Numbers 3 through 6 are questionable...<p>Unless you directly link 3 with 2, you'd learn a log more and be able to experiment a whole lot more with a VPS.<p>You can self-sign an SSL certificate and not pay anybody anything...<p>And you can setup a similar `git push` to deploy scheme. Even on shared hosting. <a href="http://sebduggan.com/blog/deploy-your-website-changes-using-git/" rel="nofollow">http://sebduggan.com/blog/deploy-your-website-changes-using-...</a>