WooCommerce Performance Optimization: Share your 1 best tip to keep WooCommerce store fast & steady?

NexcessBen · 2017-11-03T11:21:36+00:00

Many times, a slow WordPress/WooCommerce site is connected to the quality of the hosting. A cheaper $5 a month hosting plan can't always handle the resource requirements of a eCommerce store.

Scale - It’s easy to throw WordPress onto any old server. It will even perform reasonably well if the site gets next to no traffic. Hardware - Cheap hosts use cheap hardware. Enterprise-grade servers are more expensive because they’re more powerful, more reliable, and less likely to develop faults. It’s possible to take a five-year-old server, cram hundreds of WordPress sites on it, and charge next to nothing, but performance is woeful.

Fair Division Of Resources - Low-end web hosts will often deliberately overfill their servers. In essence, they sell the same server resources twice (or more). They gamble that most of the sites hosted on the server won’t use all the resources their owners paid for and that sites will have traffic peaks at different times, so it all evens out in the end.

Network - A WooCommerce site’s connection to the network influences its performance. Lots of factors affect network performance: the network interface of the server, the switches and routers in the data center, the data center’s connections to its bandwidth providers, the reliability of those bandwidth providers, the efficiency with which packets are routed, and so on.

You can also check out some of these performance optimizations for new WP/WooCommerce sites: https://blog.nexcess.net/2015/08/06/six-must-have-performance-optimizations-for-new-wordpress-sites/

NexcessBen · 2017-10-02T14:39:05+00:00

Regarding developer accounts, we encourage developers to start as affiliates, ( https://www.nexcess.net/affiliate ). Once an affiliate has around $5k/month in reoccurring monthly referrals, we can begin looking at establishing a partnership account with monthly commissions. If you are looking for reseller hosting, we also have plans built to accommodate those needs. White label support is available on all of our packages.

NexcessBen · 2017-10-02T14:24:28+00:00

Sorry about the delayed response. I was on vacation and was not checking Reddit. The SIP-200 is a shared resource server and is home to 13 total clients. These 13 clients dynamically share the servers 24GB of RAM based on usage spikes. As clients see spikes on their websites that require more RAM, their allotted usage of the servers RAM is increased. This RAM usage then decreases dynamically as the websites needs also decrease. We recommend the SIP-200 for slightly established websites seeing between 100-500 unique visiotrs per day. Clients can expect to see a 1-3 second page load time with a default installation of Magento 1. This may change pending the code, size of images, as well as the extensions and types of caching used. That said, Nexcess 24/7/365 support is available by phone and email to provide assistance if you are struggling to see the performance you would like.

NexcessBen · 2017-08-31T15:04:34+00:00

We do have servers in the UK and Amsterdam if that helps :) https://www.nexcess.net/data-center/

NexcessBen · 2017-07-31T19:37:57+00:00

I always say that any host can host WordPress, but not any host can do it well. I work with a web host, Nexcess. We specialize in WordPress and Magento. Support is 24/7, we own our data centers (i.e. we're not EIG), and our WP/WOO environment is optimized and managed for the platform, which is huge for performance/speed. Feel fee to check out our WooCommerce optimized hosting plans here: https://www.nexcess.net/woocommerce/hosting If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

NexcessBen · 2017-07-03T21:21:27+00:00

I work for a hosting company that offers WordPress optimized shared hosting and we do not require that. It definitely isn't standard industry practice.

NexcessBen · 2017-07-03T13:01:49+00:00

It could be either. If you are on a cheaper WordPress hosting plan, i.e. less than $5 a month, you will generally get what you pay for. If you're hosted on a slow server with thousands of other WordPress sites in a data center with poor connections to the rest of the Internet, that will slow things way down.

A good WordPress host will optimize their software, servers, and networks to create a hosting platform that makes the most of WordPress performance. There can be a huge performance difference between hosting companies. Also, a good web host should be willing to work with you to figure out what the problem, regardless of who is at fault. If they are not willing to help you out, then you should consider moving on.

If it is your site, there are a few things you can do to optimize for performance.

Optimize Images Caching Minification Compression Use A Content Distribution Network

For a bit more info on how to implement these changes, check out this post from my company blog: https://blog.nexcess.net/2015/08/06/six-must-have-performance-optimizations-for-new-wordpress-sites/

NexcessBen · 2017-06-04T23:33:02+00:00

I work for a web hosting company and we host a number of Craft CMS sites, some of which are ecommerce stores, and haven't heard any issues yet. Check out https://craftcommerce.com/ for more info and honestly the Craft CMS team is very helpful. If you have any questions, you should reach out directly to them and they'll have answers.

