak them to be better. Free wordpress hosting helps take the idea from running inside your head to a platform where you can really look at it and see it working. So free wordpress hosting helps you to take action and see what is workable and what isn’t as far as your ideas are concerned. It is an incubator of ideas and a lab where experiments can be conducted and perfected.

Draw backs:
Now that we have said that, it is important to note some of the draw backs of free wordpress hosting.

• One of the draw backs that are more glaring is perhaps the limited features that are available. Features available differ from host to host but what is generally obtainable is that the free wordpress hosting package usually comes with the least of features. This means that it may not then be the best package to use to test the capabilities of the site. It may also limit how you use the hosting service to test run your own ideas because there are some features you might need that are not just available with the free wordpress hosting package you selected.
• -the ad enabled ones can clog up your site page and make it look really cheap or serve as a distraction to what your site is about.

These draw backs might end up defeating the benefits of free wordpress hosting for some people. But all in all, the benefits of the free plan could help more than anything else.

Hosting Square:
Every wordpress hosting theme should have enough templates and should give you room for extensive customization. Hosting Square as a wordpress hosting theme has six templates. It comes with custom widgets and multiple posts functionality. Image resizing is automatic.

The design is beautiful and you can do extensive customizations that will make your finished work look very different from the original.

Epilson:
Epilson is a highly functional WordPress hosting theme that comes with nine custom widgets. One thing about Epilson is that you can change the layout of its design to go beyond the WordPress hosting theme to serve other purposes as well. It supports threaded comments which is a very good feature and also supports gravatars.

As a WordPress hosting theme, is has a built-in contact form that gives for more functionality. The Epilson WordPress hosting theme also comes with automatic resizing.

Phenomenon:
Phenomenon is regarded by many is the best WordPress hosting theme that is available out there.

• It comes with a JQuery slider and sections that are wholly widgetized.
• A guide through that can assist you in creating your site in a matter of minutes.
• A customized log in module
• A control panel that is very easy to understand.
• Over 30 short codes.

Host Me:
‘Host Me’ is another wordpress hosting theme that comes with a cool design coupled with high functionality. The customization it offers is outstanding and gives you more room to tinker with it and make it come out with the feel and look that is unique to your set design goals.

It has been designed not only as a WordPress hosting theme but its dexterity means that it can be used for any business site as well.

It has highly editable elements like font, backgrounds and color schemes that can be done for a cpanel that comes with it.

As a WordPress hosting theme, it homepage comes with a section that allows for searching for the availability of domain names. It has full optimization for search engines and a content editor that serves the home page. It come with over 80 styles short codes and has unique sidebars. Host Me has ten custom widgets and this is a WordPress hosting theme that comes with high recommendations.

It doesn’t matter the WordPress hosting theme you choose, they are sure to give you all their money’s worth and then more.

• What kind of site do you have in mind? What you intend to do with the site will go a long way in helping you pick the best wordpress hosting that will suit your needs. It may be for business, social and personal purpose. The truth is that even though most wordpress hosting sites will tell you that they can cater for your needs, there are still those who have areas of strength and weaknesses. There are those whose strength is in providing hosting that would suit your commercial ends. So they have the necessary features that will make it really convenient for you if you want to set up a site where regular commercial transactions can take place. Know what you want to do is the first thing you should resolve before moving to the next which is also very important.

 Budget:

• How much are you ready to spend? This could actually be more important than anything else because it makes common business sense to plan within your means. There are some sites that provide hosting services that are very affordable. But for you to pick the best wordpress hosting service, you must effectively marry your budget with your site’s purpose.

You may have to do a bit more research to find the best wordpress hosting service that is within your budget. This may not be as difficult as it sounds because most of them operate with hosting plans that vary and can meet the price range of most.

Having dealt with your plans and your budget, there are still some things you should consider before picking the bet wordpress hosting site that is suitable for you.

• The back up services provided by each wordpress hosting site defers from each other. Some provide 24 hours back up services while others would provide up to one week of backed up data for you. Most times though, they tie it to price plan and provide back up services according to the plan you choose to follow.
• Scalability is another factor that you need to consider. Will it be easier to move from plan to plan even mid-stream? Your site might become so successful that your bandwidth can be easily used up before the fixed time. Some site provides a flexibility that allows you to switch plans by upgrading t one that allows for more space.
• Robustness to accommodate word press features is another thing that is worth considering.
• Support services are critical if you want to pick the best wordpress hosting service. Do they provide 24/7 support service or do they point you to their help section to try and sort out yourself?

• Technological advancement in the web hosting sector is making it easier for WordPress hosting sites and others to apply better and more cost effective methods and making their services available at more affordable prices.
• New areas of integrated data services like cloud computing is knocking the price further down. Cloud computing is helping WordPress hosting sites to effectively store more data in a manner that is cheaper to manage and this tells on the prices they provide to their clients wishing to use the services.

