WordPress.com is a great way to start a blog or website with ease. You do not have to worry about web hosting, security, or other things that come associated with hosting your own WordPress site. However, at times, you might need to migrate from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress website.

The reasons for such a migration from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress installation can vary. With that said, how can you migrate from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress? This guide will offer a step-by-step explanation of how to do it.

But first, let us discuss when and why you would need to migrate from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress.

Why Should You Migrate from WordPress.com and When?

The reasons for deciding to migrate from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress can be plenty. Consider the following examples:

• You have outgrown the WordPress.com atmosphere and you need additional services and features. For example, you are in need of custom SSL certificates that can only be installed on a self-hosted WordPress setup.
• Alternatively, you may want to make use of advanced features such as custom Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugins, security plugins and measures, editing and workflow methodology, user analytics plugins, etc. None of these special plugins (or any such WordPress plugin for that matter) can be installed on WordPress.com.
• You are trying to run a multi-author blog or magazine. In this case, WordPress.com will require you to ask all your writers and authors to sign up for an account. This does not seem as professional as having them sign up for an account on your site.
• You are wanting to sell products on your site by means of WooCommerce or any other eCommerce plugin. Technically, WordPress.com can still be used for very basic level of eCommerce, however you will be severely limited in terms of features. Plus, PCI compliance and other security measures will require you to have your own self-hosted website.
• You want to be in control of your own data. With WordPress.com your blog or site is at the mercy of WordPress.com and it can be deleted without warning if you violate their terms of use. On a self-hosted WordPress website, you get to decide what you wish to post and when. Plus, you can also keep backups of your data in any manner you deem fit, such that even if something goes wrong, you remain in control of your content.

Naturally, it is obvious that migrating from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress website or blog is a very good idea for most cases. It will give you more freedom, more customization and management measures, and so on.

But what if you do not really need that migration at all? In some cases, WordPress.com might just be ideal for your requirements.

Why and When Should You Not Migrate Away from WordPress.com?

In certain cases, migrating away from WordPress.com may not be recommended. For example, here are some scenarios wherein you will be better off staying with WordPress.com as compared to going the self-hosted route:

• You just need a simple blog and website and do not want to worry about special features and plugins like custom SEO metadata, security and database optimization measures, etc.
• You cannot or do not wish to manage a web hosting account all by yourself. Even at the very minimum, you will still need to ensure your cPanel password is secure, your WordPress website is fully optimized for better performance, you have a security strategy in place to prevent malicious code injections, etc.
• You do not wish to deal with manual updates for plugins, themes, WordPress core files, etc. WordPress.com handles all updates for you but for self-hosted WordPress installations, you need to manually ensure everything is updated and in good health. Plus, you cannot ignore updates as they come with security patches and out of date plugins or themes can put your website at risk.
• You just prefer the simplicity that WordPress.com has to offer. You like the fact that everything just works out of the box and there are no custom extensions or code to deal with.
• Your website or blog depends on the WordPress.com community for its readership. While your WordPress.com readers can still follow your blog even if it is self-hosted, you may not be featured anymore on the WordPress.com reading recommendations list. If the bulk of your traffic comes from such community-driven recommendations, migrating away from WordPress.com can affect your traffic stats in a negative manner.

Now that you have compared both the pros and cons of migrating from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress setup, and if you still wish to go ahead with it, here is how to do it. Let us take a look at it in the form of a step-by-step guide.

Migrating from WordPress.com to Self-Hosted WordPress — Step-by-Step Guide

First, you need to setup your self-hosted WordPress blog. This means you will need to purchase a web hosting package for it too. There are many good web hosting providers out there and you can take a pick based on your requirements. If you need advice, read some web hosting reviews to better assess the providers in question.

Once you have decided on a web host, you can install WordPress on your hosting account. If you are using a custom domain on WordPress.com you may wish to signup using the same domain name too. At this point, do not change nameservers straightaway. Also, bear in mind that every decent web hosting provider should allow you to install WordPress within minutes using one-click installation methods such as Softaculous. If yours does not, change your hosting provider.

Now, login to your WordPress.com blog and head to the admin panel. In the Tools menu, you will find an Export option.

You will find two options: Export and Guided Transfer. If you can spend the requisite amount for guided transfer method, you can get everything done for $129. There will be no effort required on your part. However, this option requires you to purchase hosting from one of WordPress.com preferred partners — the first name is BlueHost (EIG host), and that will tell you a lot about the quality of such “partners”. Therefore, it is better to avoid burning $129 for this Guided Transfer to such an unreliable hosting service provider.

The Export option is what you need. Once you click Start Export, you can selectively choose what all you need to download. Generally, All Content is what you will prefer, but for special cases, you may choose to download only posts, pages, and so on.

The downloaded export file will be an XML file. Do not attempt to open or edit it as it may corrupt the data.

Now, head on to your self-hosted WordPress installation. Make sure that you have changed nameservers (if using a custom domain) to point to the new self-hosted WordPress installation.

At this point, be sure NOT to delete your WordPress.com blog. This is especially vital if you have images and other media on your WordPress.com site. Your export file does not contain any images — instead, it only references to the said images and they will be downloaded on the fly when you begin the import.

Now, in your self-hosted WordPress website, head to the Tools menu again. But this time, select Import. You will find a list of “importers”. You need to install the last option: WordPress importer.

Once installed, you simply need to run the importer. You will be asked to upload the XML file that you had downloaded from the WordPress.com blog earlier.

