1- There are a lot of good hosting companies out there- but it is highly dependent on services. BlueHost and Hostgator both run fairly good networks for smaller sites. I would typically stay away from GoDaddy hosting.

2- Wordpress will be the best "attachment" blog platform that can run on most hosting accounts. Typepad is also fairly robust. Stay away from Blogger if you want a customized blog.

3- Low cost and Expert should not go in the same sentence ;) There are plenty of high-value web experts on Biznik. On this point, I would always remind people that cost and value are two different things. I regularly tell people what is free and what will cost thousands, but many people flip-flop those items and end up paying thousands for the free stuff.

~Barry

I can recommend HostGator also. I've experienced excellent uptime; prompt, well-informed tech support; and a very nice control panel; all for a reasonable price. I've been using them for about six months and I have clients who have been using them for a couple of years.

I previously used godaddy and was disappointed with them. I left after a couple of months. Their control panel was confusing. They nickel and dime you for every option. With HostGator everything you expect and more is provided.

David Salahi
Artistic Web Design

interesting. I have been with GoDaddy.com for 10 years and never had an issue with hosting, domain, support or anything and I currently run 4 sites with them.

Best of luck Melanie.

Scott

Fully aware of the wrath I may incur from blatant self promotion.... I would be remiss if I did not introduce my company AtlasNetworks.us We are a top notch hosting based in a state of the art data center in seattle (Westin Building) We bring service and support attainability you will never receive from a mega host. We do have web hosting starting at $4.95 We have Manged Dedicated Servers starting at $99 We also specialize in Exchange, SharePoint, CRM & QuickBooks Hosting.

I can highly recommend devolop pro's to facilitate your needs without destroying your budget.

I would recommend my host if you are still looking for a good home. They are called Thinkhost and are a green company. They offer a great package and their customer service is pretty quick. Some of the cool things that they offer are unlimited bandwidth, easy e-commerce plug ins, blog plug ins, ssl certs ( if you need one ), unlimited storage space and you can host lots ( i mean lots! ) of domains with them. Between me an my family we host approx 30 sites with them and my hosting does not go over 9.00 a month. I did have to sign up for 2 years, but I do believe they are worth the investment and like to think that my money will help keep them around. They are also members of Co-Op America and are powered by renewable energy.
You can check them out at http://www.thinkhost.com Hope this helped

I went to check out thinkhost before recommending the site I use, and thought they sounded pretty good - until I tried to navigate away from their site and received three annoying popups! Not a technique I recommend for attracting customers.

So, the webhost I use is lunarpages.com and I've been pretty happy with them. Lots of great features, and the current price is $4.95/month if you sign up for 2 years. The only downside is that some of the tech support people think they know more than they actually do, but then I ask to speak to a supervisor and get actual help.

Best wishes for making a choice you'll be happy with!

Sonia | Sundown Healing Arts | TraumaHealed.com

Hello Melanie, If I can put my 2 cents in...

1. Hostmonster.com has been an excellent hosting service with a LOT of free scripts and other add-on features that you can take advantage of. I think I got it for about $6 a month. Domain names are only $10 each per year - not bad.

2. Wordpress is a good Blog program that can be uploaded to your web hosting account (if it's a good host they will offer that "install" right from your hosting control panel!).

3. Depending on your desired site features and size, there are good development options out there that are also low cost. Send me a personal note if you still need options on this inquiry.

Merry Christmas to you! Krista Dunk KBWomen.com

NWweddingplace.com

Melanie, We like Dreamhost--we've had really good luck with them I second Krista on WordPress. I recc it to clients all the time And we can help you with low cost design/dev, BTW. Feel free to check my profile if you are still looking. :)

Hi Melanie, I don't know if you are still looking at options, but I suggest GoDaddy, and if you have them all ready you can either import your existing blog from another company with a click of a button, or set up a Quickblogcast account within Godaddy themselves.

The templates are very clean simple and easy to use, and I use them as well even though I know how to program. Depending on your detailed needs of what you would like to do as far as design or beyond the template basics - that should be simple enough. If you have other questions, just give me a shout. I am in LA.

Hi,

It's handy to know that there are 3 types of hosting.

1 Shared Hosting - this is the most common and means that one computer will have about 300 websites on it.

I don't recommend shared hosting if you are getting 200+ visitors a day to your website/s that are on your package as you can crash the server or it can be very slow.

I have a shared hosting account with LunarPages and recommend them to most of my clients, they are fantastic.

Hosting accounts with Cpanel often come with Fantastico which allows you to create a wordpress blog with a few clicks.

2 Dedicated Hosting - this is when you have the whole computer to yourself and is great for very high traffic sites but overkill for most people and 99$+/ month.

3 VPS Hosting - this stands for Virtual Private Server and is when one computer is split into 5 - 10 sections and you get one of the sections.

This is what I recommend for clients that get 200+ visitors a day, have extensive media, etc.

I have a VPS account with KnownHost and recommend them to clients. They have fantastic support and are super reliable. (and cheaper then most other vps)

I've been using 1and1 for my Web hosting, which has provided more capacity than I really have needed so far, with ample flexibility and some useful partners (e.g., RatePoint--a customer rating and email service that integrates fairly well).

I have installed WordPress from scratch and have found it very flexible and useful.

However, the biggest issue is how much effort and time you want to put into ongoing maintenance and updating. This is where you really have to consider professional support. I'm just nerdy enough to like tinkering with the back-end style sheets and code, but keeping up with software upgrades can sometimes be a little harrowing.

For example, my Wordpress template of choice does not work under the current version of WordPress, so I'm not upgrading right now. And I understand that WordPress.com has discontinued support for a broad swath of templates.

And this is part of the wider issue. As soon as you begin combining third-party extensions, applications, and linkages, you increase your exposure to gaps and complications in upgrade paths. So you really have to determine your real needs and balance them against potential support issues down the line.

Hope that's helpful. It's been fascinating to me to discover and explore all the interconnections--my blog is now available through Biznik, FaceBook and LinkedIn, while I Twitter to update my FaceBook updates and increase the personal presentation of my blog, which also displays selected Flickr photos.

I have used homestead.com for 6 years for about 7 web sites. It is perfect for someone who is not afraid of the computer and needs a simple website. I have done all of them myself with absolutely no training. My husband gets restoration jobs from all over the country with one of the sites and it shows up great in Google. Now if my day job CEO would let me use it for our Corp. site that would be great!

Melanie ~ It sounds like you already received a ton of great input. I would just like to add that Dreamhost and Wordpress work very well together, as Dreamhost has a one-click install setup with Wordpress blogs.