With so many different types of hosting companies on the Internet, it was difficult to see what the difference really was, so I put that chart together to help.

Beginners Beware

When I was first starting out online, I found (what I thought) was a good price for web hosting, what I found out later was that the hosting company I was using was a reseller for another company.

As I compared the hosting plans from the reseller to the actual hosting company, I realized how much they were jacking up the prices of the different products.

Don’t get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with making a profit reselling hosting, but many are raking newbies over the coals.

Save Your Money

When you are first starting out with creating your website or blog, you can find a basic hosting program for around $50 a year and many times with the domain registration included.

Basic plans usually have enough space to get up and running so don’t think you need to get the biggest package with all the bells and whistles starting out. This is especially true if you are going to use just a blogging software to create your web presence.

You can always upgrade to a bigger package later on down the road.

Is a basic plans really all I need?

Yes, it really is because the amount of space, e-mail address, sub-domains and many times the quick install of blogging software is included with these packages. Here is a comparison of affordable web hosting plans.

As you can see from the chart many of the plans do have basically the same services. I have used a few of the big names in this business that have excellent customer service.

Sure, every company will have complaints. I have see on the Internet many complaints about GoDaddy.

Even after seeing the different complaints, I decided to give them a try.

I couldn’t be happier with them.

With a few domains at another company, I moved them over to GoDaddy, then signed up with their basic hosting package because of the quick install of Wordpress. Yes, this blog is hosted with them.

I did have a few problems at the beginning, but once I contacted customer service they helped me work them out.

Long-Term Contract

Even if you don’t want to lock yourself into a long term hosting plan, it does save you money since many times you can get better rates buying web hosting for 12, 24 or 36 months.

Remember, blogging and/or creating a site (usually) is a business venture for you. You are looking to make money.

If you only sign up for a one month plan then by the time you actually start getting your feet wet, it is time to pay for hosting again. Who wants to have to remember to pay monthly?

Monthly payments may work for you while you are just starting out. But once you are able it is best to to with a 12 month plan (or even longer) because the time creating, building and designing your site will go extremely fast and before you know it your 12 month time is up.

So while you are looking at the different hosting, do take a look at the long term hosting plans. Many times you can get a great deal.

Think you have to small of a budget and need cheap (but great service) hosting plans, take a look at this chart that compares affordable web hosting that can fit into any budget.