Once you upload the file, depending on the number of posts and pages that you have, it might take a while for the upload to complete. You must be mindful not to close the page until everything is done uploading, nor make any major changes to your site in the interim. Furthermore, if there are any errors, those will be displayed live on the same page during the import process.

Once it is all done, you are good to go. You have successfully migrated your website from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress!

Steps After the Migration

Now that your migration is complete, you can now begin working on your new WordPress website.

But first, be sure to check all multimedia elements have been downloaded properly. Simply head to the Media menu on self-hosted WordPress site and verify that all the uploaded images and videos are there. Then, visit your website’s front-end and see if everything looks in order. Sometimes, you may see that the images have been imported properly, but the thumbnails are broken on the front-end. The cure is simple: just use Regenerate Thumbnails plugin to rebuild all your image thumbnails.

Thereafter, now that you have successfully completed the migration from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress, you are free to delete the old WordPress.com website.

Next, you need to ensure your self-hosted site is in good health. Spend some time to undertake a few maintenance tips and tricks for WordPress optimization.

Beyond that, you can also make sure your WordPress site is secured and fully hardened. Unlike WordPress.com where security meant a strong password, for self-hosted WordPress setups you also need to harden your database, install a security plugin, run malware scans, and more. Some useful ideas can be found here.

Conclusion

Once you have migrated and secured your website, you should not be facing any further problems. Self-hosted WordPress is a fully open source software that can be customized to suit your needs in any manner that you deem fit. Unlike WordPress.com, you do not have to be bound by limits and restrictions here. As long as you keep everything updated and optimize your site regularly, you will have zero troubles. You can experiment with newer content strategies, SEO methods, additional plugins, special custom themes, and more!

Have you ever migrated a website or blog from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress installation? If yes, how was your experience? Share your views and thoughts in the comments below!

Permalink: How to Migrate from WordPress.com to Self-Hosted WordPress – A Step-by-Step Guide! © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

It’s always a good idea to find ways to cut costs, whether it’s in business or your own personal finances. Web hosting, like many services, is usually billed on a reoccurring subscription based model, either monthly, annually, biennially, or triennially. Typically the more you pay for a service up front the better deal you will get, but keep in mind more often than not, the renewal price will be higher than the initial price you paid months or years prior. When your web hosting plan is up for another automatic charge don’t just let it happen without taking a moment to figure out if you can save some money on this expense.

Here are a few ways to save money on web hosting

1. Change your web hosting plan to save money.

First things first, pricing is important but don’t compromise on your needs or requirements in order to get a lower priced web hosting plan. IMHO, free web hosting or ultra cheap web hosting is out of the question, mainly because quality and reliability will be compromised. It’s certainly a good idea to re-assess your current hosting needs as far as storage, bandwidth, memory, I/O, add-on domains, etc, when exploring price reductions. You might find that your current web host offers a lower priced plan that meets your requirements. If not, research some other web hosts to find a plan that meets your needs and better fits your budget.

2. Find a low introductory rate price and switch web hosts before there’s a higher renewal.

A low introductory rate, followed by higher renewal, is common pricing in web hosting.

If you’re happy with your current web host and the renewal price is higher there’s no harm in asking for discount on your renewal when the time approaches. If you’re unhappy or just cannot afford the higher prices leave for another web host with a lower price. All you need to do is take your full cPanel backup and provide it to your new web host to get you up and running on your new hosting account. If you’re not technically savvy enough to do this or don’t have the time to learn, often times your new web host will offer free website migrations. They can do it all for you if you provide your old/current hosting account’s cPanel login credentials.

Let’s quickly run through some numbers to try and break down the cost different over a 6 year period.

As you can see from the examples above if you change web hosts every few years the savings can really add up by taking advantage of low introductory rates. This rinse and repeat process might be worth the extra time it takes to research a new host and move every few years to save a couple hundred dollars.

However, if you are happy with your current web host I always recommend figuring out a way to stay with them.

3. Find a web host that doesn’t have a much higher renewal price from the start.

To avoid having a higher renewal price you can look for a web host that offers the same price initially as they do for subsequent charges. Often times the prices might not be enticingly low but should be reasonable. For example, the price might be $5 or $6 per month but you don’t need to be concerned about an initial low price and a price increase down the road. However, keep in mind that nothing guarantees that prices will always remain the same. Increased costs and dynamics within a company are always factors for price changes. For example, in 2019 cPanel raised their pricing and licensing structure. In turn this caused web hosts to either switch to an alternative web hosting control panel like DirectAdmin or continue to use cPanel but raise their prices to offset the increased expense.

Here’s an email from WebHostingHub regarding the cPanel price increases on November 21st, 2019.

Here’s an email from Turnkey Internet about their 2022 Rate Change and Annual Discount Option. If you’re a satisfied customer affected by the 9% price increase and you want to stick around they offer a deal to lock in the old price for another year.

For many years MDDHosting has periodically offered existing clients a promotional 10% bonus credit. This is a great example of rewarding existing loyal customers who don’t want to move away from a web host that they like with a deal on renewal.

Conclusion

The bottom line is you always have options if you aren’t happy with the cost of your web hosting or any other issue(s) you might have with your web host. If you’re happy with your current web host stay on top of deals they offer existing customers or reach out to them to try and lower your web hosting cost. If you aren’t overall happy with your current web host look for another web hosting company that meets your needs at a lower price and move on.

Permalink: Are You Paying Too Much For Web Hosting? © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

For years, many web hosting companies have offered customers the option to get a free domain name along with their purchase of a web hosting plan. Some web hosts offer a free domain name for the first year, while others offer it for free for as long as they’re a web hosting customer.

