Choosing a reliable, trustworthy web host for your WordPress-powered food blog is one of the most important decisions you\u2019ll make as a food blogger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision has a big effect on easily overlooked but foundational elements of your food blog, including security, site speed and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post we cover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our list of preferred providers is based on our experience providing Wordpress support to new and seasoned food bloggers who use, or have migrated to\/away from, dozens of different hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following 3 WordPress web hosting providers have been hand-picked by our team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Choosing a professional, credible web host is only step 1 though. Once you pick a quality provider, you need to determine the type of service(s) your business needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a self-hosted platform, you purchase space with a hosting company, install your own content management system (i.e., WordPress), plugins<\/a> and theme, and manage all of the site maintenance<\/a> on your own. There are four different types of WordPress self-hosting: <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you choose a web host for your food blog, make sure you know which type of WordPress self-hosting you\u2019re signing up for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With shared hosting, the monthly fee for the service is typically very low because you share server resources with other sites on that server. This pack-em-all-in approach keeps the price per month down, but it\u2019s often done at the expense of other things, like site speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For food bloggers who are just getting started, a shared services web host is a good get-off-the-ground option. However, a high-traffic or quickly growing food blog is going to require more expensive web hosting because of the increased load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A step up from shared hosting, with a virtual private server you get a virtual portion of a server to yourself, rather than sharing a pool of resources with other sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With a virtual private server you have greater administrative freedom and control than in a shared hosting environment, but in our experience, to make the most of the freedom you need a developer’s skill set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cloud hosting is an increasingly popular WordPress hosting option. Instead of your site living on a physical server, it lives in the cloud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With most hosting providers you pay a monthly free regardless of if you use all of the server resources or not. With cloud hosting you only pay for the server resources you use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The ability to scale server resources up or down based on spikes and dips in traffic is why cloud hosting is becoming increasingly popular in the food blogging community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dedicated hosting is when you pay to rent an entire server for just your site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The benefits are there\u2014high performance, excellent up-time, security and a ton of freedom and control\u2014but it comes at a cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrary to what a lot of people think, Managed WordPress hosting isn\u2019t actually a type of hosting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a service that layers certain types of features and interfaces on top of shared services, virtual private server, cloud and dedicated web hosting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Managed Wordpress host that\u2019s proactive and professional can take care of a lot of maintenance-related tasks on your behalf, such as ensuring you’re operating the latest version of PHP (an open source programming language) and the most secure version of FTP and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In most cases, it’s beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To help save you time, we’ve compiled a shortlist of what to look for (and what to ask for!) before you sign-up with a host for the first time or migrate to a new host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s dive in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with a web hosting provider that operates the latest version for PHP is an absolute must. PHP is an open-source scripting language used for WordPress and the version of PHP run by a web host plays a significant role in site speed and performance<\/a>, or the lack thereof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Running https, also known as SSL (secure sockets layer) is a must. A professional, credible web host will hand out free SSL certificates without batting an eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a more secure version of FTP, file transfer protocol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n HTTP\/2 is a communication protocol that allows requests for multiple resources to be downloaded from the server in parallel over a single connection. Most browsers also require SSL in order to use this protocol, so making sure your host is using HTTP\/2 is not only good for site speed and performance, but also security. This is the defacto standard for most reputable hosts, but something to ask about if you are using a lower tier provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many Managed WordPress hosting providers have a cpanel available or a custom dashboard that makes it relatively easy (we say relatively because some cpanels and dashboards are better designed than others) to complete certain server-related tasks on your own. At a minimum, you should be able to login and comfortably navigate the web host\u2019s user interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The responsiveness of a web host cannot be overstated and should 100% be a factor in your decision making. Online chat is a must, and the friendliness and expertise of front-line support personnel should be tested too. Before you commit to a web host, go on live chat and ask a few curve ball questions and see how support unfolds. The results will be very revealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example questions to ask include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, read user reviews to get a sense the quality of support provided by a web host or ask a few food blogging colleagues for a review of their web host. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the saying goes, the cream rises to the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choosing a WordPress web host that can handle the monthly traffic volume you get today is very important. But what\u2019s equally important is the host\u2019s ability to adapt and scale to a sudden increase in traffic or a quickly growing visitor rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s nothing more disheartening than having a post perform really well, but all of a sudden your site goes down because your host can\u2019t keep up with the sudden increased load. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask how are spikes in traffic handled; and, what the fee is if you exceed the monthly unique visitor threshold for your plan (i.e., is it $2 per thousand overage visitors?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Affordable Cloudflare add-ons are a great way to optimize your site performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Purchasing a Cloudflare add-on through your web host can help reduce the cost of Cloudflare’s services due to your web host’s buying power. Both BigScoots<\/a> and Cloudways<\/a> offer customers reasonably priced Cloudflare add-ons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you migrate away from a host, ask the new host how a host migration is handled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Example questions to ask include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stay involved every step of the way! <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s your business and no one will notice the little misses and mistakes like you. Even the smoothest host migrations experience a few small bumps along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s time to feel 100% confident in your WordPress web host. Here’s our list of preferred hosts for food blogs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-support-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Shared hosting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Virtual private server hosting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Cloud hosting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Dedicated hosting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Managed WordPress hosting: is it needed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Criteria to look for in a web host<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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PHP version<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Free SSL certificate<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
HTTP\/2 Support<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Cpanel or a hosting dashboard<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Quick customer service with proactive support<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The ability to adapt and scale <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Does the host offer Cloudflare add-ons?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How to handle a host migration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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