WordPress Event Ticketing

Hosting's a complicated process right? Sure it looks easy and how hard can it be clicking a button, entering in your card details and getting hosting? The truth is, it isn't hard at all. But it's all too easy to pick the wrong host for your WordPress site. Let's explore some of the common mistakes and find the perfect way to select a host for your WordPress powered site.

Mistake 1

Listening to so called "reviews." You know those so-called "impartial" reviews about the "Top ex-amount" of hosting companies? Yeah, they're all crap. The vast majority of these reviews are paid for by both the hosting companies themselves or are littered with affiliate links pointing back to the host. Some hosts pay in the mid-hundreds for one successful sign up which makes it a pretty lucrative gig. This isn't to say affiliate links are bad per se. But rather reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Top Tip

Rather than relying on reviews you find on websites look for real user reviews on social media. If you're looking for an independent site focused on real user reviews, there is none better than ReviewSingal. ReviewSingal is unique in the way it collects real user reviews from Social Media platforms and then ranks them based on that feedback. Interested in how it works? Check out their great how it works page for more information or check them out on Twitter below.

The Ugly Truth About Web Host Reviews https://t.co/z182wR0ksT #honestreviews

— Review Signal (@ReviewSignal) March 1, 2017

Mistake 2

Thinking the most expensive is always the best. While it's usually true that you get what you pay for, that isn't always true in hosting. More expensive and specialist managed hosts use more complex systems. Complex systems always introduce the possibility of one small piece breaking everything, which is why it isn't uncommon for people to report better reliability with traditional shared hosts rather than managed WordPress hosting.

Top Tip

Always contact the pre-sales department of any hosting company you're looking to join. Most will be happy to help with any inquiries you have, and it'll give you a general view of how quickly they reply and the way that pre-sales support is handled. Short answers or incorrect information? Take that as a red flag and look elsewhere.

Mistake 3

Going with a smaller boutique managed WordPress Hosting company, since the managed WordPress hosting boom where companies like WPEngine, Kinsta, and Pagely are thriving. Plenty of smaller startups have moved into the space and freelance contractors offering their hosting services.

Be wary going with a smaller outfit that doesn't have the workforce to backup the systems.

Hosting is a complicated business, and good sysadmins cost a small fortune. There is no way that Bob down the road is paying a sysadmin $90,000/yr to manage his servers he's supposedly got. Keep in mind as well that a smaller company with either 1 or a handful of employees is always going to have slower support in an emergency. Go with a one man band for your mission critical site, and it's down? Chances are it won't be back online for at least 8 hours if it goes down while the owner is sleeping. That $10/month saving doesn't look so great now.

Top Tip

Always make sure you do your background research on any host you want to join. Don't just take their word for it. Look for benchmark tests and ask as many awkward questions as you can. Never be talked into signing up for a special offer by pre-sales. There are always special offers on hosting, and they need your custom more than you need them. Hosts spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on marketing. Remember that and never be talked into anything.

Mistake 4

Going for the unlimited package. You know those unlimited packages that look excellent at like 10 bucks a month? Enticing eh? Well, they may be enticing, but they're also just a gimmick. While some companies advertise them, you'll see buried deep down in the depths of the terms and conditions that a fair usage policy applies.

The unlimited bundles are a myth. There is no such thing as "unlimited".

That is never made clear at signup. Every website has to go somewhere on a server and every GB of bandwidth counts. Unfortunately many make this mistake, and when I first started out 10 years ago, I made the same one. Try not copying me on that.

Top Tip

If you see the words Unlimited bandwidth or Unlimited space on the host you are considering join, just turn round, back away slowly and walk away. You don't want to get involved with a host like that.

So how do I pick the perfect host?

You need to consider what you want from a host. Are you looking for the fastest? The cheapest? The best support? A specialist WordPress host? How about those fancy ones that include staging, backups and everything else you need. Here are my top picks (no affiliate links by the way!) on what you should pick depending on what you need out of a host.

The - money no object give me the best pick

Your site is important to you. You're already making money with it or have a proper business plan to earn money with it. You want the best support in the business with staging areas to test updates and backups galore. You can't go far wrong with:

• WPEngine - One of the largest managed WordPress hosting companies. Their infrastructure is second to none. Support is 24/7 and staging and backups are included. Starting from just $29/month. You'd be crazy not to consider them.
• Kinsta - Consistently performs well in benchmarks tests and uses the Google infrastructure. With free SSL and backups along with staging included and support specialist that genuinely know their stuff. You can't go far wrong.

Did you notice something about Kinsta? You saw the unlimited visitors part, didn't you? And I just mentioned how you should avoid unlimited. Kinsta is different. They aren't saying you get unlimited space. You get a set amount of space and a set amount of bandwidth. They're saying within that bandwidth you get an unlimited amount of visitors. A huge difference and something that helps. WPEngine charge for additional visitors.

The - one on the budget pick

On a tight budget but still, want a decent host? Don't settle for a crappy host, in this category; there's only one host I ever recommend without hesitation, Siteground. A specialist shared host who knows offer specialist WordPress features including backups, staging, and SSL. Starting from just $5.95/month and plenty of coupons are available to bring that down even further. You can't go far wrong. While the speed may not be as fast as Kinsta and WPEngine. Siteground still performs remarkably well for a shared host.

There's always one reason I'd recommend Siteground - they get stuff fixed.

I've had my fair share of issues on the platform. But it's always been resolved in a timely and professional manner. You can always tell how good is a host is by their support and for me, Siteground are one of the best.

Things to consider when picking the perfect host

• Server Location

If you have a magazine site or any type of site which has a target audience in a particular country you want your site to be hosted ideally in that country to reduce latency between the server and the end user. So if you have a site that primarily targets people in the UK. Try picking a host that allows you to use a server in the UK. The further your server is located from the country of the visitor the longer the latency which means, the longer the connection time and the greater chance of people bouncing without reading a thing.

• SSL

SSL is more important than ever. End users are more technically savvy than they used to be and many are put off by what appear to be insecure sites. Google announced in September last year that starting in 2017 they were going to start marking pages as non-secure in Google Chrome for pages that require logins and passwords which will eventually expand to any page that is non-secure. Many hosts now include SSL at no extra cost.

• Backups

Specialist WordPress hosts offer backups at no additional costs and usually allow you to keep 30 days worth of backups on their servers. Every website whatever it does should have backups. Backups come as standard on the Siteground GoGeek plans and WPEngine along with Kinsta also include backups at no extra costs.

• Staging

A staging area allows you with one click to make a complete replica of your site to test updates, fixes and new functionality on. Testing updates and fixes on a staging area is something any website owner should do. If you've ever been unlucky enough to click that, Auto Update button in your WordPress dashboard and have your site crash. You'll know the importance of a staging area.

Conclusion

Hosting is a minefield, plenty can go wrong, and it does. But hopefully, these recommendations will help you on your way to hosting your next WordPress powered website. Had a bad experience with a host? Maybe you feel you've had the best support ever? Let us know about your experiences in the comments below.