Web Hosts For Your Craft Website

Choosing a Web Host for Your Craft Business

Choosing a good web host is probably one of the most important things you can do for the success of your website. It’s not an easy task, especially for the beginner. There are nearly an infinite number of web hosts out there and more every day. Some are free, some paid, some on shared servers and some on dedicated servers.

Obviously a paid host with a dedicated server is going to be the best situation for large sites, but not always necessary. Basically, if your website gets huge, with a great load of traffic, you’ll likely need to pay for this type of service.

You should be able to get by with a free, low, or moderate web host depending on your goals for your online craft business. In general almost any webmaster will tell you to stay away from free hosts. I prefer to be a bit more realistic and realize that many people are just not ready to make the commitment to using a paid host.

If you are in that category and want to start with a free host to just "try things out," please keep in mind that moving a website, although it can be done, is a real pain. Consequently you will need to take some time to find a good free host that allows you to upgrade to a paid plan should you outgrow their "free" service. Learn more about Free Web Hosts.

One way to test out a host is to spend time on their support forums. See how responsive they are to clients problems. Are they friendly to newbies? You don’t want to find yourself afraid to post a question for fear of being flamed by the moderators. Do searches on the forum about questions you might have. Some of those answers may very well tell you whether to sign up or sign off.

Here are some web hosts you might want to look into...

Free Web Hosts

x10Hosting is the best option I’ve found for free hosting. They have excellent support and the option to upgrade to a paid hosting plan as your craft business grows.

Byethehost – Another free host and probably the easiest to sign up and get started that I have found. They haven’t been around as long as x10 so X10 gets my vote. But check them out. They might be a good choice for a test site if you need one. I have been hearing that they are overselling, but it is free. You can always upgrade to a paid plan as your traffic (and income) grows.

Low to Moderate Cost Web Hosts

Hostgator is a very competitively priced hosting company, offering hosting plans for your craft business at various price points. They seem to be overselling a bit, but I have mostly only heard good reviews.

Yahoo! Web Hosting . They offer a free domain name and very reasonable rates. With Yahoo you also get the comfort of hosting you craft site with a company known for its reliability and longevity.

IX Webhosting. I have removed the link to Ix Webhosting. Of late I am seeing more and more bad reviews with this company and no longer recommend them.

Site Build It! – This is the cream of the crop. SBi is not just a web hosting service. They offer everything you need to get started, including help finding your niche and targeting the best ways to market your craft site. This host is primarily for serious income generating sites. If you are looking for more of a hobby craft site then one of the free or lower cost web hosts is probably a better choice.

Just side note about using Site Build It. I recently created a website using SBI and I am loving it. It is so much easier to build a site using their site building tools. What a difference from doing it yourself. I was surprised to see how many experience webmasters are using SBI. I thought it was just for beginners.

If you would like to see my SBI site you can view it here (sorry, it's about water gardening, not crafts).

Return to Cash Crafters Home Page.