Off-Topic: Need a Web Recommendation

[Rick Cornish]

(James…. If this is too far out of our wheelhouse, let me know.)

Hey gang…..
Wondering if anyone can recommend a good/inexpensive host/developer for my two WordPress sites.

I see plenty of hosting sites out there, but occasionally I also need support (like when one of my templates no longer worked with the current version of WP), and I’m not seeing anyone who does both.

The place I’m currently at is good (never had a hosting problem, can get support when I need it), but they’re just too damned expensive.

Thanks.

[monkey man]

I like phpBB, used here and for many other forums, which also has an excellent support forum.

I also like Xenforo, used at Rig Talk and the Kemper Profiler Forum, but I don't know what support is like.

HTH Rick.

EDIT:
I was thrown when I saw WP 'cause the Falcon forum uses it. I see now it isn't forum-hosting software you're after.

Sorry bud.

[tremo]

I've used Dreamhost for my WordPress sites for over 10 years, and my experience has been like you said -- no hosting problems (well, they had a few short outages, but that hasn't happened for quite a few years now), and support when I needed it.

I pay $286 up front for 3 years -- a bit of a discount from the annual rate. Not sure if $95/year qualifies as inexpensive though...

[bayswater]

I’ll send a PM

[Rick Cornish]

I pay $286 up front for 3 years -- a bit of a discount from the annual rate. Not sure if $95/year qualifies as inexpensive though...

Compared to the $250 per site per year I’m currently paying, that’s a great deal.

I’ve seen Dreamhost advertised and have looked at their site. My hesitancy with them is that they don’t seem to offer WP support… or do they?

While I do content updates on my sites, if something breaks under the hood, I have a limited ability to fix it, so I need tech support from time to time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[tremo]

I’ve seen Dreamhost advertised and have looked at their site. My hesitancy with them is that they don’t seem to offer WP support… or do they?

While I do content updates on my sites, if something breaks under the hood, I have a limited ability to fix it, so I need tech support from time to time.

They do brag about their WP support ( https://www.dreamhost.com/wordpress/ ) but TBH, I've never had to put it to the test, as right now I'm only running one pretty simple blog-based site. I'm certainly no coding expert (I can write some CSS, or find a plugin to do what I need), but I've usually been able to solve WP problems by reaching out (i.e. googling) to the WordPress community.

I can say that I let Dreamhost keep my WP install automatically updated (I'm on the latest 5.9 now), and it's never broken my site. But again, it's not a complex site, no WooCommerce, etc....

[HCMarkus]

Can't offer a recommendation (I use SquareSpace, but have no idea if WP is supported there), but your post inspired me to visit your site... love it!

And the music sounds great, too.

[Martin Bayless]

The problem with web hosting is you get what you pay for. If you're in the $300/year price range you can get fully manged web hosting which should take care of your support needs as well as providing bullet proof security and speeds required to get your site ranked. It may not be flashy to spend a lot of time on under the hood things but this is really the foundation of a good WP site. The problem is because one top notch web host charges $300/year, many sub-par sites charges the same thing. Almost all of the major sites with high name recognition are really more marketing than substance. If you truly need manged hosting then check out WP Engine for serious heft.

If that's too pricey then you begin to introduce compromises that shift the price you pay to time trying to compensate for it (which is almost always more expensive in the long run). But if you have multiple WP sites then it may be easier to run WP Multisite (I do) which defrays all your costs into a single site that is much easier to manage (you can have as many subsites pointing to separate domains as you need). In that case check out WPMUDEV which is not fully managed but a less expensive alternative with more resources and a strong community (like motunation) to get help. I still run Genesis themes/framework from WP Engine on WPMUDEV. Every now and then they run promotions so I have a lifetime flat rate of $200/year.

And then there are all the Newfold/Endurance websites that make people think they can run an effective website for $60/year. For people with a website in their own name than it's probably going to get ranked by google if their name is unique, but not if they are actually trying to get ranked with popular/competitive keywords with any kind of monetization or need for exposure rising above the rest of the noise on the internet.

[Rick Cornish]

Can't offer a recommendation (I use SquareSpace, but have no idea if WP is supported there), but your post inspired me to visit your site... love it!

And the music sounds great, too.

Thanks!

Did you visit my music site (rickcornish.net) or my business communications site (rickcornish.com)? Both have some music on them.

[Rick Cornish]

The problem with web hosting is you get what you pay for. If you're in the $300/year price range you can get fully manged web hosting which should take care of your support needs as well as providing bullet proof security and speeds required to get your site ranked......

Thanks for the thoughts, Martin. I'm paying $250 per site per year PLUS extra for tech support if I need it, which is paid in increments of $1000 "retainer fee" (basically creating a bank to pay in advance for service). And—the best part—the retainer expires after a year.

These guys are very good at what they do, but mine is not the kind of business they're targeting. If I could spend under $500/yr. for hosting and support on two sites, I'd be happy. If I could do it for under $300, I'd be ecstatic.

[HCMarkus]

Can't offer a recommendation (I use SquareSpace, but have no idea if WP is supported there), but your post inspired me to visit your site... love it!

And the music sounds great, too.

Thanks!

Did you visit my music site (rickcornish.net) or my business communications site (rickcornish.com)? Both have some music on them.

.net, as linked from your name here.

[leigh]

I've used DreamHost for about 5 years and I've been very happy with it.

**Leigh

[mikehalloran]

Yahoo, now owned by Verizon is a lot less expensive but their support is less than ideal—ok, it's not very good at all. A custom domain with a thousand email addresses and a dozen pages is $140 yr last I checked. Or you can sign up for a 2 page site and get your domain including one email address for $13 yr.

[tremo]

Just checked, and it looks like I need to amend my earlier post re: Dreamhost rates. The $286 for 3 years is a plan I'm grandfathered into for the next year or so, but that plan has been discontinued. When I renew, I'll have to pay $155.88 per year or $395.64 for 3 years. This is for the Virtual Private Server plan (unlimited websites/bandwidth/traffic).

They have a plan called DreamPress for about $3/month more, but that seems to target a higher-volume site than mine, and it only includes ONE WP site.

[BobK]

I’ve used Pair Networks to host my Wordpress site (on a shared server) for about 10 years. I haven’t used other companies, so I don’t have anything to compare them to; but they came highly recommended from a developer friend, and I’m happy with them. They have domestic phone support - no outsourcing! I’ve had few problems, and they always helped solve them pretty quickly.