Do you just choose the cheapest?
Go with the one your designer recommends?
Or listen to your mate down the pub?
Its a tough choice - because when it comes down to it, your web hosting is a crucial part of making sure your online presence is effective. Would you purchase a BMW, but opt to have a cheap lawn mower engine to power it? Not on your life I hear you say. So why do so many people do just that when it comes to web hosts? When for just a few dollars more - you can have that smooth BMW leather and the purr of a German made engine.
Cost would normally feature in any top 3 list for most things. Generally because the higher the cost the less likely for it to be the preferred choice. But in the case of hosting, the higher cost option is quite often a much, much better option. Especially when it comes down to a matter of $10 a month or so between a great web hosting provide and a very poor one.
Cheaper hosts will normally fit more accounts on each hosting server, meaning poor performance due to overloaded hardware.
With poor performance comes poor reliability.
More sites can also mean a bigger target for hackers and security breaches.
Lower cost, means lower quality support - which we will get into below. But think big overseas call centres...and quite often the "Harry" you speak to for email assistance, will also be "John" who helps with your insurance.
When you use a good hosting provider, your support team will be experts in their field.
So if you are tossing up between a $10 a month host and $20 - make sure you are compare apples for apples.
That extra $10 may mean all Australian support and fast, reliable server - and that means less headaches for you in the future.
This is important - of course. But its not #1 on our list, simply because most good hosts will have servers that perform well under most stress tests. Of course, the Penny Dreadful hosts we mention in the above costs section may not. But like for like, most hosts speeds are fairly comparable. There are exceptions to this rule, when you step in to the high end range or look at VPS servers but you are also paying big $$ or need to have the skill set to self administer those types of servers.
After 20 years of working in the IT and Web Hosting space - I can tell you that hands down the most important aspect of your hosting, is the quality of the customer service and support.
Ive managed various web hosting support teams over the years and the one thing that keeps coming back is how vital a good support team is.
If you can build a good relationship with your support team, you can generally get them to resolve any potential speed issues you run into. They will always be there for you when you need them - and wont go AWOL at important times.
A tip: I would suggest asking any potential hosting provider:
"Where is your support team based?
Do you operate from a call center?"
Good support is vital to getting a reliable, stable and secure hosting platform.
Its also the key to ensuring your website peforms the way it should.
One thing that has certainly ramped up during the recent Covid19 situation is how often we are asked here at Ed Design: "How do I get an ecommerce website?".
Its not just Ed thats being asked this. Search sites such as Google or Bing are seeing a sharp spike. For example, take the phrase, "ecommerce wordpress website design geelong". Online search volumes have multiplied exponentially over the past few weeks. This goes for any realated terms as well.
The good news is that ecommerce is generally prety easy to implement. Especially if your operate a WordPress Website.
Even if you dont - there are many options to get you online quickly and easily.
...take the phrase ecommerce wordpress website design geelong - online search volumes have multiplied exponentially over the past few weeks.
WordPress and WooCommerce is super easy to setup and you can literally be online and selling services in a matter of hours, Our record stands at 39 minutes!
WooCommerce is virtually limitless in what it can do. Combined with a myriad of plugins and addons out there. Its virtually the only platform most designers will work with these days.
It can be customised to offer home delivery options, booking services or appointments or a million other things - if you ask "can WordPress do it" the answer is generally "yes!"
You can get started yourself, by simply ordering an optimised WordPress hosting service with Ed, and using our WordPress one click installer - your WordPress enviroment will be good to go in minutes. All you need to do then is install the WooCommerce plugin, run a short configuration wizard and you are away. At this point, you would have been hard pressed to have spent more than 30 minutes.
The next steps are to build the site and add in your products - which does take a little longer but its also super straight forward. But we would suggets spending an hour or so watching some tutorials and learning the basics. The series of WooCommerce tutorials by WPTuts is a good place to start - or you can alwasy just ask Ed Hosting for some help.
Of course, if you want us to build the site from ground up and get you online within a matter of hours - jump over and complete our online WordPress quote builder and you will get in instant quotation - obligation free!
The question of WordPress or Shopify or WordPress versus SquareSpace or any other variation is not an uncommon one. In fact, a search on "Wordpress vs shopify" will produce thousands of results alone. Some of these articles are great - but some are convuluted and have also sorts of commission loaded links to click.
So, we wanted to make it easy. In 3 simple points...WordPress Or?
This basically means you can host it anywhere you want. Shopify, Squarespace and others - MUST be hosted on their platforms. That means their support - notoriously bad - and their pricing. Once you have dedicated hours to building a site - they know you won't leave, no matter how bad the support or how expensive.
WordPress can be moved to nearly any hosting provider - and nearly any developer will support it these days. Meaning the world is your oyster when it comes to choice of providers.
Not to mention there are a wide range of premium, managed WordPress hosting packages to choose from these days - which cover all your hosting needs.
With 75% of Website Marketshare across the world you cannot argue that the popularity of WordPress is undisputed.
With that popularity comes a wealth of plugins, online help and themes. The online WordPress community is truly awesome these days.
