Shared hosting is the most affordable way to host a web site. As the name implies, it involves “sharing” a server with other users and their sites. Starting out with a shared hosting account make sense. A quality, reliable account of this type is often more than sufficient for most web sites. However, with the financial advantages of sharing comes another issue that must be considered.

The weakness of a shared account is that other web sites hosted on the same server as yours can effect the reliability and performance of your web site. If another account crashes the server or consumes too much CPU time or memory your site’s performance will be significantly affected. This is another reason why it is important to choose a web host that responsibly manages their services and servers.

Unreliable hosting providers often overload their servers with accounts and web sites to maximize profits. This practice means that evaluating a provider should include more than which plan offers the most resources for the dollar.

Current Recommendations

• Low Cost. WebHostingBuzz is the lowest cost option that still offers good quality support. Plans start at $3/mo (includes free domain name registration) and a money back guarantee.
• Ease of Use and Good Support. HostICan offers 24×7 phone support, plenty of disk space and transfer, includes useful site building features and a money back guarantee for $6.95/mo. This is an established well reviewed host.
• Fast Servers MediaLayer is a little more expensive at $9.95/mo than the others but offers claims of superior application hosting (CMS, Forums etc) on servers that are not “oversold” i.e. overloaded. This site is currently working on a review of MediaLayer that is currently positive.