Are Bluehost servers slow or is it just me?

[jhinchcliffe]

I have a ton of websites on Bluehosts servers... are my sites slow because I have so many sites on there? Or is Bluehost slow for everyone?

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Stephanie, I wanted to ask just so I know how are you liking WP engine so far compared to blue host? Your feedback would be very appreciated. I wish you the best doing well on a managed WordPress does that tops the charts. I can even show you some tricks on there if you want of ways to do things that are easier than others. If you're interested let me know.

The feedback is for my own information about my blog not for commercial purposes.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Stephanie,

that is very kind of you. I think WP engine is definitely only the right choice. I wanted to update you on one more quick thing. WP engine does not supply a DNS server so you can do one of several things. You can upgrade to a managed DNS server for almost no cost at all $25 a year gets you DNS made easy a company that has a superb 11 near uptime reputation and truly is faster than many other more expensive hosted DNS companies. Here's their link http://www.dnsmadeeasy.com/

My favorite is DynECT however they are $30 a month instead of $25 a year.

I spoke to DNS made easy and asked them if they would allow you to sub account people they said they would do it. So I would contact them if you choose to go with them and asked them to allow you to give your clients access to their own account and you access to the master that way you do not have to update their DNS for them every time they do something.

If you don't feel like spending the $25 a year I would strongly suggest using cloudflare.com however turn off all of the orange clouds that will automatically come on when you activate it The DNS is any cast and very fast  in addition to being 100% free four as many states as you would like to use. In addition, it has an uncanny ability to replicate the older DNS server almost perfectly every time saving tons of time and making it easier on everyone. put the name servers into your current DNS registrar.

Last but not least I would use your current DNS however I would that most of it is through blue host because I have never journeyed down that trail I do not know if they allow you access to the DNS or not. If they do not all is definitely not lost simply create free accounts on cloudflare or DNS made easy place the name servers in where it shows name servers on your registrar and you may have to wait a couple hours to 24 hours. It's normally on the shorter side.

I wanted to tell you another thing because it is in my opinion not a good practice to host your e-mail address off of your Web server's IP as is done in many shared hosting environments. This leads to people being blacklisted because of other spammers that they have no control over.

I would recommend using  either a hosted e-mail service that you're currently using maybe you're using Google apps? Which is an excellent deal however if you do not want pay any more money but still want great e-mail. I personally like

http://www.zoho.com/mail/ it is 100% free for 5 users per a domain with unlimited aliases or a mailbox. Many times less this is a company with over 5 people this will do very well. If it is a larger group I would recommend rack space mail at $2 a mailbox and 25 gigs it is a steal. Here are the stats on ZoHo e-mail which looks uncannily like Google apps

The Free addition comes with everything below including a very nice tool to import the old mail into the new mailbox.

Maximum 5 Users

Host 1 domain only

Manage 3 Groups

5GB Mail Storage /User

Push Mail, Mobile Sync

Email Support only

You can always pay $2 a box and get much more space and many more users. But I believe this will do for many people.

Outlook.com will host the e-mail through their system and help you import the old e-mail in addition to not having a limit of how many e-mail boxes you can use and it works on all major devices like mobile phones and computers.

I hope this DNS and e-mail does not scare you at all. The fact is this is how it should be being run from day one.  All systems are independent if one person goes on spamming rampage they will never affect anyone else. Please remember you can use your DNS from your current registrar and you can also get free non-any cast DNS from name cheap.com so no one should have any problems with any of this. If there is an issue that you need help with please do not hesitate to contact me. My information is obtainable through our website just use the contact form or call the number

here is the link

http://www.blueprintmarketing.com/contact/

Sincerely,

Thomas

[jhinchcliffe]

Thank you so much for providing such an in depth answer. I actually didn't realize we had SEomoz perks! It seems everyone here agrees that a Wordpress host is the best option. When I started with Bluehost I was happy with their service but over the past couple years I have become more and more frustrated.

I think I might take you and everyone elses advice and go with WPEngine.

I appreciate the time and thought you put into this answer!

[BlueprintMarketing]

Stephanie,

I am currently writing a blog on this so I cannot give you every bit of information that I normally would. But I can share this with you visitors the facts about these hosting companies.

if you are managing only WordPress sites and nothing else. Or just the majority of WordPress sites like 80 to 90%. I would strongly suggest going with a manage WordPress host. The reason I'm saying this is they take care of everything backups security and your site will never be slow with any of these companies. I personally host my site on WP engine but I can also tell you that I have accounts with absolutely every single one of the companies I am about to list. Not of them are anything short of excellent

WP engine, is extremely fast and extremely customer oriented.

Many of the largest problems the WordPress site owners face are that typical shared servers, or even VPSs and dedicated on generic hosting platforms, are not optimized for WordPress’ unique performance and security requirements. WPEngine.com , ZippyKid.com , Page.ly WebSynthesis.com & Presslabs.com (presslabs is moving into the US market quickly they are excellent for Europe right now along with WPengine, Page.ly & Zippykid who already offer European hosting as well.) are all managed WordPress hosting companies listed where developed by an expert technical team that also had the experience of being in the trenches like you and me, running high-traffic sites on WordPress. This is why their unique and finely tuned configurations work so well for WordPress. It is also why they have advanced and evolving security checks in constant motion, plus a guarantee to clean up your site in the event of an invasion. And the support is top notch. From migrations to troubleshooting to plugin recommendations, these guys have seen it all through their real-world WordPress experience, which makes your life that much easier. Too often, hosting is associated with problems that make our lives harder. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a host that gives you benefits instead of headaches? That’s why I would recommend each and ever one of the hosts listed so go check out their plans and tell us what we can do to get you sign up for truly worry free hosting.

