Having a website is crucial for any food blogger or online food business today. Your website is the hub for all your content, recipes, photos, and engagement with readers.
Choosing the right web hosting provider to host your food site is one of the most important decisions when starting a food blog. The web host you choose impacts your site’s speed, security, uptime and more.
This ultimate guide will walk you through what to look for when choosing a web host for a food blog or online food business. We’ll cover the key factors to consider and provide tips to select the best web hosting service for your needs.
Speed & Performance
One of the most important criteria for choosing a web host is speed and performance. Your food site needs to load quickly for users. Slow load times will cause visitors to leave your site before fully engaging with your content.
Look for a web host that offers solid-state drives (SSD) for faster access times. You want a host with sufficient computing resources and bandwidth to handle traffic spikes when your recipes or content goes viral. Carefully check the host’s uptime record as well, you want as close to 100% uptime as possible.
Security
Security is crucial for any website, but especially for a food blog. Your readers need to know their data is safe when they sign up for your newsletter or make a purchase.
Look for comprehensive security protections like firewalls, SSL certificates, automatic malware scanning and removal, and DDoS protection. Make sure the host frequently updates and patches their systems. Regular backups are also essential in case your site gets hacked.
Support Options
No matter how reliable a web host is, problems can arise. Your web host should offer responsive 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, knowledge bases, and ticketing systems. Look for a provider known for helpful, competent support able to quickly resolve issues.
For a food site, it can also be useful if the web host has experience working with sites like yours. See if they offer ecommerce features, integrations or optimized servers for food blogs specifically.
Scalability & Resources
As your food blog grows, you’ll likely need more server resources for things like bandwidth, storage space, and memory. Choose a flexible web host that allows seamless upgrading of your account resources as site traffic increases.
Pay attention to the resources offered even at the basic shared hosting plan level. Make sure there is enough memory, bandwidth, and SSD storage space to handle your site now and growth over the next 1-2 years.
Cost
Web hosting prices can range from less than $5 a month to over $100 a month depending on features. For most food blogs, high-end dedicated server hosting isn’t necessary. Look for a reliable shared hosting plan between $5-$15 a month.
Keep in mind cost varies based on things like how long you prepay, length of contract, promotional offers, and bundled features. Watch out for hidden fees or upcharges too.
Backup & Recovery
No one likes to think about disasters, but they can happen. Your web host should have automated backups in place to recover your site in case of data loss, malware, hackers, or other catastrophes.
Look for daily or weekly backups as well as options to easily restore previous backups of your site. Off-site backups are also critical in case the web host has a server failure or data center issue.
Additional Features
Many web hosts offer added features that may appeal to food bloggers like:
- CDNs for faster content delivery
- Caching for improved performance
- Integrated security tools
- Site builders and templates
- Pre-optimized servers for WordPress or food sites
- Ecommerce platforms and payment gateways
- Email marketing integrations
Consider which additional features may help simplify managing your food site or enhance your blog. But don’t overpay for extras you may not utilize either.
Tips for Selecting the Best Food Blog Web Host
Choosing the right web hosting service is key to having a successful food blog. Here are some tips to help you select the best web host for your food site:
- Compare multiple hosts – Take the time to thoroughly evaluate 3-5 potential web hosts. Comparing features and costs helps identify the best option.
- Do free trials – Many hosts offer free trials for testing out their service. Take advantage of these to evaluate performance before committing.
- Check reviews – Research impartial web host reviews from trusted sources to learn about real customer experiences.
- Evaluate uptime – Look for a proven uptime record of 99.9% or better from any potential web host.
- Ask about speeds – Speed is critical for food sites. Ask hosts about their average site load speeds.
- Confirm security – Don’t compromise on security protections – make this a top priority.
- Check support – Test out support first-hand by contacting them with questions before signing up.
- Compare plans – Look beyond basic shared hosting plans in case your site needs more robust resources.
Infotera
Infotera is a highly recommended host for food and recipe sites. Their optimized cloud hosting plans come with built-in CDN, unlimited SSD storage, free site migration and 24/7 support. Infotera also provides tailored ecommerce and content management tools for cookery websites. Their plans start from $3.95/month with a 30 day money back guarantee.
Taking the time upfront to thoroughly evaluate and select the best web hosting service will pay off in the long run with a faster, more reliable food blog. Follow this guide and you’ll be able to choose a great web host to help your food site succeed.