Earlier this year, we made the transition of the WPBeginner website to SiteGround web hosting. Our attentive readers noticed the alteration in our footer area, now displaying “WordPress hosting by SiteGround,” and many have inquired about the rationale behind this shift.
In the realm of online business management, the selection of an appropriate web hosting platform is pivotal for achieving success. In this article, I will elucidate six reasons that motivated our move to SiteGround and delineate how this transition has facilitated the enhancement of WordPress speed, amplified reliability, and facilitated the implementation of a more efficient workflow.
Background: Ever since its inception in 2009, WPBeginner has evolved into the most expansive free WordPress resource website tailored to beginners. In the initial stages, shared hosting from HostGator sufficed for our requirements. As our platform expanded, we ascended through various tiers of hosting, progressing from Virtual Private Servers (VPS) to dedicated servers, and eventually migrating to a custom-built cloud infrastructure six months ago.
Throughout these years of administering WPBeginner and expanding my range of business enterprises, I have subjected practically every major website hosting platform to testing and utilization. Even at present, I maintain both active and experimental websites across diverse hosting platforms, ensuring that we remain abreast of new functionalities rolled out by each hosting company. This empowers us to provide tailored recommendations to our users based on their specific needs and budget.
However, over the past three years, we have initiated the migration of several prominent websites to SiteGround’s Enterprise hosting infrastructure. WPBeginner remained among the few significant platforms that had not yet transitioned to SiteGround, and the allure of doing so became increasingly irresistible.
The SiteGround team has consistently demonstrated a commitment to innovation, delivering VIP-level customer service, and devising distinctive tools to enrich the hosting experience for both our users and our team. Consequently, after 10.5 years of existence, in January 2020, the WPBeginner website completed its migration to its new hosting home at SiteGround.
In the realm of WordPress hosting, paramount aspects for me encompass speed, reliability, support, and tools that enhance development workflows. Below, I outline the top six reasons driving our shift to SiteGround hosting.
Please note: We have adopted SiteGround’s Enterprise Hosting, tailored and optimized to our precise requirements. Nonetheless, many similar features are also extended across their diverse hosting plans.
- SiteGround’s Integration with Google Cloud Platform (Fully Managed)
As an ardent hosting aficionado, the moment SiteGround’s CEO, Tenko Nikolov, divulged this news, my excitement was immeasurable. Keeping this secret was a challenge in itself.
Formerly, all SiteGround customer websites resided in their data centers in either the USA or Europe. While the private data center providers adeptly adapted to emerging hardware technologies, the transition to Google’s Cloud Platform constitutes a game-changing leap.
This shift substantially unlocks a realm of performance enhancements and reliability, owing to Google’s cutting-edge network infrastructure.
Remarkably, SiteGround democratized this platform upgrade, extending its benefits to all customers, not exclusively Enterprise users. Thus, even on their starter WordPress hosting plan ($3.95 per month), your site is hosted on Google’s Cloud Platform.
This advancement holds immense significance, delivering scaling advantages and resource management without necessitating an understanding of intricate technicalities (as SiteGround expertly manages the entire setup).
Although Google and Amazon offer top-tier cloud platforms, their complexity tends to challenge small business owners, thus posing a significant drawback.
SiteGround, by aligning with our values at WPBeginner and Awesome Motive, is leveling the playing field for small enterprises, empowering them to contend with larger entities.
- Unprecedented Uptime through Multi-Regional Failover Setup
Reliability and site uptime are paramount, profoundly impacting user experiences.
Picture entering a store midday, only to find a temporary closed sign. The experience is exasperating, compelling you to seek another store.
Likewise, users visiting a website facing downtime share a similar sentiment.
Leveraging Google Cloud Platform, SiteGround’s Enterprise team devised a robust multi-regional failover setup.
In the rare occurrence of downtime in a specific Google datacenter region, our website traffic is seamlessly rerouted to an alternative region, ensuring our readers consistently enjoy optimal experiences.