Profitable Blogging

So what are the best blog hosting sites?  Once you’ve decided to take the plunge and create your Wordpress blog, it needs a place to live.  And that place is called a blog host.

There are tons of web hosting sites out there, and not all are great for blogs.  So what should you look for in a good hosting site?

How Many Blogs Can You Have?

I know, you’re just getting your feet wet now, but once you’ve gotten a taste of how to make money blogging, you’ll want a second site.  Or third.  Possibly more.

In any case, I highly recommend that you look for a hosting service that allows you more than 10 blogs. 

How to tell?  In the service, look for the number of MySQL databases you can have.  Since each Wordpress blog uses a MySQL database, that will give you a good idea on the limitations.

(Not to worry; a good blog hosting service will also set up the MySQL database for you as part of the Wordpress installation.)

Which brings me to the next question.

Does the Host Have 1-Click Installs for Wordpress?

This (in my opinion) is crucial.  Unless you are totally into installing software on servers, you will need a 1-click install option for your Wordpress blog.

It used to be that Fantastico was the 1-click installation program of choice, but some of the leading blog hosting sites have created their own installs.  And the ones I’ve tried so far are very nice indeed (and very easy).

How Many Domains Are Allowed?

Some hosting plans only allow for 1 domain per account.  Some allow for unlimited domains per account.  My preference is for unlimited, but if I had to have a lower limit, it would be at least 25.

How Reliable is the Host?

Wow, this is a big one.  I have used many, many web hosts and I can tell you — reliability is absolutely, positively necessary.

Your blog cannot make you money if the host server has crashed!  Trust me on this one.

What’s the Cost?

Obviously, none of us want to pay more than necessary.  But you also want to make sure that the blog hosting site you’re considering is reliable.  So based on that, expect around $10 a month for a host that will allow you at least 25 blogs.

I know, you just want to set up just one right now.  And that’s cool.  But it’s a real pain to have to move a blog, so make sure ahead of time that you can have more domains and blogs on one account.  (Once you get bitten by the bug of writing blogs that make money, you’ll want more.)

Best Blog Hosting Sites

OK, down to the nitty-gritty — what are some good, reliable blog hosting sites that are easy to use and don’t cost an arm and a leg?

My first choice is BlueHost, which I really, really like.  They’ve just moved to a 1-click installation program called “Simple Scripts” that makes setting up your Wordpress blog extremely easy — much more streamlined than Fantastico was.
Right now they have blog hosting for $6.95 a month.

I use them, so I can vouch for their reliability and their customer service.

My second choice is HostGator.  I know several people who use HostGator who are very satisfied with it.  And if you really think you’ll want to get into blogging big-time, they have a great reseller program starting at $24.95!
They also have some .

What about GoDaddy?  I use GoDaddy a lot for domain names, but I’ve been less than thrilled with the blog hosting itself.  It seems there are some quirks with their servers.  But for registering domain names — they are great.
So check them out for domain registrations.

So there you have it — my candidates for the best blog hosting sites.  Take a look, choose the one best for you, sign up and get blogging!