Yes, it may seem cost-effective for you to get a free domain name, but there’s more to think about before choosing this option. More often than not, it’s beneficial to register your domain name through a third-party domain registrar (e.g. NameCheap) than to have your web hosting company do it for you.

If a web host does not offer a free domain name it certainly should not be a deal breaker because the cost of offering a free domain registration would be reflected or calculated into the pricing of their hosting plans. You’re better off keeping your domain registration and your web hosting separate so you are in full control of your domain name, at all times, no matter what.

When your domain is registered with your web host, you have to think about who retains ownership of the domain. Do they register it under your name or do they do it under their own? How easy will it be to move your domain from your web hosting company to another domain registrar and would they allow for this? Web hosts have terms and conditions that many people avoid reading – which can prove to be a costly mistake.

The biggest benefit of keeping your domain name separate from your web host is the freedom of easily being able to switch web hosting companies. In reality, you are more likely to switch web hosts than domain registrars. If you do decide to switch hosting companies, all you have to do once everything (files, databases, etc.) is transferred over to your new hosting account and working correctly is change the nameservers for your domain name at your registrar and you’re good to go.

However, if your domain name is registered with your hosting company – you may be locked into staying with them until your contract is up. In some cases, you may have to pay a fee to have your domain name moved out of your web host. With domain registrars, they’ve made it quite seamless to switch between registrars. There is a process you need to follow (Namecheap’s domain transfer knowledgebase post), but it’s generally not as strenuous as moving a domain name away from a web hosting company.

At the end of the day, it is better to register your domain names through a domain registrar and not through your web hosting company. It really is the safest option, but if for whatever reason you decide to go against this advice make sure you read the fine print (terms of service) and don’t simply take the web host’s domain offer without understanding what’s involved. While it might be rare for any reputable hosting provider to hold a domain hostage, you still want to make sure that if you decide to cancel your web hosting account you will still have complete control over your domain. Be certain that the web host will be registering your domain in your name and that you will own it. While we’re on the subject of being in control…always keep your own off-site backups, no matter who your web host is, or the level of trust you may have in them.

Looking for more guidance on what to look out for or what to avoid? Read Review Hell’s Web Hosting Guide For Newbies!

Permalink: Separate Domain Registrations from Your Web Hosting © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

Finding a reliable web hosting provider is an advantage in its own self. However, at times, we may need to migrate our website away from a given web host and head towards a new hosting space.

The reasons for such migration might vary. For example, our website may have outgrown the current web hosting plan’s capacity, or the current web host might just be taken over by EIG (yes, that happens a lot) and we’d be better off hosting our stuff elsewhere. Similarly, the need for better quality support or the ability to run a given script (say, we now need a host that supports FFMPEG encoding) are some valid reasons why we need to migrate our website away from its existing hosting provider.

In such cases, are there any specific considerations that we must bear in mind? Is there a handy checklist that we can adhere to when attempting to migrate our website to a new web hosting provider? In this article, we will be discussing the answer to these questions.

Migrating to a New Web Host — Before and After

In general, website migrations should never be a big deal, irrespective of the size or nature of the website in question. If executed properly, most websites can be migrated in a few hours with little or no downtime at all.

Of course, it all boils down to the abilities and skills of your web hosting provider that is executing the migration. Nonetheless, to minimize the margin for error, there are certain steps that we can take both before and after the migration is executed.

Pre-Migration Checklist

Before you begin migrating to a new web hosting provider, there are certain preliminary steps that you should consider undertaking. In fact, these should better be presented as questions you should ask yourself — and the answer should almost always be affirmative.

Have you taken sufficient remote backups? 

Agreed, your old and new web hosting providers might be making you promises about a very convincing backup policy, and those promises generally tend to be true. That said, you should always retain backups of your website data for your records — preferably on your local drive, or on a separate cloud storage service.

Have you removed any obsolete code or unwanted files? 

In general, the only time a website transfer goes wrong is when the newer server does not play well with the code scripts of your website. This is, by and large, attributed to issues such as older versions of PHP, MySQL, and so on. As such, it is a good idea to make sure you are running up to date script versions before you begin the actual migration.

Same way, getting rid of any unwanted files is generally a good idea — this will make your backup size smaller and as such, the website transfer will be completed much faster. For instance, retaining older cache files is not worth the trouble when undertaking a website migration.

The Migration Process 

Now that you have done your homework, you can safely begin the migration process. For the most part, this is something your new web hosting provider will be doing for you. As a result, there may not be a lot for you to do during the actual migration process. If you prefer to

That said, consider the following aspects:

Pick the perfect time for your site migration.

Even though site migrations tend to cause very little downtime (often none at all), it might be a good idea to perform such migrations at off-peak hours, when your site experiences the least amount of traffic (say, midnight or later). By doing so, you can ensure a smoother experience for your users, as they will not be seeing inconsistencies in site content, such as something failing to load due to a nameserver resolution error.

Make no changes to your website content. 

A short while before and preferably a few hours after the migration — try not to make any changes or new edits to your website during this time period. It might so happen that you may save a new blog post on the older server, as the nameservers may still not have fully resolved to the newer one. By the time the migration is complete, you will find that your new blog post is missing on the new server.

As a result, it is a wise idea to refrain from editing or publishing new content on your site for a few hours even after the migration has successfully completed.

Clear your browser cache. 

Your web browser might continue to show you the older version of your site on the former host’s servers. To fix this issue, clear your browser cache once the migration has completed.

