Shared Hosting Tips For Beginners

Web hosting can be quite a daunting concept for a beginner. It’s a lot to wrap your head around – domain registration, hosting, website builders, WordPress, and more. It’s no wonder that people are intimidated and go for potentially sub-optimal solutions like Wix or other services that lock you into a provider with high fees! But it doesn’t have to be this way. With a bit of hand holding, shared hosting can be pretty easy for a beginner to get into. Here’s how.

Opt for NameHero “WordPress Plans” to Start With

On most hosting providers, including here on NameHero, you’ll see a set of plans called “WordPress plans”. These are exactly the same as shared hosting, except for the following differences:

1. WordPress is installed automatically
2. Automatic plugin and theme updates for maximum security
3. Malware scanning, and more

Even though installing WordPress on shared hosting is easy as pie, and can be done with just a click or two, it’s still very useful to install it manually for a beginner. These initial steps can seem very hard when just starting out. A “WordPress” plan instead of an ordinary shared hosting plan, will take care of some of the initial steps.

Don’t Purchase Your Domain Name Separately

Later when you’re a bit more comfortable with the hosting process, you can think about shifting your domain name from one host to another. In fact, a lot of people feel that you shouldn’t have your web hosting and domain name on the same entity.

But if you’re just getting started, buying the two together can save you time and potential headaches. Otherwise you’ll have to do stuff like get the nameservers for your web host, navigate to your domain registration provider’s DNS management page, make changes, wait for them to propagate etc. For someone who’s experienced, all this is second nature. But I can’t imagine a pure novice doing all this for the first time without a lot of intermediate pain.

So while starting out, just stick to purchasing your domain name for the same place where you get your web hosting.

Watch a NameHero Video on WordPress Hosting

NameHero has an amazing knowledgebase, including a wealth of Youtube videos that will help you get started. These are crisp, and  clear. For example, here is Ryan explaining how to set up WordPress from scratch. So you just need to follow along!

Once you’ve seen a video or two, you’ll figure out how intuitive the whole process is. What was once a confusing mess of icons will suddenly become clear.

Use NameHero’s Website Builder

If it’s still too much to wrap your head around for the first time (and I wouldn’t blame you if it is), then the easiest way to get started is by using NameHero’s drag n drop website builder. This has the added advantage of being free for the first 7 days, where you can set up your site to look exactly the way you want, and then you can launch it when its ready.

The Hero Builder takes all the hassle out of hosting and allows you to get started with a website template right away. No WordPress, no setting up SSL, no nameserver changes, nothing! You lose a bit in power and flexibilty compared to a full blown CMS like WordPress, but not everyone requires that kind of sophistication. If you just have a few pages, and need to accept payments etc, the NameHero website builder is perfect for you!

Bottom Line

Shared hosting can seem daunting. But you can actually get started in just a few minutes from scratch if you follow my tips above. Don’t worry – you’ll be fine!