In this part of our how to speed up WordPress series we are going to take a look at web hosting and choosing the right one. Hosting can play a major part in the speed of your WordPress blog. Im going to talk about how to go about choosing the right host for you and the right type of hosting ie: shared or VPS.
Picking Your Web Host
There are hundreds of hosting providers on the internet. So how do you go about deciding which to go for from the likes of HostGator, GoDaddy, BlueHost and the many hundred others. There are no rules when it comes to choosing your provider, but i like to look at as if im purchasing a big item such as a new fridge or computer.
Ask your friends and other webmasters, getting personal recommendations is the best way to go.
I’ve tried all the major hosting companies that i mentioned above. For me though the best one has to be HostGator not just for the price, but there service and customer support is excellent.
Its a good idea to do your research before deciding on your host. Have a look at reviews from other users and read the negative ones not just the positive reviews. You need to know why people don’t like a particular host just as much as they do like them. Also make sure to have a good read of their terms and conditions. The terms will include crucial info such as CPU, Ram and web site speed.
You need to make sure the host of your choice is suitable for hosting a wordpress blog. If your starting out for the first time, then any of the top providers will do for now. The only time you may have to look at upgrading is when you start to receive a lot of traffic.
VPS vs. Shared Hosting
Something else that you need to take into account is whether to go with a VPS or shared hosting. The main benefit of shared hosting is its low cost. Shared hosting starts at around the $4 a month mark which is extremely cheap. However, shared hosting is exactly what it says, your website sharing the same server as someone elses website. So if another site on the same server is using up a lot of ram then it could well impact the performance of your own WordPress blog.
As time goes by and your blog becomes more and more popular, you may find that it starts to slow down on a shared server. There are ways in which you can improve your speed on a shared server and i will go into them in later posts.
A VPS (Virtual Private Server) involves partitioning a physical server into several different virtual servers. The good thing about a VPS is that your RAM and processing power is not shared with other websites. Also with a VPS you have full control over your server. The one big downside to a VPS is the cost, this can be as much as 7-8 times more then a shared server.
Recap:
- Have a good look around before deciding on your hosting provider.
- Shared servers are perfectly fine for new websites.
- Virtual private servers are great once your traffic gets into the thousands, but are a lot more expensive.
In our next post on speeding up WordPress we will be talking about plugins.
