Web hosting is one of those essential investments that every blogger has to make every month to run their self-hosted WordPress blog. Usually, a cheap and reliable shared hosting for WordPress will cost from $3/month to $15/month, depending on your requirements. The cost increases substantially when you move to managed WordPress hosting, VPS or a dedicated hosting server.
When a new blogger takes the initial steps to set up a self-hosted blog, he is often unaware of the costs involved in web hosting. Frequently a new blogger may end up buying web hosting at an unnecessarily high cost (and without a discount).
Even if he does get discounted hosting, the cost of renewal is excessively high when the time comes to renew.
In today’s post, I will share with you a few important tips which will help you to save money on your web hosting renewal. Some of these ideas may be of use from day one of your first hosting purchase.
Others may be used when your hosting time is about to expire, and you have to pay for the renewal.
How to save on hosting renewal bills:
Some of you are considering your first purchase of hosting service, and others are looking at a renewal of your current hosting account. For this reason, I will take care to point out various methods which will fit either scenario and will help you to save your money whether you are just starting out or renewing your service.
Please note that this guide is for shared hosting only, but will also work for any other hosting plans you may be seeking, such as managed WordPress hosting, VPS or dedicated.
For the purchase of new hosting:
If you are about to buy a hosting package for your blog, this is the right time to save money for the long-term. Usually, when you buy hosting from any of the hosting companies, you can easily find discount coupons. We also have a dedicated section sharing discounts on popular hosting companies here.
One mistake that most of the beginners make is that they buy hosting for one year only, and then the following year they are faced with having to pay in full for their hosting renewal.
Rarely is there a discount coupon available for renewals, so opting to buy service for more than one year at the time of your original purchase will save you money in the long run.
So – when you make the first purchase, you have the option to buy hosting for more than one year. It is a good idea to buy your hosting from a reliable company, and purchase a package for two or three years. I have purchased hosting from Bluehost for three years at the cost of $3.95/month, and this saved me a lot of money in the long run.
Let me do a quick calculation for Bluehost hosting here:
- If I purchase for one year with the discounted link and pay in full for next two years of renewal: $4.95 * 12 + $166.8 = $226.2
- Now, let’s consider the cost if I buy hosting for three years from Bluehost with the discounted link: $3.95 * 36 = $142.2
That’s straight away a savings of $84, which is considerable when you buy 2-3 hosting packages for multiple websites.
Now let’s look at SiteGround hosting, in particular, their “GrowBig plan“. SiteGround offers a maximum possible up to 70% off your first bill using this special link, and again no discount on renewal.
- Hosting purchased for one year with discount + two-year renewal payment without any discount: $95.4 + $358.8 = $454.2
- Hosting purchased for three years with the discount: $286.2
So, this is one way to save money by buying your web hosting for a longer term, thus getting a better hosting discount. The one problem with this approach is the fact that you are stuck with the same hosting for a lengthy period. I usually use this technique for my small niche websites.
Moving your hosting service to save money on web hosting:
This is the second technique which you can use every time your renewal is due. This technique will allow you to save money on your hosting renewal bill. From my experience, SiteGround and Bluehost offer almost the same quality, so it doesn’t make much difference which company you choose as your hosting service.
When your hosting term is about to expire, you can sign up for a hosting package from an alternative hosting company, and move your sites. A great aspect of this transition is the fact that some companies such as Siteground offer free migration, so you don’t even need to worry about tech hassles.
In general, moving a WordPress site is not very difficult, and you can refer to this guide to learn how to move a WordPress site between any hosting companies.
This way you will end up saving a good $20-$40 every year. This approach is preferred by people who are technically savvy and don’t mind changing hosting companies, but I suggest the former method for users who are less technically oriented.
Ask your hosting company for a discount:
This approach will work with almost every hosting company. Retaining a customer is the utmost priority for any hosting company, and when your hosting term is about to expire, you can ask your hosting sales team for a discount on your renewal.
You could simply say:
“I’m getting a decent discount on (name of competing for hosting service), and I want to save some money. The renewal with you will cost me $120, but if I move my website to X hosting, I will save at least $50. I was hoping I could get a discount on renewal, as I would love to stay with you, and at the same time I want to value my hard-earned money.”
This may or may not work, depending upon the policy of a hosting company. But, if you ask in the right way, you may well end up getting a decent discount. Otherwise, you can always fall back on method # 2!
Most people ignore such small savings for the sake of their comfort level, but remember, “money saved is money earned.”
Do you have any additional tips to share that are helpful for the purpose of saving money on web hosting bills?
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