With the online world ever-expanding and having a solid brand image being more important than ever, many people are turning to websites to build a personally customized online presence. Having a personal website can fulfill multiple purposes, whether you’re an entrepreneur, job seeker, or even just a hobbyist. With your own website, you can craft a dynamic portfolio, showcase your skills, explore interests, reinforce your brand image, or really anything else you can think of. The best thing about a personal website is that there are no limits to what you can do.
You don’t have to be a technical whizz to build a website either. Nowadays there is an abundance of tools at your disposal that you can use to make the entire process straightforward and trouble-free. In addition to this, you can also utilize pre-designed web page templates that only need to be changed slightly to fit your specific content. It doesn’t have to be an expensive or over-complicated process, so what are you waiting for?
If you’re set on hosting a personal website, then it’s time to decide on a web host. A suitable web host will be affordable, scalable, user-friendly, and packed with features. We’ve taken some of the hard work away from you by seeking out the top best web hosts for personal websites, so you can make a much more informed decision. Keep reading to find out more about why you should host a personal website in addition to our top recommended personal web hosting providers in 2023.
Best web hosts for personal websites quick guide
- Bluehost – Beginner-friendly
- Siteground – Extra secure
- iPage – Easy scalability
Why you should consider hosting a personal website
Hosting a website is now the best way to solidify your web presence and create a truly personalized online space. Unlike with social media platforms, a website gives you complete, unlimited control over your content and the way you display it. Currently, only 7% of the general population and 15% of millennials have a personal website. Some just want a space to put all their creative work in one place, whilst others are using their site as a dynamic portfolio to expand their career prospects. You have the ultimate flexibility with a personal website to build your online image and display your skills.
A personal website gives you a chance to be creative as you can not only add any type of content including videos, photos, graphic art, and writing, but you can also let your personality shine through using your websites layout, fonts, and colours. You can also practice valuable skills throughout the website-building process such as web design, web development, graphic design, and even marketing.
You can even use your website as a portfolio to help you stand out from other applicants when applying to jobs. Having a website will help recruiters find you more easily and you’ll gain a significant competitive advantage. On your website, you can include work samples, previous experience, customer testimonials, and much more. You can also add contact details and social media links that can assist you with networking. With a website, you have the chance to show your skills, rather than just list them like with a standard resume.
Finally, with a personal website, you even have the opportunity to make money. If your site receives enough traffic, then you can begin to monetize it through affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and paid advertising.
All in all, a personal website can benefit anyone in a range of different ways. Whether you just want to practice skills, showcase them, land a job, or make some extra money, a personal website is the perfect, cost-effective solution.
“Personal websites are imperative to stand out from the noise and staple yourself as a thought leader and expert in your field.” – Itamar Blauer, SEO Consultant.
Our top recommended best web hosts for personal websites in 2023
For personal websites, we suggest opting for a shared hosting plan. Shared hosting is one of the most affordable hosting solutions and it’s suitable for both beginner and expert users. So, here are our top recommended web hosts for personal websites based on their available shared hosting plans.
Bluehost
Bluehost is a beginner-friendly web host that offers affordable and feature-rich plans for all website types, including those just for personal use. This web host has built a loyal user base since it was founded in 2003 and is renowned for providing fast loading speeds, solid uptime, and exceptional customer service.
Bluehost also makes it hassle-free to upgrade your hosting plan at any time, so if your website suddenly takes off and sees a dramatic increase in traffic, then you can easily accommodate for extra resources.
If you’re only looking to host a single website, then Bluehost’s basic shared hosting plan is probably your best option. This plan includes 50 GB SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, custom themes, one-year free domain registration, SSL, CDN, and 24/7 customer support. If you want even more SSD storage or are planning to host more than one website then you can opt for the plus shared plan which gives you unlimited websites and unlimited SSD storage. All plans are inexpensive, making them ideal for beginners and smaller, personal websites.
All Bluehost hosting plans come equipped with a custom drag-and-drop website builder that can help users of all technical levels create an appealing and functional website. This website builder has a built-in smart AI that helps guide your design and ensures that your site is fully optimized for all types of devices.