Postscript

Well, the migration went smooth. What next?

There are two things in particular that you should pay special attention to:

Check your SSL certificate status. 

Modern SSL certificates, such as Let’s Encrypt and likewise, tend to play perfectly well with website migrations and no matter how many times you change servers, you generally do not have to worry about SSL issues.

That said, certain web browsers might throw an insecure content warning. This is especially true if you are using the default cPanel AutoSSL certificate on your site. The easiest way to fix this is to reinstall your SSL certificate after the migration has completed.

Check your email delivery status. 

If you are using your web hosting account to manage your incoming and outgoing emails (as opposed to using, say, Google Suite via DNS records), be sure to check its delivery and receipt status. For the most part, things should work fine. However, emails arising from a new IP address (the new web hosting provider’s IPs) for the same domain name might be inadvertently marked as spam by some email providers, or fail to deliver outright.

The remedy for such issues is to perform an email trace and if problems persist, get in touch with your web hosting provider about IP issues for email.

Perform a speedtest. 

You haven’t migrated to a new web host just to get a slower site, have you? Once the migration has completed (ideally, give it 48 to 72 hours after the migration), be sure to run a speedtest. Any speed issues that you notice should be brought to the notice of your web hosting provider.

A good tool for such tests is GTMetrix.com — it can help you assess your site’s rank on Google PageSpeed as well as Y! Slow and optimize your site accordingly.

Conclusion

That brings us to the end of this article about website migration. What other point do you think we should bear in mind when migrating our sites to a new web host? Share your views with us in the comments below!re

Permalink: The Comprehensive Web Hosting Migration Checklist © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

The web hosting industry has a lot of competition. To set themselves apart from the crowd, many web hosting providers offer a custom set of features. While most of such custom features are generally very useful, there are certain special “features” that you should stay away from.

So, which offerings and customized solutions of web hosts you should try to avoid? This article will answer the question.

Unlimited Everything!

It is common knowledge that there is no such thing as unlimited hardware. Unlimited hard drives do not exist, nor does unlimited RAM. Naturally, you should know that if your web hosting provider is offering unlimited resources, it is just a marketing buzzword.

With that said, not all forms of unlimited hosting are bad. For example, unlimited bandwidth is something you should not be suspicious of. However, when the web hosting provider is offering unlimited memory and CPU resources, it is a good idea to stay away from such web hosts. No shared hosting package can exist with unlimited access to memory and CPU resources, irrespective of the hardware and configuration being used.

Phone-Only Support

Every now and then, you might need to contact your web host for support with hosting issues. The best and most convenient way to do so is by means of email-based tickets. Live chat is also a good thing to have as it lets you explain the problem and issue at hand in real-time and get solutions therein.

Along similar lines, phone-based support too can prove useful as you can talk to real person and discuss your problems with them. But what if your web hosting provider offers only telephone support? You should try to stay away from such web hosts.

The thing here is that telephone support rarely has any real proof left after the call ends. You cannot refer to the replies of the support representative and explain your distress, if you were misled or your query was mismanaged. As such, while the web host is safe and can happily claim to have solved your queries, you may end up with no real solution to your problems.

It is always a good idea if your web hosting provider offers more than one channel for support.

Free Domains

You might have often come across web hosts offering free domain names with annual or likewise billing terms for hosting packages. While it sounds like a really sweet deal to get a free domain for life, it is rarely worth the trouble.

Once you opt for a free domain from a specific web host, you might end up being locked to that particular web host. Should you ever wish to move your data elsewhere, you will have to transfer the said domain name too or pay a higher than normal renewal fee. At times, an unethical web hosting provider might simply refuse to release your domain name, thereby compelling you to stick with them or lose access to your own domain.

It is always a better strategy to purchase your domain names separately from a different registrar.

SEO-Friendly Hosting

Every website owner wants his or her website to do well in the search engine results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not everyone’s forte and many site owners tend to lose traffic due to lack of proper SEO.

Many web hosts capitalize on this fact and offer SEO-friendly hosting. Such terms are nothing more than marketing gimmicks and are generally untrue. Here are some scenarios, wherein a web host might try to sell a particular hosting plan by calling it SEO-friendly:

• You are forced to purchase dedicated IPs as they are SEO-friendly (false claim).
• You are urged to purchase additional SEO features such as search engine submission (barely takes a minute and can be done by you), one-click sitemap generation (again, something that you can manage for free), and so on.
• You are told a specific type of hosting package is more SEO-ready than the other one. This is especially for hosts that are resellers from a bigger host.

You should be wary of such marketing terms and steer clear from these SEO-friendly claims. Furthermore, if a web hosting provider is admitting that a specific plan of theirs is more SEO-friendly than the other one, it also implies they have less SEO-friendly plans. Naturally, this is not the type of web host you would trust your online presence with.

Custom Admin Panels

Certain web hosts often project a proprietary or custom hosting admin panel as a selling pitch. It might be claimed that their version of admin panel is more intuitive and easier to use, and can also help make life easier for you by saving your time.

Such claims may or may not be entirely false. In fact, many web hosts out there do really have intuitive and highly user-friendly custom admin panels! However, there is a practical side to it as well.

The industry standard procedure for migrate websites from one server to another is by means of the admin panel. It is very easy to migrate a cPanel account from server A to server B or vice versa if they are both are running cPanel. Same way, migrating a Plesk account from server A to server B is easy too, as long as the target server is running Plesk.

Now, when running a custom admin panel, you cannot possibly expect such ease of migration. What if you ever need to migrate your site to a different host? In this case, a custom admin panel, as intuitive or user-friendly as it might be, can turn out to be a nightmare as the target web hosting provider may simply not support it at all!

