Which Hosting Platform is the Best WordPress Hosting For Your Website?
Choosing the best web hosting for your site isn’t always as easy as it sounds. In my nine years of experience as a web developer, I have seen (and done) a lot with WordPress. I have seen massive websites on tiny hosting plans and the client was wondering what the problems are. I have also been the guy with a big WordPress build on a tiny hosting plan wondering what was wrong. In the 100+ WordPress projects I have worked on, I have seen a lot.
WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world. Matt Mullenweg and company started WordPress as a blogging platform in 2003. The business crowd noticed how WordPress sites ranked better with search engines. That is when WordPress evolved from a blogging platform into the platform it is today.
WordPress sites come in all shapes and sizes, from single page “business card” sites to 900-plus page multisite mega-sites. Because of the wide range of site needs, the hosting needs for these websites varies too. The typical Economy cPanel hosting plan wouldn’t stand a chance hosting a medium-sized WordPress site, much less some of the larger sites out there.
So, how does a website owner know what hosting is best for their WordPress site? If you’re getting a lot of 500 errors or your page load speed is slow, you may have some hosting issues that need to be evaluated. I see tons of websites where the owner complains about page loading speed but has a 1GB website that hasn’t been updated in years on an economy hosting plan. The owner isn’t willing to invest in his hosting plan and therefore isn’t willing to invest in his success.
As a developer, I have these problems too. I am not exempt from having website problems. I am a lot quicker at finding website solutions though.
The Purpose of a Website is to be Seen
If you have invested the time and effort to build your website, you would like someone to visit or see your website. Maybe you are selling products or services and you would like people to buy from you. Maybe you are a realtor and need more marketing to keep your name in front of your clients and potential clients. Even if you are writing a blog, part of your job is to show people your work.
The truth is that the most economical web hosting is seldom the best web hosting for your WordPress website.
Michael Neely, Professional Web Developer
WordPress sometimes gets a bad reputation. Some website owners build an awesome website in WordPress, and then, their economical web hosting can’t handle their website. These website owners then blame WordPress. The truth is that it isn’t WordPress’ fault. When you have hosting problems, your website can’t be seen and your website has no purpose.
I can’t count how many times I have seen a large WordPress website hosted on an economy level hosting plan. In fact, when meeting a potential client for the first time, one of the first questions I ask is “What kind of hosting do you have?” The truth is that the most economical web hosting is seldom the best web hosting for your WordPress website.
I put together this very brief guide to help WordPress website owners choose which web hosting is the best web hosting for their WordPress website.
1. Small WordPress Websites
If you have a small five-page WordPress website, then economy cPanel hosting plan or an economy managed WordPress hosting plan should work for you. Your site probably does not have that many database calls which can be a limiting factor with growing websites. As you add pages or images, then your database calls will increase and will strain your hosting server’s capabilities. Economical web hosting works great with this website.
2. Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting was touted as the “be-all-end-all” hosting solution for WordPress a few years ago. Managed WordPress Hosting is great if you have a small, non-WooCommerce (or any other eCommerce platform for that matter) WordPress blog. It will keep your plugins and themes up-to-date and help enhance security.
However, if you are adding a collection of products or services via WooCommerce, your site’s needs will outgrow Managed WordPress Hosting very quickly. If you have a WordPress blog then Managed WordPress Hosting might be the best web hosting for your site.
3. Medium-sized eCommerce Websites
This site is one that I would regard as a medium-sized (but growing) WordPress website. It has long outgrown the economical web hosting and moving into the large cPanel hosting or even business hosting with dedicated resources. My web developer site is also in this category. As I add more products to my website, it grows quickly and the hosting is something I have to keep an eye on, especially if I want to stay in business.
4. Large Multi-site Websites
The best web hosting for large WordPress websites is almost always dedicated server web hosting. Whether you decide on VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, a large business hosting platform, or Dedicated Server options, some of these plans do not come with someone to maintain the server. If you go the dedicated server route, the server maintenance is usually on the website owner. The Dedicated server web hosting offered by eTech Web Solutions does have managed and non-managed options. Just making sure that you know which one you have or else you could be learning to write to a Linux in the middle of the night to fix your website.
Conclusion
When you are building a new website, you have to choose the hosting plan that is the best web hosting for your site. The website owner needs to be aware of the database calls to the server, the I/O Usage, and of course, the files and file size. All hosting plans are not the same.
Do your homework and find the right hosting plan for your website. I recommend eTech Web Solutions as your hosting source for your website.
