Developing streamlined websites and scalable solutions.

In 2022 one of my main focuses will be on providing clients with extremely fast and productive websites. In the past I’ve been very focused on “cost conscious” solutions for clients however, aside from purchasing a VPN solution which is very expensive and complicated to manage there had not been great solutions.

I have recently switch my hosting services over to Kinsta. As an advocate I have become an affiliate for Kinsta as well. However let me educate you on why I decided to do so:

1. nginx servers
2. Google CDN and cloud services
3. Privately owned and operated
4. Their user interface and how they go about connecting your website

With those four points outlined let me explain each one in detail.

Nginx Servers

Why are they important? Load times. That is plain and simple, on average nginx is 2s faster on load then apache which means your TTFB or first byte to load is that much faster. One of my goals as a business owner was to speed up my clients experience and additional to that make sure they had 99.99% up time available to them. This means they can 100% rely on my business to do as advertised to meet their service needs.

Google CDN

Google is beyond a powerhouse, they are a huge portion of the internet and its services. From hosting to email to domains etc google has been there done that. No a days its very common to websites developed using a CDN or content delivery network. Who better to use than google? Are there cheaper options yes, but does cheap = good? Not always.

I have been running on Kinsta’s platform for a month now and I am extremely optimistic about its future and the money I’m paying for it. They hands down are not cheap, but they hands down are the most performance oriented host I’ve been with, and I’ve experienced everything from Azure to WP engine’s corporate packages.

Privately Owned & Operated

I don’t mean any shade in the following, however some companies such as Go Daddy seem to really carry their corporate culture and business operations into other purchases and ventures. A former media temple loyal customer, my most recent experiences with their services since being purchased by GoDaddy has been anything but positive. My issues?

A ton of downtime on clients websites, at least once to twice a week 500 internal errors, server issues or things unavailable. Do they lure you in with free plugins, yes. Do they have a decent UI system to let you manage your hosting needs? Yes. Do they have decent support? No. I have had 1 of 5 people on their support be decent or helpful. In general they direct you to forums or other areas which for the prices my clients pay is not what I’m looking for.

Kinsta is privately owned and operated and I hope they stay that way. Some times as the larger companies purchase these businesses they suffocate some of the unique areas that make them unique.

User Interface

I have used many CMS, user interfaces for web portals from plesk, securi, cpanel etc. I like WPengine’s interface but Kinsta’s is even better then theirs. Kinsta’s portal took me minimal setup time, domain edits took effect very quickly and more impressively the caching and delivery files seemed to really kick in quickly.

My target for 2022 was to build a fast, robust user experience for my clients. A large part of my web experience is for clients to login and use my client portal to submit information, requests and work related to their service plans. When you deal with an assortment of clients ranging in sizes, there are multiple applications for this form, however one constant remains, speed. Speed is critical and I was not happy with my current host.

If you’re running just a basic info site, they were sufficient if you’re running a business online they we’re not.