What is the best blogging site to sign up with?

[Dr Timothy Sanders]

Hi La Shonda!

thanks for being so detailed about what you need and what you want to achieve! That makes it easier to answer. As regards the software, no problems there! Go Wordpress. If yours is to be a business blog, Wordpress is optimized to get you traffic (doesn't mean it will come on itself but it will make things easier for you). I strongly recommend WP and forgetting all the rest. Now the host, I use http://goo.gl/CNi3z for over 40 personal business websites, with three of these earning a huge amount of cash and upgraded to dedicated servers. As far as customer service, uptime and speed go, you can't find any better in terms of shared hosting for the typical average small business website. They offer the best features at the lowest price in the market. One great feature they have is that they give you $100 google adwords credit which is great to start up a business and test out the waters without having to do much SEO.

The only drawback is that you will have to pay your hosting fees yearly. In other words they don't offer monthly plans. If you're on a very tight budget, http://goo.gl/lwivl may be a better option for you. The price is actually higher and the quality of the service not on a par but they do offer monthly plans that may be suitable for younger entrepreneurs and beginners! Again this is an affiliate link. If you click on it, you can use the code ARIZONASANDERS to get a great discount.

Whether you choose to go with these or other services, I also would like to recommend you to have a look at some of the websites hosted by whoever it is you are considering as your host. Check the host's forums for a list. My favorite free tool for checking out website speed is this: https://www.cloudflare.com/plans They offer a free basic test service. I recommend using the pro for $20 a month once you start making money.
It's always best to check out a host yourself rather than take anyone's word because hosting companies pay fees to their customers for recommending their services. That includes me and in no way is meant to imply anything on anyone who may have already answered or will answer this question in the future.

Lastly, before you choose a host make sure to have chosen the right domain! This is a crucial step towards ensuring success for your business, way more important than choosing the host. Your website has to rank as high as possible in google for people to be able to find it easily. You need specific tools to do this. The top level application, used ethically by many internet marketers is http://goo.gl/6Q4YS . You can use the application for free without buying anything. This may be a bit advanced but is required before you start working on your site. If you don't take these steps you will not be able to make any money.

Hope this helps and let us know how you are doing!