There are many reasons why more and more bloggers choose Siteground as their hosting provider. But if I need to choose the most important reasons why bloggers choose Siteground, it is because of the excellent customer support, extremely reliable server infrastructure and significant site speed. There are a lot more reasons which are not less important and I want to elaborate on them a little more.
If you are about to start a blog or you are frustrated with your current hosting provider, then most likely you are considering Siteground among other options.
I have compiled the most important factors which make bloggers choose Siteground as their hosting solution.
Let’s start.
SiteGround benefits overview
Siteground is in the hosting business since 2004 and up until now, it evolved into a very popular hosting company that has been providing stellar service to customers. Its data centers are spread on three continents and power over 2 million domains worldwide.
Siteground’s Customer Care service is outstanding and it is one of the best in the class. They are knowledgeable, you don’t wait long for a response and if you feel lost you will get the right direction on how to proceed.
They are constantly innovating and pushing updates and new features to their clients.
It is in the top 3 choices recommended by WordPress.org.
They recently introduced new Client Area and Site Tools which bring easier site-related management to the users.
Among the special WordPress tools is the WordPress Migrator plugin which is a handy tool that automates the transfer of WordPress websites to Siteground.
WordPress Starter tool is another one that simplifies launching your WordPress blog, especially for non-tech people who want to avoid tech hustle. Your WordPress blog will be ready in a matter of minutes.
When speaking about your site performance, they have built in-house solution SG Optimizer Plugin that can speed up your site from 20% to 500%. This plugin currently speeds up more than 700,000 sites, according to their statistics.
Siteground Shared Hosting plans overview
Siteground offers three shared hosting plans: StartUp, GrowBig and GoGeek.
StartUp Plan
If you are just getting started with WordPress, this is the plan crafted for you. You have storage up to 10GB for just one website, which is pretty enough to start. The following essential WordPress features are included: free site builder, free SSL and HTTPS, free email accounts, free CloudFlare CDN, Free Daily Backups, 24/7 Support, 30 days moneyback guarantee, unmetered traffic, and many more. You may check the feature list for more details.
The profile of a blogger who is a good match for this plan:
You’ve got interested in starting a blog, but you don’t have time to investigate and do comparisons with other hosting companies. All you need is one website that you can host for a reasonable price, but you get fantastic technical support whenever you need it. You want a secure blog with significant site speed and handy site tools which will help you manage it more easily.
GrowBig Plan
This is an enhancement of the StartUp plan and adds little extra features like free site transfer by Siteground experts (if you are not happy with your current hosting provider, then this might be a good option for you), SuperCacher for great website speed, Advanced on-demand backup, WordPress staging, Collaborators, etc. Besides that, you have the ability to host an unlimited number of websites, but in terms of storage space, you have only 20GB which is fair.
The profile of a blogger who is a good match for this plan:
You already have one blog, or you think of starting a second blog or migrating your blogs from another host. This is the option for you because it includes a free site transfer. With this plan, you can host an unlimited number of sites and the amount of storage you can use is up to 20GB. You are doing business with your blogs so you need on-demand backups and staging (a feature that allows you create a copy of your site in order to test any WordPress and plugin updates before installing them on your official site).
GrowBig plan is the best mixture of features between the StartUp and GoGeek plans.
GoGeek Plan
This plan is crafted for real WordPress geeks and speaking in terms of features it is the most comprehensive one. This plan additionally provides extra features on the top of the previous two plans: Advanced Priority Support, White-Label Hosting and Client Management, Pre-installed Git.
The profile of a blogger who is a good match for this plan:
A professional blogger who needs all features unlocked, WordPress developers or agencies that ship sites to their clients.
Does Siteground offer free SSL?
Yes, Siteground offers Let’s encrypt SSL for free. More information can be found here. Let’s encrypt SSL is different from standard certificates being issued by other Certificate Authorities like Comodo. Let’s encrypt is a good start, but most of the blogs use Positive SSL.
Does Siteground offer free CDN?
CDN or Content Delivery Network is a network of distributed servers across the globe at its aim is to deliver web content to users at a much higher speed and to better handle traffic spikes.
Siteground offers CDN and Security by Cloudflare as a free service in all of their plans. You can manage Cloudflare settings right in the Sitegrounds’ hosting panel, since they have special integration of the service. Here is an infographic to better understand benefits of using CDN on your blog.
Is Siteground fast?
Since site speed became a ranking factor as Google officially announced, choosing a reliable host that provides significant site speed is crucial when choosing a host. Siteground has a proven history as a very fast hosting provider. You may check the statistics provided by Pingdom. The average speed in the past 12 months was 627 ms, which is pretty fast.
Siteground speed history
How much does Siteground cost?