How bandwidth works:
One of the areas that will always tell on cheap WordPress hosting services can be is the amount of bandwidth that you consume on a monthly basis. Bandwidth is actually what the client pays for and what is measured monthly and incorporated in the pricing plans of WordPress hosting services. Bandwidths are measured in megabytes and gigabytes and you are charged according to much gigabyte you consume. The trick to getting cheap WordPress hosting is in the bandwidths you consume.

Low plans, cheap plans:
Now WordPress hosting services package their products according to what they call data plans. For instance, a twenty gigabytes data plan is cheaper than a hundred gigabyte data plan. So the lower the plan, the cheaper it is and if you are looking for cheap WordPress hosting, all you have to do is go for the lower plans.

Site activity and use:
Going for a lower plan comes with an important condition. You have to be able to determine the level of activity in your site. For instance if you site is designed to be a social networking site or a site that would naturally attract heavy traffic there is every likelihood that you will used up the bandwidth space you selected before the month is through. You may then have to buy more and move to a bigger plan which would naturally be more expensive. Another thing is that if your site is designed to use multimedia applications like the viewing of video, there is a likelihood also that it would use up more gigabytes. The golden rule is that the more activity in your site, the more space it uses up. So you may have to anticipate this and getting cheap WordPress hosting by picking on the lower plans may not just work for you.

Getting the right web host:
The first thing to do is to have your site designed and ready for the web. As a start up or small business, your budget should be the watched when it comes to designing your website but you shouldn’t sacrifice your image because of cost your web image could go a long way in helping your small business get a firm footing.

After designing your web host, you would need a web host to host your site for you. The first thing to do is to find the right web host.

Reasons:

• The right web host will provide critical support for your small business or start up when and where you need it most. You will need to be online for 24 hours and they will provide you with expertise that will guide you as a start up.
• The right web host will provide you with up to date technologies at affordable rates. Most webhost services that are in the big league have special packages for small businesses and start ups.
• The right web host will provide you with an opportunity to try out their services. Some would do so for as long as a month.
• As a small business the ability to scale up you plan could be critical or even to scale it down. Some very good web hosting services gives you room for switching plans on the go so that they can grow with you.
• Your overheads are reduced and manageable.
• Using the services of a web host is far cheaper and more cost effective than running your own server.

Strategy:
You can start with a shared hosting plan which is one of the most affordable but it is advisable that you try and start well with a more versatile hosting plan.

Using a small business web hosting plan gives you the ability to use scare resources more effectively.

Available Hosting Plans:
The cost of hosting plans varies both according to bandwidth and web hosting sites. But the good news for start ups and small businesses is that the prices are not so out of reach.

Some could go for as low as $17 a month. And as a small business, it is advisable to start with a lower bandwidth plan and as your business grows, you can increase it.

Small businesses and start ups have access to very good web hosting services that can give their business the necessary boost it needs to have a stable footing in the business world.

00.00.000.00

The third set of numbers before the dot is the key set of numbers that are used to determine if a website is connected to other websites or are being hosted by one server. That is it is used to know the domains that are on that one server. As a rule, domains on same servers are not allowed to communicate with each other as far as search engines are concerned and this comes with penalties. If they are using identical servers, the third set of numbers will be identical.

What SE0 hosting does is to change that third set of numbers so that search engines won’t be able to identify that they are on identical servers. How it does this is by assigning separate addresses with unique third set of numbers to each domain that is being hosted by the server.

This has now given web owners the ability to relate and link their domains together without being detected or penalized by the search engines. They can now control as much as five hundred domains from a single cpanel.

SEO hosting came about because a gaping hole was ready to be filled. It is still at its infancy but it is in very high demand because it is meeting a demand that has been there for a long time.

The numbers of SEO hosting sites are multiplying by the day. This is why it is important to have some things in mind when looking out for SE0 hosting service.

• Make it a duty to find out if the SEO hosting site allows you to select different types of third set addresses(this is usually called class C addresses as in A being the first set of numbers before the first dot).
• Also find out if you can use space from multiple services or from them alone.
• Some SE0 hosting sites do not permit you to have a cpanel of your own. Pick the one that gives you more control.
• The price has to be reasonable for you so check several before picking the one that is most suitable.
• Speed too is a worthy consideration when checking out SEO hosting sites.
• Some do not have 24/7 support services while others do. The quality of support provided is always a big factor when picking any online service to patronize.

Important terms:

Bandwidth Explained:
When browsers come to your site they set up bandwidth provided for by your web host. The bandwidth is like time lengths given to each site according to the bandwidth you subscribed to. It is measured in Megabytes (MB) and Gigabytes (GB). The monthly payment plan you pick will determine the amount of bandwidth allotted to you. Very good web hosting serves allows for scalability and upgrade so that you can expand your bandwidth as your site increases in traffic.

Domain Name Explained
there are no known addresses. Domain names are unique names that can’t be replicated on the web. Once you register a domain name, your site is the only own on the web that has that name. Webhosting site usually come with domain registration services either included in your plan or separately.