** WPengine.com **

I have posted with WP engine for 2 years they are fantastic and very fast to respond. Along with being a lightning fast host I recommend them to anyone. You get 4 free months to try them out via http://www.seomoz.org/pro-perks

**Zippykid.com **

ZippyKid is an outstanding company with phone support like WP engine based on a private cloud and with one of the best backup systems in the industry I don't believe that you can go wrong choosing them.

Page.ly

Maybe the most cost efficient depending on multiple factors. they offer 30% off for life to any

SEOmoz pro member you can get that discount here http://www.seomoz.org/pro-perks

if you continue to add sites they will continue to take 30% off each additional website

WebSynthesis.com

is a fantastic host however if you have a lot of Websites is is a great deal more money to host more than 3 websites in comparison to the others.

Presslabs.com

is another outstanding WordPress host however they are just moving into the United States now. Their prices start at $199 per month for one site.

I have accounts with every single one of them, and they're all excellent I know that that does not make it easier on you. To pick but if you have a lot of sites and want to resell them and have the billing handled by the company Page.ly may be your right choice.

for all non-WordPress websites personally I use firehost.com I find them to be fantastic. I would strongly recommend datapipe.com, bluebox.net, Pair.com, singlehop.com

I agree with Webby www.servint.net is a great company that does not offer shared hosting only VPS.

I don't recommend shared hosting unless you are using a managed WordPress host which in that case it is far different than using a company like blue host.

if you do not want at 100% WordPress web host I would recommend bluebox.net they, are, in the same office building as SEOmoz, but the real advantage is there built off of bare metal have a content delivery network built-in and really do know what they're doing when it comes to Hosting.

I would then choose pair.com their proven uptime is unbelievable and rivals that, of posts like data pipe which start at $1000 a, month. However, Pair starts at $10 a month and goes up.

again I can't tell you how strongly I feel towards using a managed WordPress host for hosting WordPress it's simply night and day. However I can tell you with complete confidence that every host I have mentioned does a fantastic job.

I'm sorry I could not tell you everything I wanted to tell you all the little bits and pieces about every host but I am writing a blog on it and did not want to not be able to include information in my article that I have worked so hard on because I gave it to somebody in Q&A. However I would strongly recommend looking at the data I know there are a lot of choices. But if you do a lot of WordPress managed WordPress is always the right choice.

might own website has a hosting part where you can read about hosting

http://www.blueprintmarketing.com/hosting/

I hope I have been of help to you.

Sincerely,

Thomas Von Zickell

[WebbyNabler]

I recommend looking at www.servint.net I am customer of theirs and they are awesome. The support is the best i have ever dealt with and they have been around since the 90's.

[EGOL]

If a host is not delivering super service.  Leave them.  Right away.

Slow service can reduce visitor interest in your website.

That will tank your sales.

Slow service can compromise spidering.

That can cause ranking problems.

Don't work your ass off on your website and tolerate this type of service.

If it costs a few bucks more per month so what... look what you are losing.

[DennisSeymour]

I have like 8 shared servers with them.

It depends a lot on how bad the people you share with are. LOL

I have faster ones and slower ones. It really depends.

I would suggest cloud hosting with rackspace. Account is pay only for what you use

WP engine is also good as well as wiredtree.

[WilliamCarr]

I use WP Engine and I'm very happy with them. They're a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.

Since you have more than a few sites, you can get a plan that hosts multiple sites which will offset some of the costs.

[StreamlineMetrics]

I'm a big fan of WiredTree. I'm not sure if they offer shared hosting but their dedicated/virtual hosting plans are very reasonably priced and we've never had any issues with slowness/downtime. And their technical support is top notch, often responding with answers to every question literally within minutes.

I'd also suggest checking out http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ for reviews on other hosting providers.

[jhinchcliffe]

Also I found their support to be horrible too

[jhinchcliffe]

thanks. any suggestions?

[StreamlineMetrics]

I have a few clients who are hosted on Bluehost and yes, all of the sites have experienced increased sluggishness/straight up downtime over the past few years. I'd recommend looking into other alternatives.

[EGOL]

A host that has lots of important websites as their customers.  Websites that will move if they are not getting fantastic delivery.

[BlueprintMarketing]

shared hosting others can slow your site. Bluehost would not care or do anything about it you should look at WPengine, Zippykid, Page.ly or websynthesis there much better

[jhinchcliffe]

Hmm good to know. Who do you use?

[jhinchcliffe]

I have a ton of wordpress sites.

They didn't used to be slow, what changed?

[EGOL]

Just sayin'....

Some hosts who offer unlimited bandwidth and unlimited other stuff often find ways to throttle your success by limiting your number of database connections, users online or some other BS metric.

Not sayin' that is what is happening to you here but sayin' that I learned my lesson to host my websites where they are going to charge me for all of the resources that I use.  That way they win when I succeed and not they become defensive when I succeed.

Call 'em up and ask them what's going on?  Bug them.  Tell them that you want a reason why it is so slow.

You work hard to make your site a success.  Don't settle for poor hosting.

[BlueprintMarketing]

What kind of site is it & yes there slow