Before I begin, let me give you the “not so fine print” – this is not a sponsored post; all opinions expressed here are my own, and I am not being compensated for this post. However, there are affiliate links in this post. What this means is that if you click on one of the links, and purchase a product, I may be compensated monetarily.
Before moving to WordPress, I had my site on Blogger, where I didn’t have to think about hosting or a domain. When I decided it was time to get serious about my website, I decided to move to WordPress, and was overwhelmed by the amount of hosting choices out there. I had no idea what I needed, so I went for the most visible, cheapest option I could find – shared hosting through a company who shall remain nameless, but whose mascot is an alligator…
Shortly thereafter, I became very involved in the WordPress company, or more specifically, the StudioPress/Genesis WordPress community, and became involved in the design and development side of the business. I needed a better hosting solution – one that would allow me to concentrate on developing my business, which was building websites for others, without having to worry about downtime and other issues on my own site. So, I shopped around for the best solution, and all recommendations pointed me in one direction – WPEngine.
WPEngine describe themselves as:
“Stunning speed, powerful security, and best-in-class customer service.
At WP Engine, WordPress isn’t just our platform, it’s our passion.”
I had to share that, because like WPEngine, for me, WordPress isn’t just a platform; it is a passion. When you are passionate about a subject, you tend to be the best at it.
So, what sets WPEngine apart from other hosting companies? In my opinion, it’s broken down easily:
Their focus is on WordPress
This is important! A lot of other hosting companies will host WordPress, but that doesn’t mean they are experts on WordPress. I provide theme support, and get a lot of support questions from people who are having issues with their site, and based on the feedback they have received from their hosting companies, some of these help desk people don’t have a clue about WordPress. Have a WordPress site? Then, stick with a hosting company those deals exclusively with WordPress.
World-class support
Whenever I have visited their site, help with any questions I may have is immediately available, and their staff is so knowledgeable.
Automated Site Backups
This is something you may never give a moment’s thought to, but when you need it, you’ll realize how valuable an automated backup is.
Site Speed and Performance
You pay a premium for hosting with WPEngine, but what you get in return is a fast site. How often have you clicked away from a site because it took forever to load? If you have cheap, shared hosting, how many visitors are you losing a day because your site is taking too long to load?
As part of their commitment to speed and performance, WPEngine test the most popular plugins, and will not allow you to install a plugin which doesn’t meet their safety criteria.
And did I mention “World Class Support”?
Oh, yes, I already covered that. Support is what I do, so it’s nice to see a company’s commitment to support, which is what you’ll get with WPEngine.
Update – September 2018:
In June, StudioPress announced that it had been acquired by WPEngine, and subsequent to this news, WPEngine announced that the Genesis Framework and the StudioPress themes are available free of charge to new customers of WPEngine. What could be better? World class hosting, PLUS the best WordPress framework, together with in excess of 30 premium themes, FREE of charge!
So there you have it! Been thinking about switching from another hosting company to WPEngine? Why wait – they make it easy to switch, with their free site migration tools. Tell them I sent you!
Leave a Reply