When we started Gearcraft in 2014 we didn’t expect our host to give out so quick. We had purchased a shared hosting plan from a subsidiary bargain hosting service, which rhymed with “BoMaddy” lol, and it wasn’t so bad as long as you didn’t go over 15K visits a month. Pretty soon our server was crashing every 15 minutes which made updating the site very frustrating.
Since we used WordPress as our platform we heard about these hosting services which specialize in WordPress CMS platforms and how they made managing it a breeze while offering other benefits.
There were several options, WPEngine I believe was one of them, but based on the amount of visits we got, their options were just too expensive.
Another problem we were having besides the server crashing was that it was really slow in loading, didn’t have security, and lacked the WordPress support.
We were torn between DigitalOcean and SiteGround as our final options. The prices were similar but DigitalOcean was just too complicated to use (What the heck are droplets!?).
These are 5 reasons why we support SiteGround as the best solution to our WordPress site
1.) Price
Prices start at only $3.95 a month, which includes a domain for free! The value is in the customer support and the upgrades. When you move to the Highest tier for $14.95/mo, which is the Go Geek plan you get support and additions which WpEngine charges $99 for and still they don’t even include all what SiteGround includes. Those options listed below.
2.) Security
We do a lot of experiments behind the scenes on our site, and sometimes we break it. In the past it caused our hearts to sink. The fear of losing the entire website because of a line of code screwed up. With SiteGround they make 30 backups automatically, daily! They also have other security measures for hacking and DDOS attacks.
3.) Speed
Now this was really the selling point for me. Speed helps in the rankings and also keeps the reader from not pressing back. Before SiteGround our website did horrible on Google’s Pagespeed insight test. We’re an image and component intensive site due to our demographics, and so our page speed was a 30-40% rating. Terrible. After applying their tools we doubled it. SiteGround achieved this for us with their built in CDN services, and Varnish. If you don’t know what that is, it basically caches your entire website so it loads much quicker.. … don’t ask me how it works, it just works! It’s really complicated to do it yourself. I tried once and crashed the site.
Another cool thing is that they even give you a plugin for it called SuperCacher.
4.) Awesome Support
During the registration and migration process I was a little anxious because I didn’t want the website to be down for longer than it had to be. Losing any backlinks or viewers would be detrimental to us during this phase in our growth. I chatted with their support, which assisted me immediately, and we accomplished the migration safely and quickly.
They also have phone, email and a ticket system as mediums of support and are available 24/7. I usually do the site updating at 3AM. Anyways they helped me with WordPress questions, even with technical questions which I don’t think they had to, they just really go that extra mile. For me customer service should always be 10 star quality even if everything else sucks, but in SiteGrounds‘ case, it don’t.
5.) Tools/Resources
WordPress can be confusing to install due to their SQL setting in PHPMyAdmin (You know what I’m talking about). Luckily SiteGround makes it too easy with One-click WordPress installation. They go even further and provide a whole array of tools/resources for WordPress based sites. They have the SuperCacher plugin as mentioned above, they also have an interface for Git repo creations for all you Git-hub developers. One click WordPress staging is included with the GoGeek plan if you want to try out new things to the site without affecting the actual live site. They also have video tutorials for any WordPress noobs.
The Verdict
For $3.95 Hosting which includes fast server speeds, one click installation, daily backups, easy interface, and lastly great customer service how can you not go with SiteGround? Right now we have 3 hosting accounts with SiteGround with one more account in the works. If you’re having trouble deciding on a host, look no further, SiteGround‘s WordPress Hosting solutions just might be right for you.
Please Visit SiteGround.com Today for your WordPress Hosting needs.