It is always a good practice to rely on hosting admin panels that are popular in the industry, such as cPanel, Plesk or even Interworx.

Longer Billing Terms

It is a common practice in every industry to offer greater discounts when the buyer opts for a longer billing term. Thus, you will come across web hosting providers that offer additional discounts and cheaper pricing when you opt for a longer billing term, such as biennial or triennial.

That said, things tend to change rather quickly in the web hosting industry. You may choose to pay for three years in advance, but what if the web host is purchased or taken over by EIG or a similar entity and things go downhill? Therefore, it is a smarter strategy to overlook the temptation of an added discount and pay for no more than a year in advance. In this manner, even if your web hosting provider ever changes hands or takes a turn for the worse, you can simply choose to migrate at the end of the month or year.

Note that this concept may not apply if your web host offers pro-rated refunds (e.g. A2 Hosting, MDDHosting, InMotion Hosting). When in doubt, be sure to check with the web host about money-back guarantees and pro-rated refunds before signing up.

That brings us to the end of this article about features of web hosting providers that you should consider avoiding. What do you think of these features? Share your views in the comments below!

Permalink: Features of Web Hosts You Should Consider Avoiding © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

If you need a new web hosting plan check out the collection of Black Friday and Cyber Monday web hosting deals listed below. This post will be updated when new Black Friday and Cyber Monday web hosting deals are found/sent in. Right now is the best time of the year to save on Web Hosting!

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Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Permalink: Great Web Hosting Deals: Black Friday – Cyber Monday 2021 © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

Enjoy these extra special spooky Halloween web hosting deals that are active now through Halloween!

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That's it for this Halloween season...but you can always check out the coupon section for even more hosting deals. Happy Halloween!

Permalink: Great Web Hosting Deals – Halloween 2021 © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

WordPress has long been the world’s most popular content management system. However, while today it can be used to power virtually any nature of website, WordPress began as a simple blogging platform. Even now, more and more blogs are being built using WordPress.

The question is, how do you build a blog using WordPress? Are there any special considerations that you must keep in mind? Simply put, what is needed when you intend to start a blog with WordPress?

If you have ever faced such questions, this page will answer them all. We will now discuss how to successfully start a blog using WordPress.

How to Start a WordPress Blog

Basically, there are certain things that you need in order to start a WordPress blog. These can vary depending on the nature of your blog, but here is a broad list:

• Domain name
• Web hosting
• Getting the most out of WordPress
• WordPress themes and plugins

Domain Name and Web Hosting

The first thing you will need is a name and home for your blog. In essence, you need to decide on a domain name for your WordPress blog.

It is a good idea to separate your domain name registration from web hosting. Always buy your domain names from an accredited registrar, such as Namecheap. Likewise, opt for a web hosting provider who has earned a good reputation, but avoid purchasing your domain names from your web hosting provider. Furthermore, try not to fall for the “free domain name” marketing ploy, it generally ends up costing people more headaches in the future. Read more about the importance of separating domain name registration and web hosting on this post.

Once you have secured a domain name from a reputed registrar, you will need to select a web hosting provider. It is very easy to make a bad pick here, simply because there are way too many web hosting providers out there and a good number of them offer below par service.

However, that does not mean there is any shortage of good web hosts. You can make use of our rankings and reviews to learn more about which web host you should pick (and which ones you should avoid). Furthermore, here are some rules of thumb that you should bear in mind:

• Avoid unlimited web hosting providers. “Unlimited” is just a marketing terminology — no hardware in this can offer unlimited storage.
• Try to stay away from EIG web hosts. Read more about this here.
• Instead of searching on Google for a web hosting provider, try to read forum posts on portals such as Web Hosting Talk.
• Most web hosting review sites are just placeholders for affiliate links — be wary when you find a review that is too positive (and repeatedly asks you to click a specific link to sign up and get a discount).
• Look for certain features: clearly specified memory limits, regular backups and restores, latest software versions for cPanel, Softaculous, etc. If a web host refuses to share details about server memory and hardware because “our policy prevents us from telling you”, stay away from them.

With that said, if you still are at a loss about which web hosting provider will be a good fit for your needs, here are some reputable names:

• MDDHosting
• A2 Hosting
• HawkHost
• GreenGeeks
• InMotion Hosting
• VeeroTech

Setting up WordPress

Now, once you have purchased a domain name and web hosting, it is time to start building your blog. In order to use a WordPress blog, you will first need to setup, well…. WordPress itself!

Most decent web hosting providers offer a one-click installation for WordPress. This can be accomplished by going to an auto-installer program like Softaculous within the cPanel menu.

While installing WordPress is a piece of cake, you need to take extra care to ensure that your website is safe and secure. Make sure your database and table prefixes have been changed from the default wp_ to something else — this can be anything of your choosing. This makes it difficult for bots to inject code into your database. Similarly, avoid using the default “admin” username for the WordPress administrator account.

Lastly, make sure you use a strong password that is hard to guess.

Learn more about WordPress safety ideas here.

Getting Started with WordPress

Now that you have installed and setup WordPress, how do you get things started?

WordPress will provide you with all the blogging features that you need, right out of the box. You can find the ability to create posts and pages, monitor and curate comments, add images and other media, and so on. However, there is more to blogging than just that.

WordPress Themes

The world of WordPress themes is immense and it is easy for a beginner to feel confused.

