Hosting

“2 seconds is the threshold for e-commerce website acceptability. At Google, we aim for under a half second.” – Maile Ohye, Google

Speed is a crucial element in the success of your website. While Google acknowledges that site speed is a ranking factor, albeit one of many subtle ones, a fast loading site leads to a better user experience (UX), and a quality UX will ultimately lead to a greater level of conversions. Google places a strong emphasis on UX, which will in turn only benefit your rankings.

Many of our clients operate on the WordPress CMS and they are not alone. WordPress powers 26% of the web, with a 60% share of CMS systems. It is an extremely popular CMS with users ranging from lone bloggers to corporate giants such as National Geographic and The New York Times.

However, WordPress isn’t without its problems. If you are currently running your website on WordPress, you may have experienced the following:

• ŸSecurity breaches
• ŸLimited bandwidth
• ŸSlow-downs or site closures due to exceeding monthly traffic allowances
• ŸUnreliable hosting issues
• ŸPoor customer service and support
• ŸRestricted scalability

We endeavour to fine-tune each client’s website for maximum speed and efficiency. For that reason, we encourage our WordPress clients to make the transition to WP Engine.

WP Engine is specifically designed to handle WordPress hosting and is widely acknowledged as the best service available. At the core of WP Engine is EverCache®, a highly scalable enterprise-grade architecture that ensures your site will run four to six times faster thanks to unique front-end technology. WP Engine also offers a comprehensive backup system, ease of use and round-the-clock support. Security is a major concern with an open-source product such as WordPress. To this end, WP Engine offers unrivalled security for your site that offers real-time threat detection and a host of preventative security measures.

Unfortunately, speed limitations can be met due to sites being hosted on offshore servers. To counter this problem, StewArt Media has entered into a partnership with WP Engine to open an Australian-based web server, available exclusively to our clients. The site speed benefits of a local server will have a positive impact on user experience and rankings in the search results, while giving you a competitive edge over rivals who utilise overseas hosting.

There will be a set-up and management fee applicable to the transition of your website from your existing server to our Australian-based server for those wanting to purchase the one-off service. The fee is waivered for existing clients. It is worth noting that WP Engine lacks certain features offered by other hosts due to its WordPress centric focus. One such feature is email hosting, requiring you to conduct this outside of the WP Engine environment.

If you are interested in transitioning your current WordPress hosting to WP Engine, or require any further information, please contact us today.