Managed WordPress Hosting and Get FlyWheel Review

This post should be titled: How I Doubled My Website Speed by Switching to Managed WordPress Hosting at FlyWheel.

Last week I put the same website at two hosts: a huge and cheap webhost and a WordPress specialist called Flywheel.  I ran a speedtest 11 times on each website, within a 2 minute time frame. The results were eye-opening: The Managed WordPress Hosting at Flywheel website loaded over twice as fast!

• Cheap DIY Host: Average 4.36 seconds | Median 3.69 seconds
• Flywheel Host: Average 2.24 seconds | Median 1.71 seconds

There are many options available for WordPress Hosting.  One basic choice is between a cheap DIY host like Go-Daddy, BlueHost, 1and1,Westhost OR a dedicated WordPress hosting outfit like WPEngine, Synthesis or FlyWheel.  Companies that specialize in WordPress are called “Managed WordPress Hosting” companies and they tune their servers specifically to WordPress and maximize the speed and security.

I have had great success using FlyWheel recently and heartily recommend it because:

1. Their website hosting is fast
2. If you have a WordPress website already, they will migrate it for you!  They do a nice job at this.
3. They do your WordPress upgrades automatically
4. They provide a nice backup service
5. They are WordPress specialists… I would tell you how great their expertise and service is, but I rarely have to call them because their WordPress hosting just works.  The other guys I have to call more often!  I have called them occasionally and found their service fast, friendly and expert.
6. They give me a “demo” site for a month. That is an ice platform to build your website on and get it ready before you start paying the monthly fee.
7. They offer CDN (speeds your website up even faster) and SSL (Security) for small additional fees if your website needs it.
8. They give your website a dedicated IP address.

Here are the typical objections I hear… and my answers:

1. It costs $10 more per month…that is $120 per year.  My Answer: Yep!  But you will pay that right back to me instead, because that cheap host adds at least 2 hours per year of additional work on my part.
2. They have serious “size” limits on GB and monthly visits.  My Answer: Yep!  But it doesn’t matter to you, you are a small business and won’t exceed those numbers
3. My current host already has backups for me.  My Answer: Yep!  But have you actually set it up and then tried to restore?  FlyWheel makes this easy for you.
4. My current host has Email Included.  My Answer: Yep!  you can continue to use them!  Or use the Gmail interface on your domain-based email for $50 per year or try Fusemail for $2 per month

But look, here is my real answer:  There is a reason why Honda is huge and Yugo is gone.  You need reliable hosting that is fast, secure and safe.  As your webmaster, I need it even more than you. I don’t want to waste my time messing with cheap hosting anymore! It makes both of us look bad!  Pony up a few extra values per month for the extra Value that FlyWheel provides.  By all means, look at WP Engine, Synthesis, Page.ly, Pressable ,PressLabs, DreamPress and Lightning Base too.  There are some great choices available in the industry.

Here are some 2014 Managed WordPress Hosting Predictions:

1. Look for Go-Daddy (or Rackspace or 1and1) to buy or build their own WordPress managed hosting brand in 2014 too!  This is big business, and it is becoming apparent to EVERYONE that managed WordPress hosting just works better.  (Dreamhost runs DreamPress, mentioned above)
2. Look for pricing to come down in 2014… this is a “niche” offering now, but as it becomes mainstream it will get pricing pressures.  I expect to pay much less in 2015 for my dedicated WordPress hosting

If you want to do some more research on the topic, here is some more reading:

• ArtOfBlog: Managed WordPress Hosting Compared
• ManagedWordPressHosting.biz
• ManagedWordPress.org
• A Roundup of 15 WordPress Hosting Companies
• Managed WordPress Hosting