If you are a blogger and have your website, then you might have gone through the uneasy process of web hosting renewal. Some people may argue that it is a damn simple procedure and does not require many efforts.
But the fact is – many people take it too easy and end up making wrong decisions. Here, by the wrong decision I mean – either these people pay more for the renewal or select a relatively unknown web host with not great reviews to its credit.
To make the web hosting renewal process easy and beneficial for you, I have gathered some information and my own experience to share. These tips are related to WordPress websites hosted on Linux servers. But the tips can be applied to any web hosting.
You should know that website hosting on Linux servers is cheaper than hosting on Windows-based servers. Moreover, Linux based hosting provides you cPanel that simplifies to a large extent the installation of a WordPress website.
Before proceeding further, let us have some talk of the popular web hosts.
If you search the internet, you will come across many web hosts offering significant discounts.
Here is a list of some popular web hosts:
- Bluehost
- HostGator
- Sitebuilder
- Siteground
- GoDaddy
In this article, we will discuss different ways to save money while going for web hosting renewals or buying a new web hosting service.
Tips on Web hosting renewal
1. Buy web hosting for longer periods
When you purchase web hosting for the first time or change your current web host you need to consider these points:
- Features: Look for the features such as disk space, SSD drives, bandwidth, CPU, memory, SSL certificate, CDN support, Emails, number of visitors per month, etc.
- Price: Check the price of each plan for one year, two years and three years.
- Support: It is a crucial factor in deciding your new web host. Check if the new host has local phone support, online chat support, and email support. Apart from this, also check if these supports are available for 24×7.
- Speed: Check if the provider guarantees a fast loading time for your website. It is a crucial factor for higher search engine ranking and better user experience.
- Uptime: It should be at least 99.9%. If a host does not guarantee this uptime, don’t consider him. All good host offer this uptime.
- Reviews: Check user reviews on different sites to verify if the host is providing the service he offers on his website.
It is time to decide the period of web hosting. If you can afford, go for the three-year plan. It will give you the maximum saving. To elaborate this point, let me take an example of Linux hosting standard plan from Bluehost:
- If you buy hosting for one year @$3/month and renew it later for two more years @$5/month, your total cost becomes = $3*12 + $5*24 = $156
- But if you buy the hosting for three years @$3/month, your total cost becomes =$3*36 = $108.
- You can see an apparent saving of $48. Although it looks small, it is still a saving.
You can apply this rule to any plan from any host except a few hosts like Namecheap.
2. Seek discount from the current web host
As you know, all the web hosts offer great discounts for a new customer. But this discount is not available to the existing clients. Consider a situation where you initially bought the web hosting for one year, and now it is due for renewal.
You might think what to do to get the renewal at a discount. Don’t worry; I have gone through the same situation.
One year back I was not sure whether my blogging profession would do well. Hence I opted for shared hosting at a discount from Godaddy. Although my renewal date is 9th Sep 2017, I got my domain and web hosting renewal was done in June 2017 and that also at a discount.
I had to pay nearly the same amount for renewal as I paid for the first year service.
What I did – I simply contacted GoDaddy support team on the phone and told them “I want to renew my domain and website hosting, so please offer me some discount” and a discount of 25% was immediately approved.
Remember, all the web hosts want to retain their customers and hence offer some discounts if requested. In case, a web host doesn’t agree for a discount; then you have the other option which is listed in the next point.
3. Look for alternate web host when the current hosting period is about to expire
If you are not satisfied with the current web host or if he does not agree to any discounts for web hosting renewal, then you should look for an alternate web host. Many web hosts will offer you a great price and a free website migration service.
‘Namecheap.com’ and ‘1and1.com’ are two web hosts that provide hosting at a very cheap rate. But their services are not at par with the top five vendors listed at the beginning of this article.
In case, the new host does not offer free migration then you will need to perform this activity yourself. Although it is not difficult to migrate your website from one web host to another, still some technical knowledge is required.
Even if you don’t know this procedure, you can still find many articles and videos on this topic on the internet to help you out.
Some technical people don’t mind shifting their websites every year to another host just to avail the discount offers for renewal.
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Concluding Tips on Web Hosting Renewal
Most of the great offers are tied to longer periods. That means you will need to buy web hosting service for at least three years to avail the discounts. There is no harm in it if you are happy with the plan, service, and credibility of the web host.
Still, I would prefer the second option for renewal if you are satisfied with your current web host because you had already experienced his services.
