As WordPress developers and SEO Consultants, my team and I inevitably get every question under the sun related to building websites. What software to use when building them, where to host it, how to make a website rank in Google, etc. I decided I wanted a page to exist so I could just send a link with answers to any of these common questions.
Hosting
Simple Answer = WP Engine
One of our number one questions is where to host WordPress websites. We get this question almost once a week from friends, potential clients, and peeps on social media. While there are all sorts of custom setups these days that may require specific options. The only place we recommend hosting is WP Engine. The goal of this post is not to be an in depth review of their service, but simply a reference for why we suggest them, and why it makes sense for any site owner or developer to utilize their service as well.
The Right Choice for Website Owners
If you own a small business and need a website, one of the best solutions is WordPress. It’s a free software that you can install on almost any hosting provider. Once set up it’s very simple to get a site up an running (Not so simple to optimize and challenge your competitors on the web, but that’s why you have people like us [su_icon icon=”icon: smile-o” background=”#ffffff” size=”16″ shape_size=”4″ margin=”0px 0px 0px 0px”][/su_icon] ). The simplicity of the platform is a double edged sword. Because it’s very easy to run, there are literally thousands of hosts out there offering anywhere from “free” hosting to super cheap sub $5 hosting with “unlimited” sites and email, etc, etc, etc. Well we all know nothing is really free. Sorry to be a bummer, but you get exactly what you pay for. This hosting can seem awesome at first, but oftentimes you’ll end up running into issues where you site is slow, things break, and getting support is a headache to say the least. While almost any host will allow you to install a WordPress site, WP Engine provides what’s called “Managed Hosting” – meaning, they don’t just let you use WordPress, they fine tune every feature of their hosting to make it run the best, and give you the tools to utilize the platform.
But why is that better for website owners? Well, at least for us, most website owners are really business owners that need a site as their hub on the web. They need to put a site up that has all the relevant info for their business and then most importantly NOT WORRY ABOUT THAT SITE EVERY DAY. They need to be focused on running their business, not website uptime, backups, site speed, updates, security… Simply put, WP Engine handles all the finer details of hosting a WordPress website so you don’t have to:
- they do daily backups
- they monitor security
- they have built in caching for super fast sites
- they automatically push major WordPress updates
Finally, one of the main reason I recommend them to website owners it their support. They’re never hard to get a hold of, and will walk through almost any issue you have. In my opinion, I’ve seen them walk people through issues that are outside the scope of their service, but they know it so well they help anyway. You’re not just getting a support agent, you’re usually talking with some true WordPress nerds.
The Right Choice for Developers
OK, now developers can be a finicky bunch who like what they like and anything else is just wrong – so I’m sure I’ll get some push back from some developers out there. However, as a business who develops, manages, or just oversees many client sites – we straight up love WP Engine. To keep it simple, we maintain many of our projects on WP Engine, and generally start with WP Engine or move our clients onto their hosting. My development team can build a fully functional development site and then “transfer” ownership to a client if they sign off. From there WP Engine sets up their account so they have ownership of their hosting and we can still access it in order to do our work. WP Engine handles all the billing and account stuff. Time is money, and I don’t need my guys spending their time on billing and accounts when they can be rolling out butt kicking sites.In full transparency, some of our links are affiliate links – meaning we get a little commission if you do chose to purchase hosting through our links. However, I don’t think there is a better recommendation than just using a service ourselves. That’s why this site, and many of our other projects are hosted at WP Engine.Hit us up if you have any questions.