Clients often ask me, “Does it matter who I host my website with ?”
Yes! Especially if your site has the potential to receive massive amount of traffic. For example ecommerce sites, or popular sites like the one run by Dallas WordPress Blogger DB Ferguson who entertains her readers with the delightful No Fact Zone, a fan blog about Steven Colbert’s hit show.
However, if you are running a basic informative blog where you expect an average amount of traffic then most hosting companies offer more-or-less the same things at about the same prices. Just find a company that has a good reputation, easy-to-access customer service, and is not a “fly by night” operation.
Here are two important SEO items to keep in mind when choosing a web hosting company:
1. The location of your hosting company affects SEO rank. If you are local but use a hosting service in a foreign country your rank will be lowered because the spiders notice the discrepancy and suspect that you are involved in nefarious activity.
2. The length of time (number of years) for which you have registered you site also affects your rank. The spiders give priority to sites that are registered for multiple years, assuming the owner is “in it for the long-haul” and not a hacker using a “throw away” domain.
My favorite low-cost company for hosting WordPress websites is HostGator.
