Can anyone recommend a decent web host with good support

[junipaire2009]

Hi I'm struggling to find a host for my website my requirements are

Requirements

- good Wordpress knowledge and good customer support

- fast loading sites

- reseller package or cloud hosting, basically want a seperate dashboard so will protect a bit if I get one site hacked and they can't get to the others.

- free migration

- daily backups with 30 days stored.

- secure servers with malware scans


My main concern though is support. I've in the past always recommended Vidahost but the customer service just isn't there these days, waiting all day and still nothing. Such a shame as these guys used to answer within minutes, now your lucky if you get a reply at all it would seem.

So I'm in search of someone new but who, I'm beginning to lose hope of finding a reliable service.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Clook have been fine for me. When I've contacted support, the response has been good, although I haven't actually had to speak to them for a while.

 

[junipaire2009]

Cheers for the recommendation Lowprices.uk, have they been around a while, how long have you been with them, whats the uptime, does your site stay up online all the time.

I'll go check them out.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

They've been around a long time (probably about 8 years). Uptime has been very good, can't remember an outage, and they keep customers well informed of any possible network issues.

Traditionally Clook has had good reviews, although I haven't read the reviews recently.

 

[jacobc]

Hi junipaire2009

We would very happy you out, feel free to do some research on us and test us out

All the best,

Jacob

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi,

There are a number of hosts that are UKBF members, and if you do a search you should be able to find some recommendations, hopefully including us as we host a number of members.

Any decent host should have good knowledge of Wordpress and provide good general support.

If performance is a priority you can look for web servers above standard Apache, such as LiteSpeed which we run or Nginx.
High quality uncrowded servers will also help performance, and SSD storage will also have a significant impact, especially for database queries - which can really make a difference for database heavy websites such anything built on an eCommerce platform or CMS.

If you want account separation then look for Reseller or eCommerce hosting packages that provide Web Host Manager for example. This is used to manage multiple cPanel accounts (which is arguably the best web hosting control panel available) and means each website will sit in its own account, which as you say helps with security.

Most decent hosts will provide free migration. If you're currently with a cPanel host and moving to another host that runs cPanel then this can be done automatically, preserving all emails and account settings. A good host should also do a manual migration for you free of charge.

Most decent hosts won't charge for daily backups and will provide a tool so you can take your own backups and restore your website from any stored backup.

A good host should take security seriously and provide you with virus scanners. Server reputation is also important, and you may find the very large hosts - and those focused less on the business market but more the mass market consumer will get attacked more and perhaps provide a less secure environment.

Regarding support, we're obviously biased but I think you'll get the best support from a medium sized web host. This means your hosting will be backed by solid infrastructure which can be lacking in a smaller host, but you'll get the personal level of support that can be lacking from very large hosts. Vidahost have grown quite large recently and used to be active members so this may be what you've experienced with them. Unfortunately support tends to suffer when a host gets very large.

An easy test can be to submit a ticket to see how quickly any host you're considering responds, although do bear in mind that a decent host should prioritise support requests over sales enquiries.

If you have any questions feel free to get in touch, we'd be happy to help.

I hope that helps.

Best of luck,

Dan

 

[toastking]

Hihost above are awesome... I seem to be following them around recommending them again but they've always been good to me and provided a great service to boot.

 

[CloudAccountantcouk]

I mainly use UKFAST never had any issues.

 

[junipaire2009]

Hi everyone

Wow so many choices, web hosting certainly is a competitive field to be in. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll be going over them all at the weekend and I did find another last night that sounded good for wordpress called trafficplanethosting so I'll throw them into the mix too.

I phoned UKFAST yesterday, now they seem great and very business focused indeed, I would certainly consider them maybe when I become established to take me to the next step as their cheapest package was £60 a month, but they seem like they offer amazing support with your own account manager.

Cheers again

 

[GraemeL]

I also use and would recommend @Dan_HiHosting at HiHosting . Not because they are cheap or expensive, but because of the terrific support.

 

[MilesWeb]

Good to see that you are thoroughly researching before finalizing the hosting provider. What is your budget for the hosting? Do you need hosting from UK based providers? or providers with servers in UK would also do?

 

[ryedale]

Agree that it's good that you are taking your time. So many people just rush into it and choose a name they've heard of without considering the support element if something critical goes wrong.

See if the company you choose are prepared to offer an initial free trial so you can see if they are right for you.

 

[junipaire2009]

Yeah I never rush things, trouble is I also have a very indecisive mind so things do pan out too long with making decisions.

