So many times, I’ve seen businesses falling because they fail to recognize the importance of web hosting, and this is especially true for non-technical businessmen who only want an attractive-looking website. The only aim for them is to convert their traffic into leads and bring profit.
Honestly speaking, web hosting is the foundation of a website, and your online presence, and remember, your business highly depends on it. Now, having said that, do you know that almost 60% of websites are built on WordPress?
When looking for web hosting, individuals usually require features like;
- Fast loading speed
- Automated backups and updates
- Exceptional customer support
- Optimized server
- 24-hour monitoring, and
- Improved security against attacks from DDOS and other Malware
With so many options and variations available in the market, everyone is inclined to get confused when it comes to opting for the best web service for your website. Things become further complicated when all these web hosting companies claim to be the best. But, the question remains; do these companies stand up to their words?
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WP Engine Focusses on One Thing: Managed WordPress Hosting
This company was founded in 2010. It is a managed hosting provider that caters to the needs of individuals who have built their websites/blogs using WordPress. WP Engine, Austin, Texas was one of the first few companies that started off offering managed hosting services. Unlike regular shared hosting, WP Engine hosting specializes in taking care of the technical details like; the performance of the website, and management of the plugin. When this is taken care of, the bloggers can work stress-free.
If you have already done your research, you must have seen that there are many WP Engine alternatives, but none of them stands as high as WP Engine hosting. WP
Engine Austin, Texas is still the best leader in the market due to their worldwide recognition and the fact that they provide cutting-edge features that match none other.
Advantages of WP Engine
- One of the things that make this company stand apart from the crowd is that its focus is on optimizing the performance of the websites/blogs using WordPress. The amazing thing about this web hosting is ‘the performance intelligence’ solution. It offers real-time data about the website. Plus, it provides solutions you can pick to make the website run faster. And if you think that is it, keep reading because you can even review the analytics which will ensure the tweaks you are making are doing that’s it’s supposed to be doing.
Example of WP Engine’s Page Performance Metrics (Source: WPEngine)
- WP Engine has proven to be stable, without any major outages. Remember, if your website lacked responsiveness, you would eventually lose signups, which could result in massive financial loss. Going further down the line could result in damaging your reputation, and losing existing customers too.
- We all are struggling to rank higher on search engines, right? Better site responsiveness always helps SEO rankings.
- Additional services like CDNs and IPs are quite important and useful, and WP Engine is partnered with MaxCDN. This allows the company to include a content delivery network with each installation. A CDN will allow you to distribute access to your site across various global servers, rather than a single localized server. This will benefit your website as more and more international users can use your site as they can access it from the closest server.
- WP Engine web hosting offers staging where a clone of your site is created. This is then used to test the new plugins, themes, and other changes you want to incorporate without actually changing your live website.
- Transferable installs are yet another feature that allows you to develop your site without making it accessible to the public. The site is blocked via a password. This feature helps developers start new projects quickly. The clients don’t have to wait to buy a new hosting account. If you are a developer, you can use your account to develop a site for the client using a transferable install. Once the site is ready to go up, you just have to transfer the entire thing to them.
- The best part about this company is that they sell their own SSL certification. This service is available on all hosting plans and the WP engine pricing per year is only $49.99.
- Finally, do you know what large storage is? It connects your hosting account to your Amazon S3 account, and if you don’t know what that is, Amazon S3 is a cloud storage solution. So, you can get an unlimited amount of storage for your media.
WP Engine: Is it for you?
This web hosting plan is not for everyone. If you are just a startup, stay away from this plan as it’s expensive. As a startup, you only need to go viral, and a WP engine is not required. Secondly, if you purchase this plan, you need to keep up with the maintenance. Having said that, the following groups can benefit from managed WordPress hosting;
- Established Businesses: The WP engine premium plans include servers that can handle millions of visitors per month. Remember, established websites that power their work via WordPress cannot afford downtime and poor site performance. The WP engine premium services take care of this, and much more.
- WordPress Novices: Individuals who are new to WordPress can greatly benefit from malware and brute force attacks via the WP engine. Many times setting up security, backup plugins, and maintaining a WordPress site is difficult, and many bloggers and site owners are stressed because of this. But, the WP engine plan saves you from all this. They even have a built-in caching system that creates backups daily and performs updates automatically.
- Professional WordPress Developers: Now, for professional WordPress developers, this company is more feasible as it includes staging and transferable features that allow the developers to make changes without harming the live website. You can build new websites from scratch in a controlled environment. A loud call to the WordPress web developers, to take full advantage of the advanced services the WP Engine has to offer. Remember, it’s a stress-free way to build and maintain a WordPress site.
Don’t like the WP Engine Web Hosting Plan? Money-Back Guarantee!
Yes, you have read that right. WP Engine provides a 60-day money-back guarantee. So, if you’re among those few individuals who don’t like their service, make sure you cancel their account within 60 days, and receive a full refund. However, the guarantee applies to professional, personal and business plans only.
Conclusion
This company is by far one of the best-managed WordPress hosting providers; it is solid, though limited, with various hosting options for highly skilled environments for blogs and websites. But, it is not for everyone. It is highly recommended for advanced WordPress users only because the price is not worth the small startups.
As your business grows, you will find features that WP Engine offers more beneficial. Alongside the managed environments created to get your website to perform well, you can get your hands on high security, and constant support from the staff members in managing and growing your WordPress sites. To end my blog, I would like to emphasize that in terms of the services that they offer, no other, I repeat, no other providers match their level of excellence. Still doubtful? Ask around and I bet, you will only come across positive WP Engine reviews.
