How to have an amazing self hosted blog

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I recently made the move to go self hosted with my blog. After nine years on the free blogging platform, Blogger, I decided now was the perfect time to move and have complete ownership of my site. Finding the perfect web host though was something I didn’t take lightly and if you’re looking to either migrate over to a self hosted blog or start a brand new self hosted blog then here’s how to choose a host.

I briefly touched on my process for choosing a host in the re-lauch post for my blog the day I went self hosted. But now everything has settled down and I’ve got to know my way around WordPress and my hosts site I figured now was the perfect time to discuss how to choose the right host and provide you with a little review for my web host, Lyrical Host.

What is a self hosted blog?

Put in plain and simple terms a self hosted blog resides on your own servers, though usually you pay a third party, a web hosting company, to host your site. Essentially you’re renting out storage space from them. You’re free to move you’re site around to different hosts unlike with a free blogging platform where your files are stored on that platform’s servers. Basically if you’re self hosted you own and are responsible for your site. If you use a free blogging platform your blog doesn’t actually belong to you. Obviously the likes of Blogger and WordPress.com are free to use and as such you will have a hosted blog. A self hosted blog does incur some costs as you have to pay someone to host your blog for you.

Is self hosting better?

I don’t think there’s really an answer to this. It all depends on what you want from your blog. I used Blogger for nine years, for seven of those years my blog was purely a hobby and I didn’t make a single penny from it. As my blog has evolved and grown though I’ve been lucky enough to make a little bit of money from it and the time is now right to expand on that. I have enough time around my actual job to work on this (though still not as much time as I would like!) and hopefully grow my blog and going self hosted for me was the first step in making that happen. I never had any issues with Blogger and while blogging was just a hobby it was perfect for me but I’d reached a point where I felt restricted with what I could do so I knew it was time to make the move and go self hosted.

It’s been three weeks now and I’m already feeling much happier with what I can now do with my site and I’m excited for the future. I do plan on writing a post soon about switching from a hosted blog to a self hosted one. If you only want to blog as a hobby then I honestly wouldn’t spend a lot of money on your blog, same goes for if you’re just starting out and you don’t know if it’s something you’ll stick to. If you’re looking to grow your blog though or you know you want to make money from blogging then you should look into going self hosted.

How to choose a web host

Choosing a host that feels right is super important, using a free platform was simple and easy but going self hosted requires some research especially if you are wanting to migrate your blog from a free platform over to a self hosted site. Having worked hard on my blog for nine years I was terrified of losing all of that so I knew I needed to find a host that I felt 100% happy with. I spent months researching and putting it off because the whole thing was very daunting. I kept returning to one hosts site though, Lyrical Host, and I should have known months ago that it was the right one for me but hindsight is a wonderful thing! I think once you find that right company you just know. My advice is to shop around, compare what different hosts can offer you and don’t settle for something just because it’s cheap! If you’re going to make the move you might as well do things properly. There are some many web hosts out there, some more well known than others so it always pays to do your research and read reviews. There are so many reasons I decided to go with Lyrical Host over anyone else which we’ll get on to in a moment but the glowing reviews definitely convinced me that they were the right hosts for me.

Why I chose Lyrical Host

I honestly don’t have a bad word to say about Lyrical Host, they’ve been absolutely wonderful. From the moment I contacted them to say I was thinking of switching from Blogger to a self hosted WordPress site they’ve been nothing but supportive. Their customer service goes above and beyond and I honestly don’t think I could have chosen a better provider. I don’t really know how to explain this but a lot of other sites felt techy and a bit like you were just another customer. Lyrical Host feels welcoming and like you’re part of a little family who have you and your sites best interests at heart. I was terrified about the migration process and moving to a platform I knew almost nothing about but not only were Lyrical Host amazing during the process and beyond that when I’ve had questions but they have a whole host of resources that I feel will be amazing for my blog. From their blog posts to their WordPress tutorials, their resource library and the fact I can have my own email with them there’s just a never ending stream of content and resources that I’m going to be putting to full use.

As I’ve said the feeling and wonderful reviews were major factors in deciding to go with Lyrical Host but there’s a whole load of other benefits that made me realise they were the right company for me from their free migration and theme installation service to the fact they keep their prices the same on renewal. Speaking of prices we might as well get down to the bit everyone is most concerned with, the price of having a self hosted site. I’m currently on the tiny plan which is £9.99 a month for one site. You can pay for 6 months, 1, 2 and 3 years though where you’ll receive an automatic 17% discount rather than paying one month at a time. I went with 6 months purely because I didn’t know how everything would go and how I’d feel about having a self hosted site but when that’s up I’ll more than likely just pay for the whole year. If you are looking to go with Lyrical Host as your web host I actually have a discount code, if you enter LAUREN10 at the checkout then you’ll receive 10% off any plan!

There’s so much I could talk about when it comes to having a self hosted blog but finding the perfect web host is a good starting point. There’ll definitely be more self hosted guides and tips in the future though.

Are you planning on going self hosted in the future or have you always had a self hosted site? Let me know in the comments.

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