The WordPress blogging software needs good server configuration to work properly, so, there is no way to have a fast site without well-configured servers and systems. For that reason, there are thousands of users who change their hosting providers every day because they found problems and they had a bad experience with some companies.
To avoid all these issues, it’s crucial to know the signs of a low-quality hosting that you should move from. Keep reading and you’ll learn these things with tips and recommendations for a good blog hosting.
Common things about low-quality web hosts
1. Slow page loading time
This is not a choice, but a must-have thing for every professional blog. The page loading time should be less than 3 seconds to look fast enough for users and also search engines. If the blog has lots of images and content, it can load slower than that, of course, but in all cases, it’s not acceptable to have a fully loaded page in seconds or more.
2. Slow server response time
Google uses the blog speed to adjust the page ranking compared to other sites. Of course, it’s a minor factor, but it can help if you choose a fast host. The server response time should be acceptable, crawlers should have access to your pages without problems and with slow response time, your server will suffer from lots of issues.
For a shared host, the server response time ranges between 700 ms and 1500 ms in general. That”w what I saw personally with companies like HostGator, Bluehost, and iPage. So, it’s not good in terms of speed, the problem with the issue is that you can control the server response time as it’s only managed by many factors and settings that only the company has access to.
If you notice a response time below the 1500 ms, then, you’re hosting the WordPress with low quality as a slow hosting provider.
The ideal time is 150 to 200 ms, and that’s what you can expect from a managed WordPress host like WP Engine. It’s one of the very few services that uses a powerful caching system with powerful servers.
3. Crawling problems
Use your Google Search Console as a tool to monitor your blog crawling rates, speed and changes. Google sends its robot to find your pages and its related links, so, it will spend the time reading the text, HTML, CSS, and even the JavaScript codes. But, in many cases, the report found problems with the server permissions or even speed.
If you find lots of server connectivity reports or bad requests all the time, then, it’s a sign of a bad WordPress host that you should get rid of.
4. Broken Theme
Some web hosting companies use a custom caching system on their servers. That’s great as they have the time and the money to develop that software, but when it has missing functions, it can work badly for many. So, it happens that a theme that uses CSS a lot that it won’t work correctly.
Also, with PHP and JavaScript, every caching needs regular updates, improvements and problem fixing.
In the case of a host that no one use, you’ll find lots of issues with them and blog layout.
5. Missing functions
This is strange for many, but yes, when you how WordPress with the wrong service, you can risk the functions of plugins and the theme. That’s because some hosts disable server add-ons related to PHP, date, time and more. So, sometimes, you may not detect that, but when you find a plugin that doesn’t work, make sure to check your server settings and the plugin requirements.
- Read also: How to create a blog for free with Blogger
I always recommend verifying the WordPress requirement in terms of server settings. Some hosts install old versions of PHP and even MySQL and if you have a theme or plugin that works with different versions, things will be complicated.
6. No phone support
The only exception here is when choosing a managed WordPress host that offers email support. For a shared blog hosting, phone support is a must-have feature, especially for beginners. You’ll find problems like the others and when you need help, the customer support should respond quickly to fix the issue.
When you host with a company that doesn’t offer phone support, you’ll never get fast assistance. Of course, they can offer tickets, Twitter and so on, but that’s nothing as help in critical situations.
7. Lots of bad reviews
In the case of a low-quality blog hosting, you’ll find thousands of complaints and negative reviews. That’s not helpful for them, but it’s great for you. You can’t have a clear idea with just a few reviews, but when you see thousands of problems reported by real users, take that into consideration when choosing a quality blog host service.
When you read WordPress hosting reviews, don’t just read them, but make sure to compare and adapt them to your site. Here is an example of a bad review that can’t be counted for you, think about a blog that has thousands of posts and images, it will need lots of resources and it consumes lots of RAM.
So, in shared servers, that blog will suffer from speed and it’s expected to find the owner adding a review and telling about his big pages loading time.
That size of the blog needs a VPS, at least if not a dedicated server, so, when you have a small WordPress site, you can get faster loading time compared to the above example. Use that as a way to understand the complaints and not just going all the way with what others are saying.
8. Unprofessional website
If a hosting has an ugly website that’s not clear in layout and design, then, why should you trust them? If they don’t take care of their own website that runs their business, will they take care of your blog?
Keep that in mind and get rid of every hosting with bad site design, layout or unclear details.
On the other hand, take the website security seriously, every professional hosting company should secure their payment pages and all the sensitive data. Today, the majority of the good services use SSL on all their websites and that’s good, but some others still use HTTP with unsecured payment pages and forms.
Look for the secure lock at the top of your browser URL address box, that’s a secure connection.
That’s for Google Chrome browser, for Safari, you’ll get a gray lock, simply, and in these cases, you can click the lock to find more details if you want or just follow the above steps to verify the hosting company and its trust.
Recommended web hosting that’s good
There is no need to waste the time with dozens of articles, HostGator is the best shared hosting for WordPress.
You can use it and build professional sites. On the other side, if you want superior quality hosting, then, WP Engine is the only company that managed WordPress hosting for bloggers and small business owners. It’s great and the fastest hosting with live chat support and a long list of features.
I hope you learned the steps to verify if a WordPress host is bad or good to use. If you had an experience with any company, share your ideas and let us know about it.