Think I should also say here though, Vidahost have been like they used to be with me today and very much more responsive with support. I'm going to carry on doing research but things are looking more positive with Vidahost, when I went a full day with no response it did make me panic as I say it used to be amazing customer service. The guy dealing with me today though certainly knows his stuff I'll give him that.

I'm also doing now some research about speeding up the sites amazon cloudfront http://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-use-amazon-s3-and-cloudfront-with-wordpress

We'll wait and see, I've got 60 days to fully test the service. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers again for the great replies and help.

 

[fisicx]

I'm also doing now some research about speeding up the sites amazon cloudfront http://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-use-amazon-s3-and-cloudfront-with-wordpress.

There are far better ways to speed up a website. The number one method is to reduce the amount to junk a server has to process to deliver the site. There are a lot of wordpress themes and plugins that just clog up the pipes with detritus. A little bit of pruning and the selection of the right theme can turn a tugid site into Usain Bolt.

tl;dr: don't use amazon s3 and don't use elegant themes.


As to hosting: http://openmindhosting.co.uk/ gets my vote

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Thanks for the recommendations chaps, always much appreciated.

@junipaire2009 You'll likely see better performance opting for a higher end web hosting package from a decent web host that takes performance seriously; such as an eCommerce hosting package.
You can then benefit from a high performance web server such as LiteSpeed on uncrowded servers running pure SSD drives for example.
You can even add CloudFlare which is free for their standard package.
That will likely perform better and cost less than opting for standard performance hosting and bolting on a premium service such as Amazon Cloudfront.

Also don't forget to add a good caching plugin to Wordpress if you don't have one installed already.

I think I answered an email from you yesterday? I hope that answered your questions.
I'm the same way when making purchasing decisions, although I try to be more decisive these days as I simply don't have the time to do endless research, and try to trust my instinct after some initial research. But I know what it's like.

I'm glad you're getting service that better meets your expectation from your current host.

If you have any other questions then feel free to get in touch, we're always happy to help.

Best of luck,

Dan

 

[fisicx]

Also don't forget to add a good caching plugin to Wordpress if you don't have one installed already.

Totally disagree with this. Caching can seriously degrade performance. Far better to have a slick installation in the first place.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Completely agree on removing any unnecessary plugins, only installing plugins that are completely necessary, and using well written plugins and themes. However caching can serve a good purpose in itself once those basic principles have been covered. Having said that a decent web server and well optimised site certainly does reduce any potential need for caching.

Massive, scaled, unoptimised images are probably the biggest pit fall after plugin/theme bloat.
Google page speed is great for helping address that:
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

 

[Gavin_Mint]

I'm just in the process of moving our hosting from 1&1 to TSOhost, they're UK based which is important to me, and whilst I wouldn't say there hasn't been obstacles to overcome, they've sorted them promptly. Would recommend them based on my experience to date.

 

[junipaire2009]

I got rid of my cache plugins and culled most of my plugins but security stuff. Maybe I'm still using too many and having stuff doing basically the same thing with security issues.

this is my current list
All In One SEO Pack
backup buddy
Akismet anti-spam service
Bulletproof Security
Fast Secure Contact Form
Google XML Sitemaps
Plugin Vulnerabilities
wordfence
WP Brute Force
WP-Optimize

The reason I got rid of my WP super cache plugin was my site got hacked and my host said it was via the cache plugin, theres loads of vulnerbilities in it http://www.computerworld.com/articl...ected-by-a-flaw-in-wp-super-cache-plugin.html

Same goes for W3 total cache apparently.

@Dan_HiHosting - yeah got your reply cheers and you certainly are in my shortlist mate as you have great knowledge and people vouching for you on here.

@Gavin_Mint - cheers for the recommendation TSOhost are part of the same group as Vidahost now, they merged. http://www.paragon.net.uk/about

 

[fisicx]

Bin these, you don't need them:

Google XML Sitemaps
Plugin Vulnerabilities
WP Brute Force
WP-Optimize

 

[junipaire2009]

Great now all my sites are giving back

Error establishing a database connection

so after been back 4 days with them one days sites down with ddos attack and now down again for a second day. Yipee. Back to moving again it looks.

 

[SMR Locksmiths]

We have been using 1and1 for some time now. it's hard to say thought whether how good they are as we have never experienced any problems with loading times or servers/websites going down.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

@junipaire2009 sorry to read you're having issues again. Do let us know if we can be of any help.

@SMR Locksmiths 1&1 are probably one of the worst very large hosts. One of the key issues aside from the generally slow support and performance is that the servers are typically located in Germany, which really doesn't make sense for a UK business or UK focused website.
This is because you can get better performance and your website can rank better if your website is hosted on UK servers.

