Introduction

We will compare Cloudways and HostGator, two popular hosting platforms that many bloggers talk about. As our company uses blogs as part of our SEO marketing strategy and has used both hosting solutions, we can give you insights so you can make the best choice for yourself. In this post, we will provide tips on improving your site’s speed and security. We will also discuss which hosting provider is the best fit for bloggers when it comes to speed and security.

Cloudways: Speed and Security

Cloudways is known for its speed and security. What makes it stand out is that it's a managed cloud hosting platform. This means it uses other cloud services like Google Cloud and AWS to host your site, which can lead to faster loading times—a big plus for any blogger who wants to keep their readers happy. What we saw as a big advantage is that you can handle servers extremely easily using Cloudways while having hands-on multiple sites you are managing for an affordable cost.

Usually, bloggers use platforms like WordPress and we’ve seen many cases where the owners lose a lot of their work as they got hacked or hijacked as they haven’t protected their sites enough. Hosting companies like Cloudways take care of the security, but you have to do some things on your own to protect your site such as installing an SSL certificate. Installing an SSL certificate has never been easier using Cloudways.

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Security

Here are some important steps you should take to secure your blogging site as much as you can as a beginner:

1. Keep Everything Updated

• WordPress Core: Always update to the latest version of WordPress. 
• Plugins and Themes: Update all plugins and themes. 

If these are not updated to the latest version, hackers can use it as a bridge to get into your site.

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2. Use Strong Passwords and User Permissions

• Strong Passwords and Usernames: Use complex passwords that include a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters. Consider using a password manager to generate and store your passwords securely. We’ve seen many site owners use the username “admin” which is easy to guess and makes it easier to get into your site. Avoid common names and passwords.
  
  
• User Roles: Limit the number of users who have admin access to your WordPress site. Assign appropriate roles to users based on their need for access.

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3. Install a Security Plugin

• Plugins like Wordfence, Sucuri Security, or iThemes Security can help protect your site by adding firewalls, malware scanning, and more. These plugins can block malicious traffic and notify you of any suspicious activity.
  
  
• Make sure you don’t have multiple plugins that serve the same function as their scripts could overlap and break the site.

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4. Enable SSL Encryption

• SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) helps secure the data transfer between your users and your website, making it harder for hackers to intercept and steal data.
  You can get a free SSL certificate from services like Let’s Encrypt.
• Hosting platforms like Cloudways and Hostgator already have SSL built in so you might not have to do anything regarding that.
• To make sure that your site has an SSL certificate, check the URL bar to confirm it. 

Step 1: Choose which website you want to apply SSL certificate to.

Step 2: Click on the “SSL Certificate” button on the left-hand menu.

Step 3: Enter the domain for that website in the field “Domain Name” 

Step 4: Press the button “Save Changes”.

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It’s as simple as that, could you believe it?

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5. Regular Backups

Regularly back up your WordPress site so you can easily restore it if something goes wrong. Cloudways hosting services offer automated backup solutions, or you can use plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy.

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6. Limit Login Attempts

You can also limit the number of login attempts, you can prevent brute-force attacks. Plugins like Login LockDown or WP Limit Login Attempts can help you set this up.

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7. Change the Default Admin Username

By default, WordPress assigns ‘admin’ as the username for the main administrator account. Change this to something unique to reduce the risk of brute-force attacks.

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8. Implement Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Adding two-factor authentication to your login process provides an additional layer of security. Google Authenticator or Duo are popular choices for implementing 2FA.

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9. Disable File Editing

WordPress allows administrators to edit PHP files of plugins and themes in the dashboard. Disabling this feature can enhance security by preventing attackers from modifying your files. 

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Add the following line to your wp-config.php file:

php:

“define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);”‍

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Even though you took all these steps, an attack can occur. To make sure, you don’t lose all your work and effort, we suggest you do weekly or monthly backups of your site to your local computer. This way you will not lose all of your work in case someone gets in so you don’t have to start all from scratch. The only work you would lose in that case is the one you have done after the last backup.

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Speed

Ensuring your WordPress site is fast is essential not just for a better user experience, but also for improving SEO rankings. Here’s how you can test the speed of your site and take steps to improve it:

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How To Test Your Site’s Speed

Testing your site's speed helps you understand how quickly it loads for users and can identify areas for improvement. There will probably be many suggestions on how you can speed up your site, but you should be looking for low-hanging fruit as some of the suggestions might take a lot of time to resolve, but don’t have a huge impact on the site’s speed.

Here are popular tools you can use to inspect the site’s speed:

1. Google PageSpeed Insights: This tool provides a performance score and optimization suggestions for both mobile and desktop devices. It’s integrated with real-world data from the Chrome User Experience Report to provide insights on how your site performs in actual user conditions.
   
   
2. GTmetrix: GTmetrix analyzes your site's speed performance and provides actionable recommendations. It allows you to test from different locations and browsers, which is useful for understanding site performance across diverse conditions.
   
   
3. Pingdom: This tool offers a variety of testing options and displays results in an easy-to-understand format, which includes details about the load time, page size, and performance grade. It also lets you select testing regions to see how your site performs globally.

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How To Improve Your Site’s Speed

After you’ve tested your site and identified potential issues, you can take several steps to improve its speed:

1. Optimize Images: Large images can slow down your site significantly. Use tools like Adobe Photoshop, TinyPNG, or WordPress plugins like Smush to compress and optimize your images without losing quality.
   
   
2. Use a Caching Plugin: Caching can greatly enhance your website speed by storing a version of your site’s pages and serving them to users without querying the database each time. Plugins like WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, or WP Rocket can handle this effectively.
   
   
3. Minimize CSS and JavaScript: Reducing the number of CSS and JavaScript calls along with minimizing their file sizes can improve load times. Tools like Autoptimize can help automate this process.
   
   
4. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN can decrease the load time by storing cached versions of your website in multiple geographical locations. Cloudflare and KeyCDN are popular CDN services that are easy to integrate with WordPress.
   
   
5. Upgrade Your Hosting Plan: Sometimes, slow site speed is due to limited hosting resources. Upgrading to a higher-tier hosting plan or moving to a managed WordPress hosting service can provide more resources and better optimization for WordPress. Feel free to consult with the server providers themselves. Be aware that they could be biased.
   
   
6. Database Optimization: Over time, your WordPress database can accumulate a lot of unnecessary data (like revisions, drafts, and expired transients). Tools such as WP-Optimize can help clean up your database by removing clutter that slows down your site.
7. Reduce External Scripts: External scripts such as ads, font loaders, and social buttons can slow your website. Try to limit their use or optimize their load times.
   
   
8. Lazy Load Media: Lazy loading defers the loading of images and videos until they are needed as the user scrolls down the page, which can significantly improve load times. There are plugins available like Lazy Load by WP Rocket that can implement this feature for you.

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Main Differences Between Cloudways and Hostgator

Now, let’s talk about the key differences between these 2 hosting providers that are important for bloggers and SEO experts.

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Cloudways is better for bloggers and SEO developers who need high performance, scalability, and fast load times. It offers cloud hosting with excellent uptime, speed, and the ability to handle traffic spikes, making it ideal for growing sites and those focused on SEO.

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HostGator is better for beginners or budget-conscious bloggers who want simple, affordable shared hosting. It’s user-friendly and great for smaller sites but may not offer the same speed and scalability needed for large, high-traffic blogs.

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Hopefully, this blog gave you some insights and direction you want to take regarding servers. Feel free to explore our other blogs on the same topic.

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