I have used dozens of web hosting providers over the last few years and the experience has taught me some very valuable lessons. If you are just getting started with your blog or website, choosing the right web hosting provider can be a daunting process.  There are literally thousands of web hosting companies claiming to be the best. Even worse, the web is littered with hundreds of “web hosting review” sites and affiliate marketers trying to influence your decision.  The good news, however, is that there are plenty of good, reliable and inexpensive web hosting providers available. Even better, if you happen to choose a provider and then become unsatisfied, it is a relatively easy process to move to a new provider.

The Web Hosting Landscape

Even though thousands of companies offer or resell web hosting, the marketplace can be categorized by their offerings to help you determine what you need.  The first breakdown to consider is Windows Hosting vs. Linux Hosting.  This is a simple choice – virtually all Web Entrepreneurs will be using Linux based hosting because the most important web content management systems (i.e., WordPress et al) are built to run on Linux.

The other major decision to consider, is the type of hosting account that you need.  Typically, the hosting offerings are broken down into three types: shared, virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated. [Read more…]