You can start off by selecting one of the hundreds of quick-start templates and from there you can make any required alterations. With the simplified drag-and-drop interface, you can edit the font and colours in addition to adding additional text and images. This tool is incredibly easy to use and even complete beginners will be able to effortlessly edit templates to create their ideal website.
Bluehost has an expert support team that can help you out during the setup and management of your website. Additionally, on Bluehost’s website, you’ll find a very informative knowledge base that is packed to the rim with in-depth articles, tutorials, how-tos, and general guides, so you’ll have no shortage of resources during your hosting journey.
Siteground
Siteground is another established web host that currently hosts over 2.8 million domains for users of all experience levels. This web host performs well in all areas, with an industry-standard uptime, super-fast server speeds, and full-featured hosting plans. With Siteground, you can set up a personal website without a hitch and manage it seamlessly using their included user-friendly tools.
Siteground’s startup plan is best suited to personal websites as it provides users with one website, 10 GB storage space, unmetered traffic, SSL, CDN, and daily backups. There are also a bunch of other features that you may not necessarily need for a personal website but are still nice bonuses to have. This includes unlimited email accounts, out-of-the-box caching, unlimited databases, and eCommerce integration. Siteground also provides top-notch security protocols to help protect your site against malicious software and other cyberattacks.
With all Siteground hosting plans, you are offered the choice between two popular site builders, WordPress and Weebly. These and other applications can be swiftly installed using Siteground’s auto-install and one-click software solutions. In the client area, you’ll have convenient access to these and loads of other important tools as well as shortcuts, settings, profile management, and access to support. This client area is incredibly intuitive and allows even novice users to easily perform common tasks such as uploading files, creating databases, installing applications, and managing DNS zones.
Coming back to WordPress, Siteground includes a free custom-built WordPress starter and migrator plugins with all hosting plans. This can help users of any expertise level create or migrate a completely functional website without any issues. There are also other useful WordPress plugins available including a performance optimizer plugin and a security plugin. Siteground also takes care of any WordPress security and software updates for all customers.
Paying customers can contact Siteground’s 24/7 customer support team to address any issues or make any changes to their hosting plans. There’s also a comprehensive knowledge base available that is loaded with tutorials, FAQs, and even podcasts. Hosting newcomers can also make use of this detailed web hosting guide for beginners to help them get started.
iPage
iPage is a fantastic choice for hosting a personal website, with its affordable plans, robust uptime, and range of available add-ons. Beginners will love the basic hosting choices as well as user-friendly features and easy scalability.
iPage has a single hosting plan available which claims to be highly suitable for all website types, including businesses, blogs, and simple personal sites. Included in this plan is unlimited storage, unlimited websites, SSL, one-year domain registration, and standard email address features. iPage aims to make your website setup as uncomplicated as possible with easy-to-use setup wizards and a one-click WordPress installer.
With this inexpensive hosting plan, you also gain access to iPage’s AI website builder. This tool works by asking you various questions about your website and then using your answers to create personalized templates. This is a great idea to speed up the website building process as simply scrolling through hundreds of different templates can be incredibly time-consuming. With this smart site builder, you’ll only need to make a few key changes to whichever template the tool designs for you. You’ll also have over 550k images to choose from, mobile optimization tools, and SEO tools.
Since iPage’s hosting plan is remarkably cheap, you’ll likely have space in your budget to purchase some additional tools to help protect your website even more. For example, iPage’s SiteLock security tool can be used to perform daily malware scans, remove viruses, and patch vulnerabilities. There are also various other tools to help users grow their audience, optimize their site for SEO, and create detailed traffic reports if needed.
iPage has a fast-responding customer support team available 24/7 through both phone and livechat. By contacting this team, you’re sure to receive fast and helpful answers as well as a quick fix for any problems you may encounter. Alternatively, you can take a look at iPage’s blog which is regularly updated with tutorials, discussions, and other explanatory articles.
A final note
If you’re completely new to web hosting and are feeling overwhelmed, then don’t panic! Check out our list of common web hosting questions and answers to familiarize yourself with the process!