Basically, a WordPress theme lets you personalize the appearance of your website by adding a new design layout or structure. You can choose any free WordPress theme that you like, or you can go for a premium WordPress theme that is not free. While the general notion is that premium WordPress themes are better than free ones, this is just a marketing ploy for the most part. You can expect to get good quality support for your premium WordPress theme, but when WordPress themes are concerned, you should not need support very often. If you do, you will spend more time customizing your theme than blogging — not a good idea, is it?

So the question is, where can you find good quality WordPress themes?

For free themes, make sure you refer only to the official WordPress repository. Nowhere else! It is easy to hide malicious code, viruses, malware and even secret adware in theme files. If you are downloading from unknown sources, your website can easily be infected. Themes in the official repository are quality tested for coding standards and are also guaranteed to be free from malware. Looking for free WordPress themes elsewhere is always a bad idea.

For premium and paid WordPress themes, there are many established theme shops that you can purchase themes from. Most of them offer a club membership program too, which entitles you to access all of their themes for a given period of time. This is useful if you have multiple blogs or websites and are looking for a new theme for each of them. Some well known WordPress theme sellers are:

• Elegant Themes
• WPZOOM
• Array Themes
• Organic Themes

Beyond that, you can also refer to marketplaces such as ThemeForest and Creative Market. WordPress themes in such marketplaces are often cheaper but still retain a good level of quality.

Some things to bear in mind when selecting a WordPress theme:

• Make sure your theme is responsive and fully mobile-optimized.
• If a WordPress theme offers way too many features that are beyond its scope — SEO, shortcodes, custom post types, etc — avoid it. Down the road, you will find yourself locked down to this particular theme as its custom features will not work with any other theme.
• If your WordPress theme requires you to install multiple external plugins (especially if those plugins are not in the official repository), avoid it. (Not familiar with WordPress plugins yet? Read on.)
• Be sure to ask theme seller about their support and refund policy. Generally, it is the norm for theme sellers to provide 12 months of updates and support for no additional cost.
• If in doubt, use the Theme Check plugin to scan your WordPress theme. If it returns any red flags, you should probably consider staying away from that WordPress theme.

WordPress Plugins

After WordPress themes, the next big thing that we need to talk about are WordPress plugins. Essentially, a WordPress plugin can be used to extend the functionality of WordPress. Say, for example, WordPress offers the ability to allow your users to comment on your posts. You can use a plugin to extend this ability — say, allow users to sign in via social networks before commenting, or allow them to upvote and downvote comments, or even turn off all comments globally on your site.

Pretty much like WordPress themes, WordPress plugins too are available both as free and premium variants. However, unlike WordPress themes, WordPress plugins need to be used in more than one capacity. That is, you can have multiple plugins active on your site at the same time. Be cautious though, too many WordPress plugins can slow down your site especially if you are on a shared hosting package! It is a good idea to keep the number of active plugins to the bare minimum, so as to not compromise server stability.

Unfortunately, the problem of plenty means for each good WordPress plugin, there are many bad ones that perform the same function. Thus, you need to be cautious when selecting a WordPress plugin. Also, it is not always easy to migrate away from a WordPress plugin — say, you use a shortcode plugin to add tables on your site. Now, if you were to change the plugin, your existing tables will not work. There is no easy workaround to this, sadly. As a result, the best thing to do is to try and pick the perfect WordPress plugin right from the start, so as to avoid migration headaches later on.

Here is a list of some of the best WordPress plugins (only free ones) that can prove useful for your website or blog:

• For search engine optimization, the best bet would be Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack. Both of these plugins have been in active development for years now and have a loyal following of millions of users. Whichever one you pick, make sure you install only one of these and not both — since both of them perform the same function, conflicts can arise if both are active at the same time.
• Make sure you have a good security WordPress plugin in place. Wordfence Security should almost always be preferred; Sucuri SiteCheck is also a worthy plugin in this field. Read more about WordPress security and related tips and tricks on this page.
• For caching, the options are plenty and most of them are praiseworthy. WP Super Cache is the most popular one and is developed by Automattic (the company behind WordPress), so you cannot possibly go wrong with it. However, for performance benchmarks and in terms of features, WP Fastest Cache almost always beats the other plugins in its league — sadly, its interface is not as eye-pleasing as that of the others.
  • Of late, there has been a tendency among many LiteSpeed web hosts to install LiteSpeed Cache WordPress plugin by default on all WordPress websites hosted with them. Personally, I have not experienced any gigantic speed boosts from this plugin, but for what it is worth, this plugin supports object caching and code minification, so it is a solid pick for most websites.
• In terms of optimization, you should install a database cleanup plugin, such as WP Optimize. Next, you can also install a speed boost plugin, such as Autoptimize. It is also a good idea to install a solution such as Jetpack that offers a conglomerate of features in terms of optimization, security, statistics, etc.

Beyond that, you can pick WordPress plugins as per your needs, such as blogging, eCommerce, and so on. Some useful things that you can bear in mind when picking a WordPress plugin are as follows:

• Make sure you opt for a plugin that is not very new and has been updated at a regular pace.
• Also, look at the number of active users, and read some reviews about the WordPress plugin.
• If the plugin is not GPL, avoid it by all means. All plugins in the official repository are GPL, but for premium plugins, you can simply ask the developer about the licenses.
• Lastly, if you are on a shared web hosting provider, try to outsource some of the tasks to other services rather than using plugins. For instance, you can use a cloud service such as Contextly to showcase related posts on your articles, rather than having a plugin scan your database for related posts and cause server memory consumption. Similarly, you can use a service such as MailChimp to send email newsletters, rather than sending email from within WordPress and possibly having your account suspended (many web hosts have stiff limits on the number of emails you can send per hour).

