Not all hosting companies are equal. Use our recommended companies to assure your WordPress site is running optimally.
What is hosting?
A web host is a company that has computers that are hooked up to the internet 24/7. These computers are called servers and they are assigned IP numbers in order that they may be found by other computers hooked up to the internet. It is on these servers that all your web files are stored. Consider the domain name the “street address” and the web host the “house”. We recommend hosting from Bluehost or HostGator.
NOTE: Do not purchase SiteLock, Secure SSL or any special offers when purchasing hosting. If your account needs anything extra our team will discuss with you with specific instructions. Carefully unclick any special add-ons to avoid extra billing.
What does hosting include?
- Your website to appear online (“www.yourdomain.com” in a web browser)
- Running the FREE WordPress software (setup by our team)
- UNLIMITED email addresses at your domain name (can be forwarded to Gmail or other service, but this brands your company with every email sent)
- MULTIPLE domain names hosted at no extra cost (except for “Hatchling Plan” from HostGator). Use this to setup shortcut addresses for specific campaigns or products.
- Backups (our team also will do a secondary daily backup offsite)
- 24/7 Technical support
- 1 FREE domain name (Bluehost only)
“I already have a web host. Am I required to change Hosting?”
Yes, in order to keep your costs down, Social Media Works has created a standard system using our 2 recommended hosts and those savings are passed on to you.
In rare cases, we have made an exception, however, this means that we need to bill hourly for all servicing of your webhost. The costs to do this will quickly surpass the cost of switching to our recommended hosts. We do not recommend this, and reserve the right to turn away a project based if the hosting will we a problem since our team wants to focus our energy on building great business brands, not solving technical problems that can be avoided in the first place.
Please follow the links below to signup for our recommended hosts for the easiest setup and lowest cost.
If you currently have web hosting…
We will guide you through the change. Before work begins with us, you should find out:
- If your hosting account is in your name and not your last web designer
- You have the username, password, and contact info for your host.
- Your contact info on file is correct.
- Control panel access (username, password) to access your billing account.
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access (hostname, username, password) to copy any files on your current server.
- How to cancel your billing after the switch.
- If you have an electronic copy & printed copy of all of this information in your business records.
OPTION 1: Bluehost
Choosing a good web host is critical to your success. For a low price, you can have UNLIMITED DOMAINS on your account! We love Bluehost because it’s easy to manage WordPress. On the few occasions we have had tech issues (unavoidable in this field), their staff provided quick support beyond what I’ve found with any other host I’ve worked with. If you are running a site with WordPress, use Bluehost! Yearly hosting also includes 1 domain name with private registration! Read more about our tech help on getting started, or visit the site directly to sign up! NOTE: Do not purchase SiteLock, Secure SSL or any special offers when purchasing hosting. If your account needs anything extra our team will discuss with you with specific instructions. Carefully unclick any special add-ons to avoid extra billing.
Click here to review Bluehost’s hosting packages and signup
To Setup BlueHost
- Follow this link and sign up for a hosting package from Bluehost.
- You will receive 2 signup emails. FORWARD BOTH OF THESE TO US! The first one has all the important info: domain, user, password, temp http, temp ftp etc. The second one includes tutorials and help wizards.
- Print out a copy of these emails for your records.
Select "Sign Up Now"
Follow these instructions
DO NOT get the SiteLock Domain Security or Premium Backup Service. DO purchase the Domain Whois Privacy.
Bluehost will send you 2 emails when you sign up. FORWARD THE EMAIL THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS TO US, AND PRINT IT OUT FOR YOUR RECORDS. The info in the green areas will be used for your setup. Bluehost will also send a 3rd verification email a few days later.
OPTION 2: HostGator
Another fantastic hosting solution for WordPress, reseller or dedicated hosting. Customers are not required to sign up for any contract longer than month to month service. HostGator is ranked as highly as BlueHost, so you can’t make a bad choice between the two. Every web hosting plan comes with a 45 day money back guarantee, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and is fully guaranteed by the owner himself. NOTE: Do not purchase SiteLock, Secure SSL or any special offers when purchasing hosting. If your account needs anything extra our team will discuss with you with specific instructions. Carefully unclick any special add-ons to avoid extra billing.
Follow this link and select a hosting package from HostGator
To Setup HostGator
- Follow this link to signup for HostGator
- We need to know the following information that you received when you signed up for the account. Look for “welcome to our hosting” emails.
- Print out a copy of these emails for your records.
- We will need access to your hosting account. Send us:
- Your web host name & contact
- Your FTP connection information
- Your connection information to the web hosting panel (different username and password from your hosting).
