Which web hosting companies do we suggest?

Just because we don’t personally provide hosting doesn’t mean we don’t have an opinion on the matter. We have hosts that we love, and some not so much. Some hosting companies have burned us so badly that we’ve sworn them off for all future setups. Today, I’m going to be doing a bit of kvetching about one such company: GoDaddy (or as we refer to them in the office, NoDaddy). If you’re running WordPress, you deserve better.

A Penny Saved is a Pen-alty

GoDaddy has one of the biggest ad budgets of any of the major web hosting companies, if not the biggest. We all not-so-fondly remember the sexist advertisements back in the early aughts, or Danica Patrick’s part in their marketing campaigns (didn’t get much better!). Let’s put the rather insulting assumption that web hosting customers and drooling horn dogs are one and the same for a moment and talk about the focus of these ads: cheap, reliable hosting with an included domain.

That just isn’t the case anymore. GoDaddy relies so heavily on brand recognition they don’t need to have killer deals to attract customers. A lot of people don’t even know there’s a better option, or that these better options have the tools baked-in to their cost which GoDaddy nickel-and-dimes you for. Oh, and they’re cheaper, more reliable, and you won’t be stuck in on-hold hell when calling in for support. I hear the forsaken ragtime they call hold music in my nightmares. 

GoDaddy Support is like a Box of Chocolates

You never know what you’re going to get when you call in, there’s just no consistency. Some agents are great and can solve your problem or provide a work-around in minutes; unfortunately, this is often not the type of agent you get. 

Additionally, many of the things you’d expect from a host just don’t get done. When newer PHP versions came around the bend, GoDaddy promised to migrate customers off old servers and onto the new by the end of 2019. Well, January came and went with no action on their end. It is now June of 2020, and the only reason our clients are running the newer PHP is because I did the work myself. From a company that has the ad budget to run superbowl commercials, this is a pathetic oversight.

You Deserve Better

GoDaddy is like a designer bag. You get that nice brand association, but it’s still just a bag. There are other, cheaper bags you can fit more things into and which have better locking mechanisms. Still other bags may come with a clutch in addition to everything else mentioned. Does this mean people will stop buying designer brands, switching to something that does the job more effectively? Of course not. That’s why GoDaddy is still around despite being an anachronism. 

We do have a favorite bag: sleek, modern, extra pockets, locking zipper – the works. This is not to say that there may be a better bag in the future, but we have a great deal of confidence in this one. I’ll stop with the purse analogy and just come out with it:

SiteGround is likely the best of the web hosting companies for your WordPress needs. One-click installs, free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates ($79.99/year on GoDaddy), included email hosting ($6/user/month on GoDaddy) – pretty much everything you need for your business.

If you need something a little beefier (perhaps you have an ultra high volume site, or simply an enourmous data base with thousands of images, then we’d also recommend WP Engine hosting plans.