Web Hosting

Where do you “rent space” online? Here are some of the hosting services I recommend (note that all these allow hosting a multitude of sites).

1. Bluehost.com – $6.95 Web Hosting

Best feature: Free domain for life (as long as you stay hosted with them).

The platinum pack costs 97 dollars a year (roughly 4,300 PHP), and the package includes one free domain name. The cpanel (your main control area) includes several one-touch ways to install your website, Fantastico and Simple Scripts (highly recommended!). Bluehost is an excellent place to start your online business because the support is good (live chat is enabled) and the website installation is effortless.

The catch: because there’s only one hosting option available, you don’t have much choice but to live with the features of that one package (the Platinum pack). Needless to say, if you have more needs, you can always email Bluehost to ask. For instance, you can get a dedicated IP service (2.50 USD per month) for one of your domains.

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2. Hostgator – a.k.a. “Green Hosting“. Reseller account available.

There’s an environmentally relevant reason why you should avail of hostgator hosting (for those who are concerned about the future of our planet), they utilize wind power as energy. Think it’s more satisfying to know that you’re helping out the world just by using their servers? You bet.

They also sell reseller hosting (a notch higher than shared hosting, in terms of space and bandwidth), which is a good idea if you feel like renting out space to other people. What is reselling?

My first ever webhost was a reseller, and they can afford to offer lower rates to their customers. If you have friends or family members interested in putting up a website at dirt cheap prices or even free, you can get the reseller bonus at hostgator… or you can upgrade your shared account there to avail of a better hosting plan.