7 signs when it’s time to switch your WordPress website hosting

Website hosting that is specifically designed to support and optimize websites built with WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system. It generally provides the server space, hosting tools, and technologies needed to run a WordPress site efficiently and securely. Unlike generic hosting, WordPress hosting often includes features like one-click WordPress installation, automatic updates, enhanced security specifically tailored for WordPress vulnerabilities, and performance optimizations such as caching and faster loading performance of web pages.

but, if your WordPress website is facing issues lately and in-spite of all your efforts, collaboration and follow up with the technical support, if it’s not worked out, it might be time to switch hosting providers.

Let’s see the symptoms first. Here are 7 signs that indicate the issues with your existing WordPress hosting which makes you to give a thought to a new WordPress host:

1. Slow Website Speed 

A website that takes an excessively long time to load its content, resulting in a frustrating user experience. This can manifest as delayed page rendering, sluggish navigation, or even a complete failure to load. Website speed refers to the time it takes for a browser to fully load and render a webpage. If your site takes more than 2-3 seconds to load, visitors may leave, hurting your SEO and conversions which lead to decreased user engagement, lower conversion rates, and reduced revenue. A good host always ensures fast loading times.

2. Frequent Downtime

Downtime means users cannot access the website’s content or functions, such as browsing web pages or making business transaction.  It can also include situations where the website is slow, unresponsive, or partially functional, hampering users from completing their desired tasks.  If your website is frequently getting down or inaccessible, means your hosting provider is not taking its business seriously and have reliability issues. A good web hosting provider always guarantees 99.9% uptime.

3. Poor Customer Support

Customer support that fails to meet customer expectations, unresponsiveness, long wait times, unhelpful staff, poor communication, and unresolved issues results in frustration, and often fall below industry standards. Unclear, confusing, or dismissive communication from support staff especially during urgent issues are clearly comes under poor customer support. Quality Web hosts offer 24/7 expert support or priority support via chat, email, or phone.

4. Security Vulnerabilities

Common web security vulnerabilities are flaws or weaknesses in a web application that attackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access or harm the websites. These vulnerabilities may be due to mistakes in design, coding, or configuration, or by misconfigured systems. If your site has been hacked multiple times or lacks proper security features like firewalls, SSL certificates, and malware scanning, it’s time to upgrade.

5. Limited Scalability

Limited scalability in websites refers to the inability to adequately handle increased traffic, data processing, or other demands without causing performance degradation or system instability. It signifies that the website’s infrastructure or architecture cannot easily expanded to accommodate larger workloads. This can manifest as slow page load times, frequent downtime, or a generally poor user experience under heavy load.  If your site is growing, but your hosting can’t handle increased traffic, you may experience slow speeds, crashes, or resource limitations. Limited scalability can lead to higher costs if you need to compensate by purchasing more powerful hardware or by using inefficient software solutions.  A scalable hosting plan is essential.

6. Hidden or Rising Costs

Hidden costs associated with websites include ongoing maintenance, security upgrades, and content creation, which can significantly impact the budget over time. Additionally, website design and development may involve unexpected customizations and updates, along with the need for professional content management, which can add to the overall expense.  Some hosts offer cheap intro rates but increase prices significantly upon renewal whereas others charge extra recurring fees for features like backups, security, plugin updates, domain name renewal and performance boosts.

7. Outdated Technology & Features

Outdated websites often suffer from poor functionality, negative user experience, performance issues, and security vulnerabilities. This can lead to slow loading times, unresponsive designs, confusing navigation, and lack of mobile optimization, impacting user engagement and conversions.  If your host doesn’t support latest version of PHP, WordPress, plugins, themes or advanced caching, your site might be running on outdated and slow technology and is highly vulnerable.

Time for an Upgrade?

If you notice multiple signs, switching to your WordPress website hosting can be a smart move when you are ready to take more control over your website’s performance, customization, and growth. Here are the key benefits for an informed upgrade:

  1. Great Admin Control Over Your Site
  2. Better Website Performance
  3. Achieving desired scalability over a Business or Blog
  4. Better SEO and Analytics Advantages
  5. Data Ownership and Portability

What You’ll Need to Switch:

  1. A Web Hosting Provider – consider choosing reliable WordPress hosting (e.g., SiteGround, Bluehost, WP Engine, Kinsta).
  2. A Domain Name – You can usually transfer or connect your existing domain.
  3. org Installation – Most hosts offer one-click WordPress installs.
  4. Site Migration – Use a plugin like All-in-One WP Migration or a manual method to move content.

How to prepare for switching hosts:

Switching WordPress web hosts can improve speed, security, and support. To ensure a smooth transition, follow preparation steps are necessary to work out:

1. Evaluate Hosting Needs

Assuming you have zeroed down on a reliable WordPress hosting (e.g., SiteGround, Bluehost, WP Engine, Kinsta etc.)

Choose a new host that aligns with your website’s traffic, plugins, and performance requirements in terms of speed, uptime, after-support, scalability.

2. Take complete Website Backup

You may use plugins for backups like Updraft, Backup Buddy, Snapshot Pro, All-in-One WP Migration, or you may take a manual backup of complete files as well as database.

Keep the good hold on your backups by storing it on cloud storage like (Google Drive, Dropbox, AWS, Microsoft Azure etc.) or it can be stored at your local machine as well.

3. Put Your Site in Maintenance Mode

Plugin like WP Maintenance Mode can be utilized to keep your website on maintenance mode so that visitors are not disrupted during migration.

4. Restore Your Database & Files

After installing the required database software like SQL server, MySQL etc. Export your database using phpMyAdmin or other relevant Database plugin.

Copy all your files via FTP/SFTP access into the webserver space or you may use your current hosting control panel.

5. Set Up Your New Hosting Environment

Install WordPress on the new host. Ensure PHP version, memory limit, and database support are compatible and appropriate.

6. Update wp-config.php

Modify the wp-config.php file with your new database settings and configurations like (DB name, user, password, host etc.)

7. Point Your Domain to the New Host

Update DNS records to the new host’s nameservers via your domain registrar access dashboard. DNS changes may take 24–48 hours to propagate.

8. Test Everything

See if all the setting and configurations done properly or not. Check for broken links, missing media, plugin functionality, and theme settings. It is always recommended to test on a staging environment before going live.

 Summary

Opting for a good WordPress hosting service is crucial for your website’s speed, security, and overall performance. A reliable host ensures fast loading times, minimal downtime, regular backups, and strong customer support.

Key factors like uptime guarantee (ideally 99.9%+), server speed, scalability, pricing, and WordPress-specific support plays a vital role while choosing a web host. Better check user reviews, support quality, and whether the hosting meets your traffic and resource demands before switching the boat.

For more detailed information and support, you can always reach out to us at info@wordpromise.com

Signup Today for premium WordPress support services.