I have 20 sites so far, all on the same hosting service. They have been terrific and I have no complaints at all. What I am wondering about is that a lot of webmasters say you should distribute your sites across 2 or 3 different hosting accounts just in case something happens to one of them. This makes some sense to me but it also would add to my expenses. At what stage would you think this would be a wise idea?
I don't really recommend it if it's not really in your budget. The only time I recommend users to have multiple hosting locations is when you're a webhost that needs to ensure that their main website is up in the event their servers go down.
I do this myself by having my main server with WiredTree versus keeping it on servers I have clients on.
It's not really necessary for just basic sites. The only thing I do recommend is to keep your own backups (if you're using cPanel, use cpmove backups.) That way if something does happen to your current host, you've got backups to restore elsewhere should their service end and/or have any issues.
i use 4 hosts.. 2 in the uk and 2 in the us. i think your sites would rank better if they had different ips. but i can't back this up with any facts atm.
They can sometimes rank better if you're on your own private IP versus a shared IP especially if you plan on cross-linking between them. However, that's going a bit off topic as there's more to it than just that...as for multiple hosts, I'd recommend it if you're serious about your website and can afford it. If it's just a small hobby site and it's not producing any money, then don't worry about it but do keep regular backups just in case.
Just one and I have a great hookup so for me its fine to just be with one. Now of course if I did not have this hookup I would be shopping around for the best deals for what I actually need.
I have a website and three small blogs hosted on one hosting account. It works well so far and I don't think I need another host to handle the website and blogs.
I feel grateful that now many web hosts allow their users to host multiple domain names on one hosting account. It really helps website owners who are working within tight budgets (like me LOL).
I see no problem with hosting all of your sites with one host. The fact that you have 20 sites with one hosts shows that you have great confidence in your current host. That is really good to hear. We have many customers who have multiple cPanel accounts with us.
I don't really see the point. I pay for a host based on its uptime and service. I can always add features/add-ons/scripts myself, hire someone to do them, or contact support to see what can be done.
This is why I recommend finding one good host and sticking with them.