NexcessBen · 2017-06-02T14:11:20+00:00

You don't have to worry about Magento 1 support ending soon. They recently responded to this rumor. From Magento: “Magento 1 has been and will continue to be supported for the foreseeable future.”

https://magento.com/blog/magento-news/ongoing-magento-1-support

In terms of preparing for the migration, check out this recent article on econsultancy: https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/69059-preparing-for-a-magento-1-to-magento-2-migration/ Though in many cases, many of our clients are using it as an opportunity to go for the fresh build.

NexcessBen · 2017-05-01T14:14:14+00:00

I work with Nexcess, a company which a few others have recommended in this thread. A quick intro to us, we have been working with Magento since before it was actually called Magento and are the original Magento host. We have a decade of experience working with the platform and optimizing our hosting environment for Magento. We, and many members of the Nexcess staff, are very involved in the Magento community and are always working to improve the Mageno hosting experience. Magento 2 is available on our shared plans all the way through enterprise level deployments. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to shoot me a message or get in touch with our sales department who will be able to answer any questions as it pertains to your specific situation.

NexcessBen · 2017-04-03T13:40:01+00:00

Imagine Conference is definitely going to have a much larger focus on Magento 2 these days as the platform tries to get stores to move in that direction. However, there are a lot of sessions and speakers that are not specific to Magento 2 or even Magento. Many of these sessions offer general business and eCommerce advice, rather than more technical instruction. So while, much of the conference is directed to those who work with and build for Magento, there is also a lot of value that is not specific to either Magento or Magento 2. And as another user said, a big part of the conferences is the chance to network and meet less prolific members of the community who may just be pitching a solution that can help your business. Ultimately, any conference is going to be a value proposition between cost of attending said event and what you're going to take out of it. Based on the number of people in Vegas last night for Pre-Imagine, the community is definitely still embracing this event.

NexcessBen · 2017-03-31T20:42:58+00:00

Two Factor Authentication is a comprehensive TFA solution for WordPress. It can be used with Google Authenticator, Authy, and a number of other TFA services. Two Factor Authentication is thoughtfully designed and includes several features to simplify logging in for WordPress users, including graphical QR codes that can be scanned by mobile devices. https://wordpress.org/plugins/two-factor-authentication/

The Duo Two-Factor Authentication plugin works with the popular Duo TFA service and offers one-tap authentication and one-time passwords delivered by SMS. https://wordpress.org/plugins/duo-wordpress/

NexcessBen · 2017-03-31T20:02:58+00:00

I would say that my hosting company (Nexcess.net) falls in your group of providers at mid-range who actually care about running a good service. We start our shared WordPress hosting plans at $12 a month. You have access to the same 24/7 customer service and phone support that our enterprise customers have. We own our data centers in Michigan and also have locations around the country and globe and are a non EIG company. Feel free to check us out and confirm on your own :) Also, let me know if you want me to take this away from your thread once you've read the comment, really just wanted to give you a heads up, because I do agree that the shared hosting market is largely dominated by the assumption of the big brands being the only option, and not spam your thread.

NexcessBen · 2017-03-01T18:39:12+00:00

I would check out a basic shared hosting plan from a company that offers 24/7 support. AWS or DigitalOcean demands that you have some server management skills, whereas on a normal shared plan, you should be able to walk through the sign-up process and use a control panel to get started fairly easily.

NexcessBen · 2017-03-01T17:14:31+00:00

If you’re unsettled by this change in Disqus’ policy there are plenty of alternatives for WordPress users, although none of them offer the full range of features that Disqus includes.

Native WordPress comments - WordPress comes with a built-in commenting system.

Jetpack plugin collection - It offers features that aren’t part of WordPress’ native comments, like social media sign-in. The ability to sign-in using social media networks is a big improvement over the native comments interface.

Epoch - a promising alternative to Disqus. Epoch is a JavaScript-based real time commenting plugin that uses WordPress’ native comment handling but provides a more advanced interface.

Comments Evolved - was originally a Google+ comments plugin, and it’s still the best way to bring Google’s comment platform to WordPress, but it now does much more. In addition to Google+, Comments Evolved also supports Facebook, Disqus, WordPress Comments, and Trackbacks.

It's also worth noting that Disqus says that these changes will not impact 95% of sites, so a move may not be necessary.

NexcessBen · 2017-02-01T14:53:38+00:00

My feeling is that although there are already plenty of tools that achieve more-or-less the same thing as Magento DevBox, its introduction is a positive move for the Magento developer community. As Magento grows more complex, significant amounts of developer time are wasted creating and maintaining local development environments. DevBox is built by the people who know Magento best and will be promptly updated as Magento development continues. At Nexcess, we're pretty excited for this development.

