If there is one thing I am sure of when it comes to finding afforable web hosting it is that it is hard to figure out whether you have found the right solution just by looking at the package features offered by a web hosting company.

I should know. I write web applications for a living, and my customers deploy my software on all sorts of web platforms. That means I get to see the inside of a lot of web hosts. At least, from the vantage point of the customer.

From my own point of view, my customer has found a great web hosting platform when they can install and configure my software without having to contact the web hosting company and ask why this or that seems to be eliciting error messages from the web server.

One of the most common problems my customers face is dealing with the issue of file permissions. On a web platform that is going to cause you the least problems, the web server process runs with the same user identity as the one issued to you.

What this means in practice is that when you FTP files into your account, they are created with the same ownership as would be the case had the web server created them. That in turn means the web server can modify these files if it needs to (say in response to some application you are running on your site, like a forum or some other content management software).

In contrast, on platforms where the web server encounters a file that it does not own (because you uploaded it as a different user) it won't be able to do anything to the file unless you have set the permissions on the file very high.

These types of permissions problems frustrate web domain owners, and confuse them, causing lots of wasted time (and therefore money) as they try to iron out the problems. More often than not, the same problems repeat themselves in the future.

Do yourself a favor and find a smart web hosting platform run by a company that recognizes this issue and implements shared identity between the web server and youself. Believe me, this one web hosting feature will save you from a lot of trouble over the years!

So I have given you a technical tip based on my experience of having dealt with a lot of customers over the years. Another thing I can tell you now is that the ones who have the greatest woes are those who end up stuck with a non-responsive web hosting company.

You know the kind I am talking about. Your support requests go unanswered for a day or more, and when they finally get back to you they don't solve the problem you are having, but suggest an irrelevant an untenable alternative.

Do yourself another big favor and go with a web hosting company that provides a web hosting support forum. You'll be needing it, no matter how savvy you are as a webmaster.

I sure can.

I have been writing web software, and deploying it across the web since 1998, so I have seen a few web hosting platforms. Recently though, I was introduced to one of the best web hosting platforms I have ever come across.

Blue Host is a relative newcomer on the web hosting scene. They have been around since 2003, but have enjoyed a fairly meteoric rise in popularity. They rightly rank as a 5 star hosting service.

The key to their success is two-fold. One the one hand, they pay close attention to their customers, and strive to offer unparallel customer support. On the other hand they have build a platform that virtually removes the need for customer support!

When I first came across Blue Host I was impressed by the speed at which my software produced pages on their servers. I was also taken by the elegant control panel interface they have in place. This is actually a web hosting industry standard known as Cpanel, which allows customers to take care of virtually every aspect of web site management without the need for assistance from the web hosting company.

That's important. The more you can do yourself, the more you will be able to do with your web site.

Their basic package, which comes with 1,500 GB of disk space and 15,000 GB of monthly data transfer, also offer SSH access which I regard as a virtual necessity for anyone hoping to manage their site effectively. There will be times when gaining access to the server command line is just the only way to get one task or another carried out.

BlueHost also has a support forum in place, which you cannot overvalue as a customer.

If you want to settle down with just one web hosting company, then these guys are a great candidate. I refer all my business to them, because I know that I am going to field the fewest problems from my customers if they are hosted with Blue Host. It's a completely selfish motivation, but it works well for both myself and my customers since we both have better things to do with our time than worry about web hosting issues. BlueHost solves that problem rather effectively.

Yes, there are alternatives to Blue Host for affordable web hosting, but there are none I know of that are decidedly better. And because that's the case, I am not going to recommend any others.

No. I figure the whole topic of web hosting is confusing enough, especially to newcomers. You don't really need to be shown 3 alternative hosting companies and slowly be lead to the "right" one. That would simply be an exercise in muddying the waters.

Try Blue Host if you are looking for a great web hosting platform and you don't see anything on their pages to cause you concern. I think you'll find you've made a great choice, and you'll end up being a loyal customer for years.

And why not? Because, in the end, that's exactly what you are looking for in an affordable web hosting solution.

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