Are you unhappy with your web hosting company? Perhaps your website is slow; perhaps you have been unable to make changes because of a server without reasonable resources – not that you know this is the reason, what you’re trying to do just doesn’t work, and you haven’t got the time to be waiting for their customer service or technical support to deign to get back to you. That’s if they can answer the question when they finally do! But despite all this, maybe you’re reluctant to change website hosting for a few reasons:
- Website migration: you fear that if you make a mistake in migrating your website from one host to another, you will lose your website forever; how long will you have to spend doing the migration – time that could be better spent generating revenue
- Where to move to? How will you know whether the new host you choose will be any better than the one you are leaving? Several hosts are actually owned by the same company and have the same infrastructure, but different branding
- Additional costs: if you’ve already incurred the cost of paying for your hosting for the next year you’re going to be understandably reluctant to shell out more money for a new host.
There is an answer to all of this. I am pleased to recommend SiteGround Website Hosting to you.
Why do I recommend SiteGround Website Hosting?
Well when I was just starting my business I did a great deal of research. As a web developer I knew the importance of finding a good host. There were hosts that I was recommended against touching with a bargepole. There were hosts that clearly offered a very good service, such as WPEngine and Flywheel, but their price meant that for me as a fledgling business, the hosts were out of my financial reach. They still are. And then there was SiteGround. I became one of their customers. And for most of my clients, small businesses maybe just starting out or who hope to grow over the next few years, a SiteGround package will be suitable for them too. When you’ve grown big enough to outgrow all SiteGround can offer you, you will have grown big enough to afford an alternative! Even for those of us with a small budget, they’re pretty hard to beat.
The results shown below are based on tests with real accounts on 12 of the most popular web hosts: Bluehost, HostGator, iPage, Fatcow, Justhost, AsmallOrange, InMotion, WebhostingHub, Arvixe, GoDaddy, GreenGeeks and A2Hosting.
SiteGround’s customer service and technical support are awesome
They are there 24/7 and their representatives are always friendly and helpful. I’ve never had to wait long for an answer to my questions, even on a Sunday afternoon. These are the ways you can contact SiteGround when you need help:
- LiveChat – your issue will be resolved in 5 minutes
- Call them using their free UK phone number – they pick up immediately
- Raise a ticket – their first response is within 8 minutes
SiteGround loads pages faster and has higher performance
SiteGround loads websites faster!
- Industry average loading time: 4.7 s
- SiteGround loading time without cache: 1.7 s
- SiteGround loading time with cache: 1.3 s
SiteGround can handle more traffic!
- Industry average hits handled: 2,852
- Without cache SiteGround handle 3 times more: 8,276
- With cache SiteGround can handle: over 230,000
SiteGround is safer
Hack Protection
SiteGround tested both a WordPress- and Joomla-related vulnerability which had been announced publicly more than 1 month before the test. On all 12 tested hosts except SiteGround both vulnerabilities were still exploitable with no problem. By contrast SiteGround patched both at a server level up to 48 hours after their public announcement.
Account Isolation
Account iso… what? Most website hosting is on what is known as a shared server. There are in fact several websites all sharing the resources of one server, but when you log in all you should be able to see is your files not everyone else’s. You can buy dedicated server hosting, but this tends to be much more expensive and suitable for bigger businesses. Shared hosting is fine if you – or a hacker – can see only your files. But it is not always this way. Your web host needs to have effective account isolation measures in place, otherwise if one site is hacked, others on the same server could be too.
SiteGround were the pioneers in applying these effective account isolation mechanisms to the shared hosting environment. Nowadays, most of the shared hosts apply similar techniques but it is still possible to see an environment that is not properly isolated.
- SiteGround was the first to apply isolation
- 3 of the tested hosts still not isolated
- 5 of the tested hosts could be better isolated
So SiteGround guards you from your neighbours better than in some other shared hosting environments.
SiteGround is great at other things too…
- You remember one of the main reasons for remaining with your host? The transfer of the website? If you select their GrowBig or GoGeek plans, SiteGround do it for you. One included transfer with every new account. If you choose their StartUp plan and want a website transferred, talk to me. I will do it for a small fee. So will they.
- SiteGround offers free SSL certificates, allowing your website to have the increasingly important “https” at the start
- SiteGround offers a daily backup of your site, so you can recover it if something goes wrong.
- SiteGround’s uptime is amazing. In over two years, they have been down for 20 minutes. That was because their servers were under attack (a DDoS attack if you’re interested) and to recover from an attack like that so quickly is pretty good.
- SiteGround make sure that the sites are always updated to the most recent of WordPress when it is released.
The Sign-up Process
So now you know all about SiteGround website hosting, let me talk you through the sign-up process.
1. Choose your hosting plan
SiteGround has three plans. For most of you I’d go with the StartUp plan unless you have more than one website (maybe a personal blog that you have hosted somewhere else?)
- The StartUp plan is perfect for people with one website who are starting out
- The GrowBig plan is a great value for money offer, including the option for multiple websites and the SuperCacher that greatly improves a WordPress website speed
- The GoGeek plan is perfect for people with e-commerce and larger sites, or more geeky development needs like staging and GIT integration
Step 2. Choosing Domain
Either choose to buy a new domain, or sign up with an existing domain. If you have a domain and hosting elsewhere, make sure that you take advantage of the free website transfer offered with each GrowBig and GoGeek SiteGround website hosting.
The website transfer does just that. In certain circumstances, it will also transfer your email history. In others, I can help with this but I’d need to liaise with your previous host. What it will not do is configure your email on all your devices such as your pc, laptop, tablet or phone. That’d be a bit like asking Google to sort out your keywords for you. You do get connection details though. I can help you but this would be a special arrangement and at an extra charge.
Step 3. Review and Complete
You can choose your initial sign-up period, from 1 month to 3 years. The default and best value is 1 year. Discounts are calculated on a sliding scale for 2 and 3 years.
I hope you’ve found this post helpful in finding out more about SiteGround website hosting. You needn’t stay with a host you don’t want to be with!
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Please be assured that I do only recommend products I use and love myself.