Database Explained
Database simply means a base for your data. The World Wide Web is all about data and every site would need a very consistent database structure in place. Web hosting sites provide this for you and computers communicate with your database using special languages like MySQL, MS SQL and SQL.

HTTP
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is the basic means of communication between your site and the internet.

HTML
Hyper Text Mark up Language is the basic means by which sites are designed and built. You can use it to build your sites directly or it can be used indirectly using other means o connect to it. It is regarded as one of the easiest computer related languages to learn although it has been simplified even further by the use of other site design applications that interact with HTML on your behalf.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol is the set of protocols adopted when files are to be sent from your system to a server. Usually web pages designed in your computer and other forms and documents are sent to the web host using files transfer protocol. It is adopted by some web hosting sites as a means of transfer when Windows is the platform being used by the webhost and your computer. In that way, all you have to do is to type the address from your windows using FTP: //

SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is the set of protocols that has been deployed for use when mails are to be sent. SMTP is what is used to set up the sites custom email address.

POP3
The best way to describe or picture what POP3 does is your typical snail mail post box. It is the box where your emails are stored for retrieval and use.

• Ability to do mass plug-in upgrades
• Ability to automatically generate security keys when you are having it installed.
• Ability to add multiple administrative passwords and usernames when it is being installed.
• Ability to handle a number of sites at the same time when it comes to site management.
Some of the things you have to consider when it comes to using WordPress 3.0

Hosting Plan:
Your WordPress hosting plan might effect how you enjoy the full capabilities of WordPress 3.0. The Best bet would be to go for the VIP hosting plan where all the full features of this version are readily available.

This is also important if your site traffic goes beyond one million per month.

Back Up:
It is advisable to back up before doing any kind of upgrade. Some hosting sites back up your data automatically while other don’t so it is important you find out first before thinking of an upgrade.

New Interface:
WordPress 3.0 comes with a new interface. This means that you have to quickly get used to the interface and know where everything is at. The admin interface has been given a one click makeover button so that you can easily change the theme.

Minimum Requirements:
Make sure you check for the minimum server requirement before attempting to upgrade WordPress 3.0. The requirements for this version are naturally higher than the previous.

Plug-in:
Disable all plug-in before upgrading and check to see that they are functioning again when the upgrade is through.

The Upgrading:
There are two ways you can upgrade to WordPress 3.0.

• Manual upgrade can be done by downloading the WordPress 3.0 files and uploading them to the webhost’s server that is hosting your site. You must have some degree of know-how in server management for you to be able to do this.
• Automatic upgrade is done through simply clicking on the required auto-upgrade tab in your cpanel for it to automatically upgrade to WordPress 3.0. But your webhost has to provide cpanel for you to have this done.

Go through your plug-in again by reactivating them and do not forget to do a back up after you have successfully upgraded to the WordPress 3.0

• Ability to do mass plug-in upgrades
• Ability to automatically generate security keys when you are having it installed.
• Ability to add multiple administrative passwords and usernames when it is being installed.
• Ability to handle a number of sites at the same time when it comes to site management.

• Don’t go for the cheapest. You don’t have to go for the most expensive as well because that doesn’t mean they provide the best service. It is best you go for medium priced one because there are a lot of WordPress web hosting services in that bracket.
• Some provide shared hosting. This is ideal of you just want to set up a blog or for beginners with WordPress who just want to get a feel of how things work.
• Pick a WordPress hosting site that provides for upgrades so that you have the room to switch plans without having to transfer your site to another web hosting service.
• Some Webhosting sites will allow you to move from shared to a dedicated server or even a VPS.
• Go for the known rather than the unknown. The known gives you assurance because they have been in the business and have been having customers. But the unknown may be another startup and would need to have a bit more experience. And with the more well known sites, you will have the ability to sample various opinions relating with their services.
• Check to see if they have ftp functionality. This will enable seamless editing and uploading of files.

Some sites do not allow this while others are robust enough to incorporate it within their framework.

There are some WordPress hosting sites that permit the use of PHP scripting but you may have to be given a special ID to access and use that feature.

Some other things you should look out for includes:

Back up service:
Many WordPress hosting service provide back up services but where they differ is the extent to which that service is provided. Some would only provide 24 hour back up service before it is deleted while others could back up your data and store it for up to seven days or even more. The prices too may differ or the length may depend on the plan taken.

Database and Mail Service:
Some sites host the database and mail service on the same server. This slows it down and should be avoided when you can.

Traffic and Speed:
To help boost the speed at which those browsing can find their way to your site, host your blog in the country where you want the most traffic from. This would cut the time it takes for your site to load up in their browsers.

Your WordPress can be hosted in a number of very good web hosting sites. Selecting the best for you depend on what you can afford. But you can still find something that is not just affordable but would provide very robust WordPress hosting service.