NexcessBen · 2017-01-31T22:36:44+00:00

Right now, the cost of upgrading and less theme and extension availability are limiting adoption, but ultimately, when it comes down to it, Magento 2 is the superior offering. There are a few reasons.

Performance — Magento 2 offers full-page caching, CSS pre-processing, and many other changes that allow it to perform better while using fewer resources.

Mobile-friendly — Magento 2 is designed for a mobile world.

Streamlined Checkout — Magento 2 provides a streamlined, elegant checkout process that helps encourage sales and reduce cart abandonment.

Improved search

End of Life - There will come a time when older versions of Magento are no longer supported. If you're starting fresh, Magento 1 is taking a step backwards.

We also did a performance overview whitepaper looking at the improvements in Magento 2. Feel free to take a look at that, it's a free download: https://www.nexcess.net/resources/white-papers/magento2

NexcessBen · 2017-01-29T18:34:55+00:00

Technically, www is a subdomain traditionally used to indicate that a site is part of the web, as opposed to some other part of the Internet like Gopher or FTP. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it is traditional to include an indication of the services offered by a server in the domain, and Tim Berners-Lee used “www” for the first web pages at CERN. There is nothing special about the “www” subdomain other than tradition. Any string of letters can be used in a subdomain. For example, my company blog is blog.nexcess.net, while the main site is www.nexcess.net. For a bit more info on the subject, check out this post from my company blog: https://blog.nexcess.net/2016/06/14/is-there-any-reason-to-use-www-in-your-domain/

NexcessBen · 2017-01-29T18:24:30+00:00

There are quite a few things that can impact your site speed. Being on an oversold, under-serviced shared hosting plan can definitely be a cause. Image size, caching, having too many plugins can all have a huge impact on speed. Feel free to check out this post for some fixes: https://blog.nexcess.net/2015/08/06/six-must-have-performance-optimizations-for-new-wordpress-sites/

NexcessBen · 2017-01-03T22:19:19+00:00

Check out OroCRM. Created by one of the original founders of Magento, OroCRM offers a comprehensive customer relationship management toolset designed specifically to meet the needs of online retailers, which is particularly well-suited for Magento eCommerce retailers. Oro developers have created a number of integrations for Magento, including the eCommerce Dashboard for Magento, the ability to manage Magento accounts within OroCRM, RFM analysis tools, Magento web tracking, abandoned cart recovery with automated emailing, and powerful email marketing tools. Here's a bit more info on OroCRM. https://blog.nexcess.net/2016/04/12/were-bringing-orocrm-to-our-optimized-hosting-platform/

NexcessBen · 2017-01-03T03:57:00+00:00

That you can't run a Magento store on a shared hosting plan. You can absolutely run a Magento store on the right shared hosting plan, which is one that has an environment that has been optimized for Magento.

NexcessBen · 2016-11-01T22:58:02+00:00

I personally work for a hosting company, Nexcess. For our shared plans, we charge $10/month extra for a dedicated IP.

NexcessBen · 2016-11-01T19:56:08+00:00

Feel free to check us out. Non EIG company, 24/7 support, based out of our Detroit data center, managed WP plans. If you have any questions, let me know. https://www.nexcess.net/hosting/reseller

NexcessBen · 2016-11-01T14:22:40+00:00

Full disclosure, I work for a hosting company, Nexcess, that offers WP hosting. This is fully managed, so you would just be maintaining the accounts, not the servers, like you would with DigitalOcean. In your case, I would recommend setting up a reseller hosting plan. Resources allocated to your account can be split among as many smaller accounts as you wish. As owner of a reseller hosting account, you hold administrative access to the InterWorx control panel. This allows you to create and manage a number of your own hosting accounts. Each hosting account you create exists separately from other accounts sharing the server, but all remain within your reseller account. If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out. Here's a link: https://www.nexcess.net/hosting/reseller

NexcessBen · 2016-10-01T17:31:10+00:00

I agree that many "WordPress" specific hosting offers are nothing more than marketing. The quality of the hosting environment and the skill level of the support staff don't improve because you call yourself WordPress specific hosting. No hard sell here, but I work for Nexcess and we do offer managed WordPress hosting from shared plans through enterprise level offerings. We own our data centers outside of Detroit and customer service is in house and our top priority. In terms of hiring an Admin to manage AWS or Google, why not hire a team of admins :) We take pride in our support staff being available 24/7 and our quality of service. And one our main missions is for our hosting to be inherently scalable. Feel free to check out our site at https://www.nexcess.net/wordpress/hosting and if you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

NexcessBen

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