This is important.

You want to set up a new blog site and you want it to be visible to search engines.
And you want lots of visitors to come to it.
And you want to make lots of money by writing your blog.

You’ll have to wait a while for that last one.  It takes time before it’s worthwhile monetizing your blog.  Don’t put the cart before the horse.  Patience is a virtue.  etc etc etc.

Before you get too far ahead of yourself and start clearing space under your mattress for all that money you’ll be making online, or picking the colours for the leather interior of your new Aston Martin, you need to sort out the basics.

You’ve decided on a niche for you blog haven’t you?

And you’ve picked a domain name and registered it right?

So now it’s time to get yourself a web host.

If this is your first website then you’ll want to keep things as simple as possible.  But there are some very important things to look out for when choosing a web hosting service.

Make sure that the host you choose is reliable.  Nobody’s perfect, but you should be looking for at least a guaranteed uptime of 99% (meaning that they promise that their web-servers will work and your site will be available at least 99% of the time).

Since you’re going to be using WordPress for you blog you also want to make sure that the hosting package you take is going to provide you with a server configuration that is compatible.  Check out the WordPress technical requirements for the specifics, but the short version of the checklist is:

• PHP 4.2 or higher.  Most web servers should run this now, but check to make sure.
• MySQL 4.0 or higher.  You’ll need a MySQL database to sit in the background and hold all the data for the content you put on your site.  Most hosts will provide you with access to set up at least one database (more if you go for a larger plan).  You’ll more than likely find that your host offers the choice of MySQL 4.0 or the newer 5.0 and if they don’t then you should take your business elsewhere.  If it’s available you should go for the option of using a MySQL 5.0 database as this will make upgrading to future WordPress releases a great deal easier.

Most hosting providers these days will handle these requirements without batting an eyelid, but it’s worth making sure before you part with any money.

Don’t be swayed by huge lists of bonus features such as ”Dynamic Site Builders” or “Easy Blogs” and the like (you’ll find that an”Easy Blog” is usually just a ready made WordPress install, but that it won’t allow you the same level of flexibility to install your own themes and plugins are you’ll have if you install WP yourself - it may even come pre-installed with advertising that makes money for your host, NOT YOU so why would you want that?).  You won’t be making use of these bonus features, so it doesn’t matter whether or not your host provides them.
Having said that, they are sometimes a few useful gems lurking among this stuff, so don’t dismiss them all out of hand.  Review the list of features on offer in case there is something you think will be particularly useful to you.  If it’s a close call between two similarly priced hosts, the addition of a couple of extra bells and whistles may be what ends up swaying your choice.  Just make sure that they cover your basic requirements - anything else really is just a bonus.

You do want to make sure that the host will give you an easy to use Control Panel, such as cPanel, for you to manage your domains and web space, as well as being able to control your SQL Databases to perform backups and FTP access to easily upload files for your site.  It’s also vital to be able to view reports of your web site’s access logs so that you can see how many visitors you’re getting, although once the site is set up you’ll also want to add third party analytics packages such as Google Analytics (which we’ll cover in more detail in a later post).  You should also make sure that the host you choose provides a 24/7 tech support line (preferably with a free-phone or local call rate number) so that if you do have any problems you can get someone on the phone to try and get it fixed as quickly as possible.

Finally, I wouldn’t recommend going for any offers of “free” hosting either.  There’s bound to be a catch, whether in the form of limited webspace or bandwidth, or a requirement to place ads from the host all over your site.
You get what you pay for and fortunately you don’t have to pay much to get a decent enough hosting plan.

So, now that you’re equipped with the advice to find a good host for your site, next time we’ll get stuck into how to install WordPress and get your new site up and running.