Blog Web Hosting For Beginners - 5 Features To Look For

When I purchased my first blog web hosting account, no one told me that I'd need certain features. I manually uploaded the WordPress program to my hosting account, followed the directions to install the MySql database and all the other nifty techie stuff I needed to make a blog work. Problem was, I'm not techie! It wasn't easy and it took me about two days to get it up and running.

Fast forward. Many of today's blog web hosting providers offer one click installation of WordPress and other blogs. Heck, if you pick the right blog web hosting provider, it should take you less than 30 minutes to have a fully functional WordPress blog up and running!

Here are 5 Features you need to make sure that your blog web hosting provider includes before purchasing a hosting account.

1. CPanel - The blog web hosting provider you choose should have CPanel so you can easily maintain your blog. There are other companies like DreamHost, GoDaddy and 1and1 that have their own custom dashboards that work as easily as CPanel does.

2. Fantastico - This is an auto installation program that will install a number of programs and scripts for you with minimal effort. Often times with only a click of a button. It makes it really easy to set up a blog or personal website. Programs such as WordPress, bulletin boards, photo galleries and much more. Most web host provide Fantastico with CPanel, but not all.

3. Multiple Domain Hosting - If you're just looking to host a personal blog, then this will not matter to you. But if you're looking for easy web hosting so you can run multiple blogs or websites, then make sure the blog web hosting provider offers the ability to host multiple domains on one account. Some will only let you host 1 domain while other will allow you to host more than one.

5. Domain Registration - Although it's pretty easy to buy a domain in one place and then host you website in another, not everyone wants to fool with this. For this reason, you may want to make sure the blog web hosting provider you choose offers domain registration. What's even better is if the blog web hosting provider will give you a free domain for buying their web hosting services.

5. Customer Service - Before I sign up with any blog web hosting provider, I email the company and ask a few simple questions. I already know the answers to the questions before I send them. What I'm looking for is how quick they get back to me and how informative their answers are. This gives me an idea how well they take care of their customers.

Don't worry too much about storage space or bandwidth. If you're running a small to medium sized blog, chances are you'll never have to worry about this.

The one exception would be if you'll be uploading a lot of files to your blog web hosting account. In that case, I'd host those files at a third party site and just like to them from your blog. For example, if you want all your Family pictures up on the web for family members and friends to see, I'd use a service like Flickr. There are many WordPress plugins that will show your Flickr photo's on your blog.

There are many blog web hosting providers out there currently that offer all the features I listed above. Don't be fooled by price alone! Expect to pay in the $5 to $10 a month range for affordable and reliable blog web hosting.