...I would also add that WordPress very, very rarely advertises - so the 75% market share has happened due to the quality of the product. More proof and pudding!...
The last point we would make is - why do people always ask WordPress versus "some other platform". Generally its because of some sparkling marketing campaign by SquareSpace or Wix, thats got people Googling to see the differences or make comparisons. But lets be clear, if that many people have to ask "WordPress or..." isn't the proof in the pudding?
I would also add that WordPress very, very rarely advertises - so the 75% market share has happened due to the quality of the product. More proof and pudding!
The question "What is WordPress?" is one of those questions that can be answered in less than 20 words, or more than 10,000...depending on how far you want to take it and what you want to know.
Wikipedia says:
"WordPress (WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database."
But what does that mean?
Basically, WordPress is a point-and-click site builder that operates on a web hosting server, which is essentially a powerful computer running software like PHP and a database that stores all the information.
Point-and-click means you can build a website with just basic knowledge using your own PC. The real beauty of WordPress, however, is that unlike other platforms like Weebly, Shopify, or Wix, WordPress websites can be manipulated—coded to do nearly anything you want. The flexibility of having a website designed in WordPress is literally unlimited. Of course, to do this, you would need some knowledge of code, but the good news is that Ed Hosting's WordPress Design team can help you with that!
WordPress now has a whopping 35% of the global market, meaning 1 out of every 3 sites you visit is built on WordPress.
Why Choose WordPress?
Ed Hosting's WordPress Design Team
At Ed Hosting, we understand that not everyone has the time or expertise to fully leverage the power of WordPress. Our design team is here to help you create a stunning, functional website tailored to your needs. Whether you need a simple blog or a complex e-commerce site, we have the skills and experience to bring your vision to life.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you harness the full potential of WordPress for your website.
Short Answer is - No, they are not, and in fact, they can vary a lot. It may seem obvious to some, but after 20 years in web design and hosting, I can assure you a lot of people choose a host without much thought, and that is certainly an "Alice down the rabbit hole" scenario.
I have thought a lot about how to explain this, but its no easy. Larger hosts have been plastering the market with adverts for so long that people just think that what those companies offer and how they offer it, is how it needs to be. From Pamela Anderson to 'Alf Stewart', we have been brain washed to believe that web hosting is $5 or $10 a month and all self help and headaches. Lets be honest, the world of Websites and Hosting can be a nightmare if you don't understand it. I recently saw a headline in my local area, proclaiming "Geelongs best web host", but on closer inspection discovered they didn't even provide Australia based hosting, let alone a hosting service in the Geelong region!
Its also worth noting that a lot of the more ruthless providers will appear cheap a first glance - and they did used to be genuinely so, without disclaimers like below - by offering discount offers for the first month and claim offers such as "Save 32%". The catch is, this is the first month only. When you renew, costs effectively increase by a whopping 50%! Whilst this is commonly referred to as a loss leader by these companies. You could technically class this as some sort of Honey Pot scam as far as I see it.
The end result of the above is that you get a cheapish first month, then begin to pay a premium for sub standard service.
But the good news is that its not as bad as that. You can still find ethical hosting providers out there - for example Ed Hosting!
Unfortunately these bigger hosts have created an attitude that people should have to muddle their way around the web, but a good hosting provider, is like a good IT provider...they will help you and hopefully not involve you too much, so you can get back to running your business.
For example, if your IT guy told you to go and upgrade your Brand new PC with a new SSD Hard disk, and overclock the processor to fix a speed problem, what would you do? Probably find a new IT guy. So why is it any difference with a web host? Its not and we shouldn't think that it is.
A couple of recent clients came over to Ed Hosting from another provider, whom shall remain nameless but we have all heard of them, because they advertise constantly how cheap and reliable they are.
Both clients had needed some help adjusting some DNS Records, to authenticate a GSUITE service (I know, that’s probably tech garble to most - but stay with me!) Both clients had no idea how and contacted their current hosting support for help. After 25 minutes on hold, they were sent to an equally complicated support page, by a non-native English speaker...and offered no further assistance.
Both were referred to Ed Hosting by friends/colleagues. We helped. In a matter of minutes and without complicating it for these busy small business owners.
BUT, more importantly - and what prompted this article - upon moving the services from the existing provider, I noticed that not only were both clients being charged $200+ per year in unnecessary products and services, what had in fact started as $3 per month hosting, had increased to $18! In the space of just two years, but with no apparently change in the service quality, speed or offering. It was simply the end of a very short introductory offer and then multiple increases in price.
In the local area that we are based, around the regional areas of Geelong, Torquay and The Bellarine Peninsula, we have found the need to for cost effecting but quality hosting and web site design, is in high demand.
But it is a buyer beware world for hosting…and unfortunately, beware is the key word. But because the large hosting providers are almost a household name, there is a perceived trust that they will not do you wrong. But this is far from the case. So please take note of what you are being charged for and don’t feel like you need to tolerate rubbish service and support…there are hosts who offer more! If you need some web design or hosting advice, just ask us here at Ed Hosting, we would be glad to assis!
Got a nightmare story about your host? Let us know…we would love to hear it! Funny, horrifying or just unethical…send it over to us!