Speaking in terms of Shared Hosting, Siteground offers three shared hosting plans: StartUp ($3.95/month), GrowBig ($5.95/month) and GoGeek ($11.95/month). This is the monthly price only if you subscribe for at least 12 months.
Regardless of whether you are going to choose 12, 24 or 36 months as a subscription period, this is the price per month you will get only once. That’s why it is good to lock-in the 36 months contract because you will have the best possible price in the next 3 years. After this period, the monthly rates jump to $11.95/month for StartUp, $19.95/month for GrowBig and $34.95 for GoGeek.
Does Siteground charge monthly?
No, Siteground does not charge monthly for their Shared Hosting plans. If you choose to go with one of their Shared hosting plans StartUp, GrowBig or GoGeek, then it is not possible to pay monthly. You are required to pay a minimum of 1 year in advance.
Why Siteground charge $14.95 Setup Fee for Monthly Billing
Siteground usually sells hosting plans with a subscription period for 12, 24 or 36 months, but there is an option for a trial period of 1 month. If you choose to try Siteground for one month, then you have to pay the regular rate for that month plus $14.95 setup fee which is a one-time payment. The bad news is that after the first month, your plan will be renewed at a higher rate.
If you choose to go with Siteground, this is the worst possible scenario, because it will cost you a lot of money.
Is Siteground better than Bluehost?
It depends on how you define “better”. In terms of costs, Bluehost is a little cheaper than Siteground. Bluehost’s regular monthly rate for 12 months term for the Basic plan is $8.99 whilst the Siteground’s price for their first plan StartUp for 12-month term is $11.95. These prices are for a shared hosting option, which is the cheapest and go-to choice for many new bloggers starting their blogs.
In terms of support, if we could measure by the polls and feedback that people leave on forums, Facebook groups, etc., Siteground is an absolute winner. I have seen many people are attracted by Bluehost in the beginning, however, after a short time, they switch to Siteground or other hosts.
Does Siteground offer free domain name?
Unlike other hosting providers, like Bluehost for example, Siteground does not provide a free domain name for the first year. However, it does allow you to register an unlimited number of domains with your Siteground hosting account. It is also possible to transfer an existing domain name to your Siteground account.
What you need to do in order to start a blog on Siteground?
First thing you need to do is to register a domain name for your blog.
You can do this through Siteground or any other domain name registrar of your preference (Namecheap for example). If you plan to run multiple blogs, then good practice is to register them with one Domain Name Registrar.
Next, you need to sign up with one of Siteground’s hosting plans. If you are just getting started then Shared Web Hosting is the right choice. It is affordable, and depending on your needs you may choose between StartUp, GrowBig or GoGeek plan. You may check the comparison on this link.
How to transfer your blog to Siteground?
If you decide to transfer your blog from your current hosting provider to Siteground, then you have a couple of options:
Option 1: if you choose the GrowBig or GoGeek plan, then free site transfer is included in the service and it will be done by Siteground experts. This is free only for one website transfer per account.
Option 2: engage a WordPress expert who offers site transfer as a paid service. Our friends at My Blog Setup can help you with that.
Siteground Pros and Cons
Each service and each offering has its own advantages and disadvantages, so the same applies to Siteground. Although the list of benefits is huge, there are some pros and cons which are worth sharing with you.
Pros:
- 24/7/365 top-notch technical support
- fast, reliable and secure servers
- 99.99% uptime
- Free CDN
- Free Website Migrator
- Free backup/restore option in all plans
- WordPress staging
Cons:
- Limited storage
- No free domain name
- higher renewal rates
Conclusion: How to know whether Siteground is good for me?
After reading this detailed review you might ask yourself whether Siteground is the right choice for hosting your blog?
Well, if you aim for a reliable and fast web hosting with a proven record of success and stellar customer service, then Siteground is worth considering it. They have hosting plans for every budget and all of them are packed with a great set of features.
Siteground constantly improves its reputation by keeping their customers happy and bringing innovation in the business.
Also, it is always good to ask the customers for feedback. The easiest way is to check social media and look for social proof.
Many people are influenced in making choice for their hosting solution by reading “How to start a blog” posts by popular bloggers. But, the fact that some service is recommended by a popular blogger does not necessarily mean that it is good. For example, I know plenty of bloggers, some of them very popular names, that actively recommend BlueHost. The fact is that they recommend BlueHost because it does have a lucrative affiliate program and recursive billing. The sad truth is that after a while they recognize themselves that they made a bad choice. Because by the judgment of many users BlueHost is not the best choice for shared hosting – at least not at the moment of writing this blog post.
One of the best places to look for user’s opinion are Facebook groups. People create polls and ask everything. So, for hosting recommendations as well. Here is a couple of examples:
Are you ready to start with Siteground? Choose your web hosting plan today.
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