 

[ukwebhosting]

Hi,

"Reseller package or cloud hosting, basically want a seperate dashboard so will protect a bit if I get one site hacked and they can't get to the others."

A cloud server with cPanel and Cloud Linux would help out with this, you would need to put each site in its own cPanel account.

Cloud Linux puts each cPanel account into its own environment with a set amount of resources, so if one site did for example get hacked it can only use the resources allocated to itself so cannot consume the whole servers resources keeping the other sites online!

So in the event of a hack attempt for example whereas "traditionally" a website being hacked could end up for a myriad of reasons crashing a whole server, with Cloud Linux it can only consume the resources of the cPanel account.

Thanks

Paul

 

[SMR Locksmiths]

@Dan_HiHosting - talking only by our experience. The fact that 1and1's servers are based in Germany hasn't stopped our SEO guy to got our website to 1st pages in google results.

Check for yourself. if you google: streatham locksmith or many other London areas you will find SMR Locksmiths website on 1st or 2nd page in search results...

 

[ukwebhosting]

@Dan_HiHosting - talking only by our experience. The fact that 1and1's servers are based in Germany hasn't stopped our SEO guy to got our website to 1st pages in google results.

Hi,

Your website is being hosting in the UK not Germany.

http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/217.160.45.78

Thanks

Paul

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Yes, in this case it looks like you're on one of their UK servers. Most of their servers are located in Germany, but they do have servers elsewhere.

And good job with the SEO and website. If you weren't hosted in the UK you would have seen a small benefit to moving to decent UK servers, but this would always be outweighed by quality inbound links.
Likewise if you install an SSL certificate on your entire website you'll also see a small positive benefit to ranking, as Google now considers this.

I was just repeating sentiment we've seen across the web and from clients that have moved to us, but I'm glad you haven't had any problems.

You can certainly get better performance and service elsewhere, but if you're happy with what you have then fair enough.

Regarding CloudLinux we also use this technology as it helps provide a stable and reliable environment.

You can further enhance security and performance by adding CloudFlare, which is a free content delivery network and very easy to add.

All the best,

Dan

 

[SMR Locksmiths]

Hi Dan. what other hosting providers would you recommend instead of 1and1? asking just out of curiosity?

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi SMR,

I wouldn't recommend any of the very large names such as 1&1, Heart Internet or 123-Reg. In my view their business model is based on overcharging for oversold basic web hosting, where their customers subsidise massive marketing spend, so £3 spent with them is half what is with a decent web host. If you ask around and check reviews this normally confirms that.

We're regularly recommended, and were twice by UKBF members on the previous page, and we'd of course be happy to help.

It also depends on what you're after. We're obviously biased but I think you'll get the best service from a medium sized web hosting company; one with the infrastructure to provide a reliable service which a smaller host can lack, but isn't too large so can provide a personal level service which tends to be lacking from the very large hosts.

Of course it depends on what you value and want.

If you're after a dedicated server then I've read good things about @NetwiseHosting who are also members.

If we can be of help then feel free to get in touch.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[SMR Locksmiths]

thanks Dan I will check them as we are planning on expanding our web presence so potentially we might be after new host providers with good after sales customer service.

 

[Digihound]

We've been using Vidahost for the past 12 months without any issues so far.
We also use Fasthosts and although their support is usually OK, waiting times for phone support can be an absolute pain at times.

 

[fastprint.co.uk]

we use fasthost and have been ok so far

 

[willv]

I will probably get run off the forum for saying this, but these days I would actually recommend GoDaddy.

I've used them for a number of sites and have tried the regular "Web Hosting" package, their "Wordpress Hosting" package, and now I'm on one of their "VPS" Packages. I've had no downtime, I find their prices are very reasonable, and their support is truthfully the best I've encountered in my 10 years as a web developer. Any problem at all and I'm speaking to a real person within 60 seconds and my issue resolved fast - and it's usually some quite techie stuff I'm asking about too.

They have a few rules about plugins you're allowed to install on Wordpress, which admittedly was a PITA at the time, but I understand their reasons.

 

[ServiceByteUK]

We use hostlinc.co.uk for all our hosting and customer hosting and not had any problems.

They have 24/7 UK support and the owner is always contactable meaning issues are resolved quickly and effectively. One of the benefits of them being a small hosting company is that they are able to deal with you on a more personal level.

Gone are the days that I will use big hosting providers, lots of money for not very much.

James