Want to save money buying a web hosting plan? And you don’t want to pay for extra services that your blog doesn’t need or use? and the web host quality is something that you want primarily? so, this article is for you. We’re going to show you how to pick the right package without wasting money or losing the service quality.
How to save money when buying a web hosting plan?
1. Cheap hosting is not always bad
Don’t use low-quality hosting is different from using a cheap service. Even, if you have a medium size website, you still have lots of choices and with good customer support without wasting your hard-earned money. Here are some good web hosting plans under $5 that you can check.
I’ve used a premium managed web hosting for another website built on WordPress, it costs $90 on average, and later I found that another company offers cheaper packages, but they have fewer tools that fortunately I was not using before. So, it makes no difference in terms of options for me.
The same thing applies to the shared hosting packages if you find another company with low prices, but without features that you don’t need, then, choose it.
2. Don’t use extra web hosting services
If you have a blog, then, eCommerce features and tools may not be something you’re looking for unless you’re selling online. So, forget all the long lists of stores, SSL, badges, and verification that only works for online stores.
For email marketing, some hosting providers like HostGator offer a third-party plugin from Opt-in Monster, but guess what? You should pay a premium plan, of course, to use it. So, it’s just a marketing way to sell the plugin, no more.
The same thing applies to themes, some companies recommend premium these at a high cost, when you can get a better quality design at cheaper prices.
- Related guide: business website hosting costs
So, avoid the marketing offers and only use the tools your blog really needs and uses.
3. Be careful with fake hosting reviews
This is a real catastrophe, especially for newbies, they follow the wrong recommendations, and later, they found the worst hosting service in the world.
Personally, if I recommend a hosting service, I always list the cons, the problems and also the limits. That way, the customer gets a clear idea of what he gets as features and resources.
I always prefer reviews from trusted sources like bloggers who already using the services. Fake reviews are a big problem these days, especially with new sites appearing here are there and then, they disappear. So, when you read reviews next time, make sure you read behind the lines.
If you find a WordPress hosting review talking about the benefits of that hosting for dramatic SEO ranking, then, the guy is talking about something he doesn’t know about.
As I talked in the last article about fast hosting for WordPress, the site speed can help a lot in customer conversion, but its impact on SEO will be negligible or not noticeable.
4. You don’t need security tools
We thought that security tools are a must-have in terms of professional web hosting, but when we tested things like SiteLock and others, it’s just first-level protection. So, for advanced hackers, it will be much easier than you think to access your site and modify the files when you have a poor security system.
What you should look for is not the third-party virus and security scanning that the company uses, but what they build in terms of server security.
Things like htaccess hardening and proper site management can take your security the next level without paying for useless tools. Lisa Irby from 2 Create a website talked about her WordPress malware problem, it may interest you.
For backup, you can use a simple plugin and it will save your backup to Dropbox, Amazon, Google Drive and more.
Instead of paying for those services who do nothing, in the end, you can install a good security plugin, and with the best practices, you can make the blog well protected.
5. Starts with small hosting plans
This is a big mistake that lots of beginners make every day, they always look for unlimited hosting, which means no limits for bandwidth, disk space and so on. However, some who just started a blog should know that 2 GB of space and 5 GB of bandwidth is enough to start with.
That’s valid for sites with a few traffic and normal usage without talking about file sharing, videos and so on.
- Read also: how much does web hosting cost?
So, sometimes, good companies offer limited bandwidth at cheap prices, and that can be your best choice in the beginning.
6. Free SSL is great
Unless you’re building a website with subdomains, a free SSL from Let’s Encrypt is your best option. It works well without any problem and it was built for that.
We’ve used a premium SSL for 3 years, it’s the great Comodo SSL, however, we noted no difference with Let’s Encrypt. We used it for a single domain and so, there is no need to use a wildcard or extended validation SSL.
Let’s Encrypt is an organization that received funds from companies, so, they use that fund to provide a quality SSL but for short periods of 3 months that your hosting company renews automatically. So, you don’t need any renewal installs like the premium SSL.
If you want to sell items online, then, a premium SSL is recommended; for a small blog, you don’t need it, a free one will work. That way, you save money on hosting and SSL at the same time.
7. Choose a hosting with longer billing cycle
As you may notice, the majority of popular blog hosting companies offer very low prices when you sign-up for 3-year plan or more. So, that’s a great way to save money for web hosting packages. Web Hosting companies like InMotion Hosting and iPage offer the lowest prices for long-term subscriptions.
Keep in mind that when you avoid the monthly hosting plans, you’ll save the time, solving problems with payment, credit card setup, PayPal issues and more. Additionally, the monthly web hosting plans are so expensive, as much as twice or triple the cost of the regular hosting plan.
The only case to use a monthly hosting is when you have no money for long-term payment, or when you use a managed hosting that costs higher.
Furthermore, the renewal prices will be higher than the promotional offers. For that reason, picking the 3-year hosting plan is a money-saving decision.
Saving money on web hosting: Conclusion
Now, you have the tips and you can cut off the web hosting costs with good quality. We hope this made things clear, please share it with your friends and let us know what you think about it. You can also use any of these free trial web hosting plans.
