WordPress tops the popular CMS (Content Management Systems) allowing people to build their website independently and confidently without technical complexities. That’s the reason why over 33% of global websites are built on WordPress. However, to gain the maximum potential out of your WordPress site, you need to buy WordPress hosting plans that comprise sufficient resources and relevant expertise to ensure robust performance and speed on WP sites. In this blog, we are going to mention some of the best tips to find an ideal WordPress hosting provider by assessing their qualities and asking the right questions. It will help you distinguish the best from the rest:
Do you have expertise in WordPress?
The most basic requirement for any WordPress hosting provider is to have technical proficiency within WordPress. It will enable them to optimize your entire hosting ecosystem to maximize the potential of your WP site. Moreover, the in-house WordPress experts are in a better position to provide a prompt, precise, and permanent solution to your WordPress-specific issues- whether it is related to security or performance.
Do you have Qualified WordPress experts?
Just providing a WordPress-optimized ecosystem is not enough. It is equally important that your hosting provider has an in-house team of qualified and experienced WordPress professionals. It makes a huge difference as those seasoned WP experts with real-life experience can forecast the general issues even before they start to materialize. It allows them to take proactive measures to resolve such issues before they affect your business.
These professional experts also offer you qualified advice on the best ways to extract maximum performance, uptime, and speed by wisely optimizing different settings, removing specific add-ons, or adding authentic enhancement tools. In short, you will get thorough handholding support to max out the overall capabilities of your WordPress website.
Why should I buy WordPress hosting (and not any generic hosting) from you?
One thing to keep in mind is that many hosting providers also use WordPress Hosting as a marketing gimmick without offering any good value-added advantage apart from meeting the most fundamental WP hosting requirements. So, categorically ask your provider about different ways in which their WordPress hosting plans differ from other plans. Don’t get caught in the trap of technical jargon or explanation. Simply ask them how their WordPress plans cater better to your WP site when compared to their generic shared/VPS plans. It will help you to fully understand the value you are getting out of the additional cost you pay thus placing you in an advantageous position while weighing the expenses vs. RoI.
To the least your hosting provider should offer:
- PHP Latest version (at least 7 or higher)
- MySQL (5.6+ )
- MariaDB (10.0 +)
What is their reputation?
Reputation of your hosting provider matters a lot. Make sure that they enjoy a respectable position in the industry and have been constantly delivering reliable services to their customers. Learn about their customers’ experience. Check client testimonials, read what people have to say about the company.
How happy their clients are? What is the average feedback the company gets from its clients? What authentic hosting review sites have to say about these companies? Do they recommend their plans to their readers? Track the social conversation around that web hosting company to know the general popular perception towards those companies. All these things go a long way in helping you to take the informed decision that you won’t regret.
Which PHP version do you use?
PHP language helps in running your web server. WordPress is best compatible with PHP 7 and higher versions. In other words, using PHP 7 or above version can actively accelerate the overall performance of your WordPress site. So, don’t forget to answer the specific version of PHP that your hosting providers use.
What are the back-up provisions you offer and how easy it is to restore the site?
Technical issues, server failure, or a hacking instance can bring your site down and effectively make it defunct. In that case, your first objective should be to bounce back as quickly as possible. With regular automated backups, you can have immediate access to your latest website data/content which will allow you to confidently resume your business journey. At the same time, it is important to have an instant single-click restoration provision to compress the time to market.
Conclusion
WordPress sites have some specific needs that require sufficient resources and specific expertise. If you want to ensure an excellent site performance in terms of uptime, stability, and speed, then invest your time in shortlisting the right hosting providers that perfectly satisfy your requirements. The readers are advised to prepare a checklist based on the key topics discussed in this blog and refer to it while finding the hosting provider to make an informed decision.