We have received several questions concerning the best hosting provider for Shared Hosting. Here are some of the questions:

• Could you please recommend the best web hosting for small business?
• Is A2hosting one of the best WordPress hosting companies?
• Is Siteground one of the best WordPress hosting companies?
• What do I look for when choosing a hosting company?
• I am planning on starting an affiliate marketing website, could you kindly recommend a good and affordable hosting company?

We will try to be as straightforward as possible to avoid confusion and unnecessary information:

The Different and Most Common Web Hosting Companies You May Come Across

We will not mention all, but we will highlight the most commonly used web hosting providers:

• A2 Hosting
• Siteground
• Go Daddy
• HostGator
• InMotion
• Bluehost

3 Key Aspects You Should Never Compromise When Choosing a Hosting Provider

As you choose your hosting provider, don’t compromise on:

• Speed

Speed is just how quickly your website loads. The higher the speeds the better. Google algorithms use bots to check how fast your website loads and uses that information to rank you. If your website loads fast, rest assured that you might have a better chance of ranking above another website running at slower speeds. Of course, there are many other factors considered in ranking a website such as backlinks, keywords, how useful the information on the website is, etc. If all this checks out, don’t let the speed of your website bring you down.

• Uptime

This refers to how long a hosting provider keeps your website online/accessible. Are there any downtimes? This means that potential clients cannot access your website. Of course, a hosting provider cannot guarantee 100% uptime because it has to run maintenance regularly. Therefore, if you see a company promising 100% uptime, that’s a lie! At least let it say 99.99%, 99.95% or 99.9% uptime; this is more realistic.

• Customer Support

You rely on your website to bring in customers; if there is some problem with the hosting company, you need to be able to contact them and get a quick response so that you get your website back running as soon as possible. You don’t want to lose any potential client during that problematic period.

Which Hosting Companies Do We Recommend?

We recommend either A2hosting or Siteground. These are also the most recommended hosting companies for affiliate marketing.

Why?

• Both these web hosting companies have met the 3 aspects mentioned above.

The only thing you have to do is look at the different packages offered and compare them to your needs.

Choose the one that meets these needs in terms of the number of websites you can host, the speed you want, SSL certificates, type and amount of storage offered, price, limitations vs price, offers vs price, etc.).

What Hosting Provider Do We Use Between the Two?

We use A2hosting. (We have not tried out Siteground yet, but heard good things about it as well).

Why Do We Use A2hosting?

Answer: Storage and Price

At the time of writing this article (The Year 2020),

• A2 hosting offers similar features to Siteground, but at a cheaper price.
• Siteground charges you more for storage, while A2hosting offers unlimited storage.
• A2 hosting, however, charges more for turbo website speeds. So far, these turbo speeds beat all hosting companies we have looked into (this may change in years or months to come as other hosting companies upgrade).

That said, there are no bad hosting companies, you just have to check your needs and compare them to the service you get from the hosting company. Ensure you also check the value for money. Sweet deals backed by quality services are attractive.

An Important Note:

Before purchasing any plan, you should know that the first payment is usually provided at a discount that is usually almost half the price that you are required to pay. You can either pay for 1 year, 2 years or 3 years (weigh your options to see if it is feasible for you to enjoy the discounted price for 1, 2 or 3 years). Also, ensure that you have made plans for your website to have started bringing in returns by the end of that period so that you can afford the periodic hosting fees.

Always check how much you are expected to pay annually and compare it to other hosting companies you might be eyeing. This can help you save your hard-earned money.