Blog Hosting

One of the ways that you can bring attention to your business web site is to have a blog. A regularly updated blog with quality content is a good way to bring traffic to your ecommerce web site, and possible increase your ability to make sales. A blog that is optimized for search engine, and contains useful (or entertaining) information can be a good way to help you raise your web site's visibility and hopefully draw more people to your business. However, you will need good blog hosting in order to make it work. You will need a place to keep your blog – and to hopefully integrate with your business web site. 

What is blog hosting?

Because blogging is becoming a popular complement to online marketing, there are a number of places that can host your blog. A blog host is simply someone who can keep your blog on a server. Servers are what make the Internet work. They are physical computers that store information, and that can be accessed, via online connection, by your computer. Companies own servers, and then rent space out to people for storage. There are some that are willing to host your blog, so that you can add content and hopeful direct people to your web site. 

You don't always have to pay for blog hosting. In many cases, there are free options. However, it is important to remember that you get what you pay for. You won't have your own web address in many cases, and you probably won't have the best services. If you are willing to pay a little bit each month, you can usually get better blog hosting, with more features and more versatility. 

Integrating your blog with your business web site 

One of the important things to do is to make sure that your blog is integrated with your ecommerce web site. It should be reached with an online address along the lines of www.yourcompany.com/blog or www.blog.yourcompany.com. Either way, you need your blog to be a part of your web site.

Navigation should also be easy from your blog. Readers should be able to easily access your catalog, business home page and other essential points of navigation from your blog. The point is to make it easy for people to find your blog, and then go to your business web site – hopefully buying a product or service. In some cases, it is even possible to showcase specific items on the sidebar of your blog, and bring customers directly to a purchase page right from the blog. This can be a useful and fast way to possibly increase sales from your business web site. 

Because blogging is becoming such an important part of business in cyberspace, some ecommerce web hosts are also offering blog packages, like Wordpress software, along with, catalog applications, payment gateways and more. You can get a blog built for your business web site without too much trouble, and the price of maintaining it and the use of space and bandwidth on the server might be included in the package. This can simplify matters to a certain extent, and make it easier for you to ensure that your blog and your business web site are integrated.

Choosing a blog host 

When choosing blog website hosting, you need to make sure that you first understand your specific business needs. Consider what you want to accomplish with your ecommerce web site and blog. Once you have your goals in mind, you can start looking around for a blog host. Some things to consider include: 

• Service: Make sure that your host offers good service.
• Ease of use: You want an admin that is easy to use, and that you can easily add other users to if necessary.
• Features: You want a number of features that will allow you to customize your business blog and get the look you want.
• Uptime: You need a blog host that offers good uptime. Some servers are always overloaded, and your site is often down. This will only annoy customers and drive them away. Make sure that your blog host has a history of good uptime.
• Adequate space and bandwidth: Double check to ensure that you will have adequate space for your blog to expand as you add more content, and that you will have adequate bandwidth to handle your expected visitors.
• Integration with your business web site: Check to make sure that there is a relatively painless integration with your ecommerce web site.
• Cost: You do want to consider cost as well. You want to look for the best deal for your money. However, remember that free web hosting is not always best, and your web site and blog may suffer if you cheap out too much.

In the end, you need to do what is best for you. There is plenty of blog hosting around, so do some comparison shopping, and choose the host that you think will be best for your business. Find a host that has excellent support and will provide blogging help like Wordpress tips to make your experience a good one.