Conclusion

So far, we have learned about web hosting for WordPress websites, WordPress setup as well as WordPress themes and plugins. Once you have started a blog with WordPress, you also need to keep it in good health and maintain it. Thus, you need to publish good content at regular intervals, share it on social media, and build a loyal readership.

Blogging requires a good deal of patience as no publication can grow overnight. So be prepared to spend some time on your blog. Eventually, you will see your readership graph going higher. The rewards are plenty, but patience is a virtue in the world of blogging.

Have you been running a blog on WordPress? How has your experience been? Share your views and thoughts with us in the comments below!

Permalink: How to Start a WordPress Blog: A Guide to Themes, Plugins, Hosting and More! © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

WordPress is the world’s most popular Content Management System. Used by nearly a quarter of the web, WordPress powers a wide variety of websites and blogs nowadays. You can build eCommerce stores, blogs, corporate sites, portfolio projects, and a lot more with WordPress.

However, to keep your WordPress website in good health, you need to take certain steps every now and then. Over time, WP installations tend to get bloated and this can affect the performance of your website. In this article, we will be discussing some simple WordPress maintenance tips to help you keep your WP site working well.

WordPress Plugins

The biggest and most obvious cause of a WP website not functioning well is related to the number of plugins that are installed.

You should try to keep the number of active plugins to a minimum. The more WP plugins that you add on to a website, the slower it might get in the long run. Of course, this should not hinder you from installing WordPress plugins that you actually need. But on the other hand, try to stay away from the temptation to install plugins simply for the sake of little value that they might provide.

Furthermore, the quality of your WP plugins has a big role to play in the functioning of your website. Opt for WordPress plugins that are in the official repository, or are being sold by reputed developers. Try to avoid WordPress plugins that add too many notices in the Dashboard, or show adverts on the Settings page, and so on.

WordPress Themes

The next entity that can slow down an otherwise perfect WordPress website is the WP theme in use.

First up, keep your active theme, keep the default WP themes (such as Twenty Seventeen), and delete the rest. Installing several WordPress themes that you do not use is an effective way to clog down your WP site.

Next, make sure the theme in question is coded properly and follows the latest WordPress coding standards. For the free themes in the official repository, the WP theme review team takes care of it for you. However, for any premium WP theme, you will have to do the task yourself. A free solution such as Theme Check can prove useful here.

Basically, the logic here is that there is a good way to code a WP theme, and there is a bad way to do the same thing. The bad way involves multiple recursive function calls, obsolete coding methods, and so on. This can have an effect on your WordPress database and cause too many junk entries. Naturally, this will result in a slow website. If Theme Check shows too many warnings, your WP theme is not worth the trouble. You should consider having your developer fix it, or look for a different theme.

Also, if the WP theme in question requires you to install multiple plugins to work properly, or insists on using a page builder, avoid it altogether.

WordPress Database

The database forms the backbone of your WP website. In the absence of your database, the WP site simply cannot function.

Optimizing the WordPress database is necessary for proper speed and health of your site. However, while database optimization in itself sounds like a big deal, it is not at all difficult.

First up, make sure you backup your website. Though every decent web hosting provider nowadays offers multiple backup restores in a single click, so you do not have to worry about it. However it’s always a good idea to create a backup of your website on your own just in case.

Then, make use of a reputed database optimization plugin to handle the rest. WP Optimize is a good choice. Another worthy option is WP Sweep. Both of these plugins can delete unwanted entries from your database, such as auto draft posts, old orphaned metadata, transient fields, and so on.

Regular database optimization can significantly enhance the speed and functioning of your WP site.

WordPress Speed

Maintenance of any software is incomplete if you do not try to speed it up. For WordPress, a good caching solution needs to be employed in assonance with other measures.

For caching, there are various WP plugins out there that can do the job for you. WP Fastest Cache, WP Super Cache, or even Cache Enabler are good and reputed names in this field. Find more here.

By using a caching plugin, you can enhance the speed and loading times of your website. Plus, since your site will be serving cached copies of its data, calls to database will also be reduced and this can in turn improve the overall health of your WP database.

But caching is just one side of the coin. You also need to ensure certain other measures are taken for WP to function at full speed. While measures such as browser caching, GZip compression and image optimization come under the purview of WordPress speed and not purely maintenance, minification is something we need to discuss here.

For each page load, calls are sent from the browser to the server and then back to the browser. Since a page is made up of code in CSS, HTML and at times JavaScript, this can involve multiple separate queries being sent to and for. What if you were to minify and combine some of these queries? Very clearly, that can boost WordPress performance by putting less load on the server and database.

A good caching plugin should allow you to take care of the same. Alternatively, you can go the extra mile and use a WP plugin such as Autoptimize. It lets you minify and combine CSS and JS calls so as to save server resources. Plus, it also removes unwanted junk from your pages — emoji functions (assuming you are not using emojis on your site), optimization of Google Fonts (assuming you are loading Google Web Fonts on your site), etc.

Lastly, bear in mind that with plugins such as Autoptimize, you manually need to empty the cache sometimes at regular intervals. Otherwise, your WP backend might appear to be sluggish or, even worse, frozen.

Conclusion

So there you have it, some very easy and obvious measures using which you can optimize and maintain your WordPress site.

Lastly, you should not forget to keep your WP version updated at all times, as newer versions tend to have stability improvements. Plus, if you wish to, then investing in a CDN for the sake of offloading some of the strain on your hosting server is a good idea.

