Is your blog slow?
Are you frustrated and looking for ways to make your site faster?
That was me not too long ago. Whether you’re looking to start a new blog or looking to switch your host, this blog post is for you.
I started my blog using Bluehost and tried everything I knew to make it faster, but nothing helped. Eventually, I made the switch only after 2 short months of using Bluehost. I originally signed up for a 60-month plan with Bluehost thinking I’d stay with Bluehost for a very long time.
Make sure you do your research to prevent all future problems and headaches.
OVERVIEW:
- Background information between Bluehost and SiteGround
- How did I hear about SiteGround
- Why did I switch to SiteGround
- Bluehost vs SiteGround speed comparison
- Bluehost vs SiteGround cost comparison
- Bluehost vs SiteGround technical support comparison
- A step-by-step guide on how to switch from Bluehost to SiteGround
Bluehost vs SiteGround: Background Information
Bluehost and SiteGround are both the official web hosts recommended by WordPress.org
Bluehost was founded in 2003 and powering over 2 million websites worldwide. I had heard of Bluehost years before I even started blogging. It seems that every popular blogger out there is recommending Bluehost (most of them don’t even use Bluehost).
SiteGround was founded in 2004 and servicing over 1.9 million domains worldwide. But I had never heard of SiteGround prior to starting my blog.
It made sense for me to start my blog with Bluehost since it was the only thing I knew. That’s the power of marketing.
Related: 10 Biggest Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
How Did I Eventually Hear About SiteGround?
After 1 month of using Bluehost, I noticed that my site was significantly SLOWER than other sites. How is it even possible? I barely had anything on my site and I was probably the only visitor.
I used Pingdom to test the speed of my site compared to the people I know. All their sites were faster than mine and none of them were using Bluehost.
Don’t believe me? Head over to Google and type in “why is Bluehost” into the search engine. The first thing on the suggested search list is “why is Bluehost so slow”. That should tell you something.
In my attempt to make my site faster, I did a lot of research and watched a lot of YouTube videos. I came across a lot of comparison between SiteGround and Bluehost.
Everything I read favored SiteGround over Bluehost when it comes to speed, uptime and customer service.
Why did I finally switch to SiteGround?
Before I made the switch, I did a lot of research on how to improve the speed of my site. I installed some plugins based on the recommendations of some YouTuber. Be careful with some of the plugins as they haven’t been maintained in awhile and can cause problems. Having too many plugins can actually cause your site to be slow.
I crashed my site due to one of the popular plugins I had installed to improve the speed of my site. I couldn’t even log back into the backend to uninstall it. I reached out to Bluehost to see if they could log in to uninstall it for me or to reset it. They gave me the run around for days only to tell me there was nothing they can do for me.
I was beyond frustrated. I just didn’t know what else to do. If Bluehost can’t even uninstall it or reset it for me. What was I to do next? Mind you, I was very new to the blogging world and didn’t really know much about anything.
In my desperate attempt, I contacted SiteGround and asked if they can help me. Talk about being desperate and crazy.
I was told that they could fix it for me if I transferred over. I seriously just whipped out my credit right there and then and did the transfer.
The transfer was not without a glitch. The plugin had embedded itself deep into the files; it took multiple attempts for them to find the problem, but it was eventually fixed.
…And just like that, my site was up and running again. What an amazing technical team.
Related: How to Start a Blog for non-techies in Less Than 30 Minutes
Bluehost vs. SiteGround Speed: Which one is faster?
It goes without saying that SiteGround is faster or else I wouldn’t have had the problems that I did.
It always took more than 20 seconds whenever I used Pingdom to test the speed of my site. Sure, 20 seconds doesns’t sound bad, but if your site doesn’t load after 2 seconds – they’re gone.
Have you ever been to a site that would take so long to load that you ended up giving up? You don’t want to visit a slow site, do you?
Speed is very important because a slow site will cause a high rebound rate.
Bluehost vs. SiteGround: Cost
At first glance, Bluehost might seem cheaper, but in order for you to get the $2.95/month pricing, you’d have to sign up for the 36-month plan or 60-month plan.
SiteGround’s cheapest plan is $3.95/month. It’s about $1 more a month compared to Bluehost, but you get what you pay for.
Bluehost vs. SiteGround: Customer Support
I usually don’t consider customer service/support as a deciding factor when choosing a product or provider, but in this case, it was a very big deciding factor.
I never had to wait more than a minute to chat with a SiteGround representative. They are extremely knowledgeable and friendly. I rarely leave a review, but I left 3 reviews for them. That’s how amazing they are.
Bluehost, on the other hand, always made me wait and it was never less than 30 minutes.
Even though the wait was supposed to be 35 minutes for the below screenshot, I actually had to wait a lot longer to chat with a representative.
As if the wait wasn’t bad enough, when I was finally connected with someone – they were helping multiple people at once. I had always wondered why it always took them so long to answer my questions during the chat. As it turned out, they were busy helping multiple customers at the same time.
This might not seem like a big deal to some people, but when you’re not the most technical person, then you really need all the help you can get.
How to Switch from Bluehost to SiteGround: Step-by-Step Instruction
If you’ve decided to make the switch, then follow my easy step-by-step instruction below:
Step 1: Sign up for a Siteground hosting plan
Click on this link to go over to SiteGround to choose a hosting plan. When you’re just starting out and only have 1 website, go with the cheapest StartUp plan.
I highly recommend doing the 36-month plan to lock in the introductory rate. But if money is an issue, you have an option to do the 12-month plan.
The StartUp plan supports 10,000 UNIQUE visitors per month. You can always upgrade later when you have more visitors.
Step 2: Request for migration from SiteGround’s technical team
SiteGround had to back-up my cPanel for me because I did not even know how to do it and they did it all for FREE. I just put in my request and voila, it was done.
Only the first site migration was supposed to be free, but they did both for free. Woohoo 🙂
Step 3: Point your domain name to SiteGround’s server if your domain name is with a different host
To make things complicated, my domain name wasn’t even with Bluehost. It was with NameCheap. But the process is still the same.
My domain name was pointing to Bluehost‘s servers and I just had to log into NameCheap to change the DNS servers to point to SiteGround’s. Does it sound like gibberish? If you are unsure on how to do it, SiteGround has an amazing technical team that can help you.
Step 4: Cancel BlueHost
Wait until you get a confirmation from SiteGround that the migration is completed before you cancel Bluehost.
Bluehost has an amazing cancellation policy. I was able to get a prorated refund. They ended up charging me for a few other things, but I was happy just to get a refund.
Bluehost vs SiteGround Summary:
• Speed: SiteGround wins. I used Bluehost for 2 months before I switched to SiteGround. My website is now loading a lot faster with SiteGround. I did a test using Pingdom and it was less than 2 seconds.
• Cost: Bluehost wins. At first glance, Bluehost is cheaper with $2.95/month, but you have to get a 36-month plan.
• Customer Service: SiteGround wins. There is no question here that SiteGround has a better support service. It really matters when you’re technically challenged and need all the help you can get.
I am so happy I made the switch. My site is a lot faster and whenever I have a problem, I know that SiteGround’s amazing customer support will be there to help me.
If you have any questions about SiteGround or switch over, leave me a comment before. I’ve been there before and I know how frustrating the whole process can be.
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