Which WordPress maintenance tips do you make use of? Share them in the comments below!

Permalink: WordPress Maintenance Tips: Easy Ways to Keep WordPress Running Smoothly © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.

When it comes to operating systems, there is no shortage of choice. Some operating systems, such as Windows, are more popular than the rest whereas others, such as Kali Linux, are used for specific niche such as penetration testing.

However, when it comes to web hosting servers, which operating systems are more in use and which ones should you prefer? In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the most popular names related to operating systems for web hosting servers. It is, obviously, worth noting that operating systems for servers are different from what we might run on our computers.

1. CloudLinux

The first name on our list, CloudLinux, has long established itself as the darling of web hosting providers when it comes to operating systems. The primary reason for this is that CloudLinux comes with several provider-friendly features, such as the ability to lock down specific resources for accounts of users, and more.

As such, owing to its feature set, it is not uncommon to find the vast majority of web hosting providers relying on CloudLinux. This is especially true for smaller and medium-sized web hosting companies.

With that said, it does not imply that CloudLinux is not handy for the end users or web hosting clients. In fact, it boasts of a wide array of features that are specifically meant for the web hosting industry in general.

To learn more about CloudLinux and what it has to offer, it might be a good idea to consider going through our detailed analysis of CloudLinux.

2. Debian Server

Debian Linux is another worthy operating system that can fit the needs of various types of web hosting scenario, both big and small. The fact that it has been around since the 1990s speaks a lot about Debian as a Linux distro — make no mistake about it, this is one robust and reliable piece of software that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

With Debian, stability is almost a granted thing, and so is the community feeling. A good number of users rely on Debian Linux for their servers, albeit this number is also shrinking of late. However, all said and done, Debian Linux continues to be a strong choice for being the operating system of choice for many server admins, tech specialists and enthusiasts alike.

3. Ubuntu Server

Take Debian, and add to it a bigger and wider community, more advanced and premium-grade support as well as greater access to updates.

What do you get? Ubuntu Linux!

Ubuntu comes in various flavors, meant both for desktops and servers. Ubuntu Server has been rising in popularity steadily and is often a primary pick for administrators, especially for folks running VPNs and other related setups.

Ubuntu Server is backed by a large community. This makes it a good pick for newbie admins, mainly because if you get stuck somewhere, help is always near. Tools for hardening an architecture based atop Ubuntu Linux are generally not rare to find.

4. CentOS

For many years, CentOS reigned supreme as the de facto leader in the world of Linux-based web hosting servers. Of late, it has found its throne being captured by the likes of CloudLinux.

Yet, CentOS remains a strong name when it comes to operating systems for web hosting servers. It is free and open source, and much like any other decent web hosting OS solution, comes with its own set of server-friendly code base and features.

A noteworthy aspect of CentOS is that updates are not released as fast as you might find with any other Linux distro, say, Ubuntu. This means CentOS is probably not the type of distro you might wish to run on your laptop or desktop. Cutting-edge software or the latest updates are often quite late in arriving to CentOS stable builds.

On the other hand, this very trait makes CentOS ideal for web hosting servers. Running the latest version of OpenOffice is not imperative for a hosting server, but stability and security is. The fact that CentOS ensures only the most stable piece of code finds its way in its repositories, even at the cost of being late to the update party, goes on to ensure a highly stable and reliable operating system environment where crashes and bugs are highly unlikely.

For anyone who knows a thing or two about web hosting servers, stability is of primary essence. CentOS promises just that!

5. Windows Server

Well, this is a bit of a no-brainer. Any list of web hosting operating systems is slightly incomplete without mentioning Microsoft Windows, even at the expense of omitting some other noteworthy Linux distros.

If you wish to run scripts such as ASP.NET or similar architecture, a Windows hosting server is what’s needed. And when it comes to Windows, there aren’t that many options as Linux — if you need a Windows server, you will have to use one. If you do not need one, you won’t use one.

It’s as simple as that. Of course, Windows hosting has its own innumerable advantages to offer, and you can find how it differs from Linux hosting in this article. That said, for the average Joe, Linux hosting is more than sufficient and this is why Linux distros tend to dominate the world of web hosting operating systems.

Noteworthy Mentions

In addition to the above five, certain other names definitely deserve a mention when we are discussing web hosting operating systems. Such as:

• Fedora Server: Much like Ubuntu Server, Fedora Linux too has a version that is meant to run on hosting servers and is fairly popular, albeit not as much as Ubuntu.
• SUSE Linux: SUSE Linux has been around for quite a while, and its open source openSUSE LInux has a decent-sized following. For web server hosting, SUSE Linux is a strong choice, albeit it has of late found itself losing the race against other server-centric Linux distros.
• FreeBSD: FreeBSD offers a reliable and secure environment for web hosting servers, and is often used for dedicated server hosting. However, owing to the ease with which one can find sysadmins for Linux servers, FreeBSD is often not the first choice for bigger companies, especially when it comes to production servers.
  • Other BSD variants, such as DragonFly, too offer a good set of features, but again lag behind Linux servers in terms of sheer popularity.

Conclusion

For the average user, web hosting operating systems mean very little as long as the websites are working fine and uptime is good. However, for web hosting providers and advanced users alike, the choice of operating system matters quite a great deal.

Which operating system do you prefer to run on your hosting servers and is there a special reason for your choice? Share your views with us in the comments below!

Permalink: Most Popular Operating Systems For Web Hosting Servers © 2013-2015 Review Hell All Rights Reserved.