So, you’ve built your coaching website. Or, if you’ve hired someone to build it for you, they’re ready to upload the finished product and go live.
But before that happens, you need to pick a web host. And if you aren’t sure how hosting works, then it’s likely you won’t know which hosting company you should go with.
In this article, you’ll learn the best hosting platform for your coaching website and why you should be wary of “cheap” hosting plans.
What is web hosting?
Web hosting is like hosting a party, like a bridal or baby shower. You see, for a shower, the “host” is generally not the one being celebrated.
The host is usually a family member or good friend who takes care of the location details so the bride or new mom can focus on interacting with guests.
That’s how web hosting works. The hosting company is a third party that takes care of the hardware and software technology of hosting their customers’ website party so they can focus on their website visitors.
What’s the best host for a coaching website?
There are lots of options out there, but I recommend Kinsta to my coaching clients.
Image source: Kinsta.com
First impressions
What strikes you immediately about Kinsta is how quick and easy it is to sign up.
Image source: Kinsta.com
Creating an account takes seconds, and in no time at all, you gain access to a dashboard full of valuable resources that are easy for everyone to understand — whether you’re a seasoned developer or a complete beginner.
Kinsta-hosted websites are super-fast.
In fact, studies show that a 1-second delay in website load time results in a 7% reduction in your conversion rate.
And not only do slow websites kill engagement, they also result in lower SEO rankings from search engines like Google and Bing. Google specifically says that website speed is one of the factors they take into account when ranking your website.
This isn’t something you need to worry about with Kinsta because their loading speed is super-fast. That’s because it’s aided by:
- Global CDN servers working together to enhance load speed
- Free SSL certificates that work on all major browsers
- Up-to-date PHP scripts that add functionality and speed to web pages
Here is one developer’s webpage speed after switching to Kinsta:
Image source: Kinsta.com
Their load speed dropped from over 200ms to around 75ms – which is an eternity in loading. Switching to Kinsta means that not only will your customers love you for never having to wait a few extra seconds, search engines will love you too.
With Kinsta, your downtime is basically nothing.
By downtime, I mean the amount of time your website is offline. Like when you go to Amazon, and they give you this sad warning:
Giants like Amazon lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for every minute their website is down. Your website may not be on this scale, but the point is there.
Downtime equals lost income.
Kinsta pretty much runs at 100% all the time, and because they use Google Cloud Platform, they offer an SLA-backed 99.9% uptime guarantee. And if the rate does drop below 99.9%, you get money off your monthly bill.
With Kinsta, you can be confident that your website will be up, and you’ll have reliability in your website as a revenue tool.
Kinsta takes your security seriously.
Kinsta currently hosts and secures over 25,000+ websites worldwide, including:
- Gmail
- Ubisoft
- Ricoh
- Intuit
All Kinsta sites are protected by their free Cloudflare integration, which includes a strong, secure enterprise-level firewall and free Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack (DDoS) protection.
Image source: Kinsta.com
Kinsta also uses Linux containers (LXC) and Linux container daemon (LXD) with Google Cloud Platform to add an extra layer of security for WordPress sites.
If that wasn’t enough, they also use IP Geolocation blocking and ban IP addresses with more than six failed login attempts in a minute automatically.
Of course, no website is completely secure, and sometimes things happen, but with Kinsta, you can be confident you’re getting premium security.
Kinsta is a premium service worth every dime.
There are several pricing options with Kinsta, ranging from the Starter Plan, which costs $30/mo (or $300/yr if paid annually, which costs $25/mo) and comes with:
- 1 WordPress install
- 25,000 site visits
- 10GB of disk space
- Free SSL, CDN, and Staging
- Free migration
Prices increase from here, but the Starter Plan is all most coaches will need.
And with its in-built staging, if you want to add a shop or membership area to your website, the service will scale.
Yes, it’s a premium price, but your site speed, uptime, and security are just as crucial to the success of your business as your day-to-day customers.
WP Engine is worth considering too.
If Kinsta isn’t for you, I also recommend WP Engine to my clients. This is another Premium hosting website and comes with the following benefits:
- 24/7 chat support
- Unlimited SFTP accounts and SSH access
- Development and Stage site testing areas
- Free WordPress themes
- Global CDN
- In-built caching system
- Version control with Git integration
- Manual and automatic backups
- Free 60-day cancellation
Plus, it’s just as good as Kinsta in many areas, too.
In terms of cost, the Startup Plan is probably best suited for small coaching businesses, with pricing starting at $30/mon (with the first month costing $24/mo).
Cheapest or Premium?
You might be thinking, “Yeah, but I have a budget to stick to, and there are cheaper options for hosting my coaching website.”
And you’re right!
Cheap hosting abounds. While researching this article, I found hosting options as low as $1 a month. That might seem like a chunk of savings when considering $1 vs. $30+ per month from Kinsta and WP Engine.
Cheap hosting definitely has its benefits (namely, that it’s cheap), and you might be tempted to opt for the lowest-priced option. But I always recommend premium hosting to my clients, and I recommend Kinsta or WP Engine as the hosting company.
Why go premium?
Cheap website hosting isn’t cheap when you consider the long-run impact on your business and brand. I recommend Kinsta or WP Engine because I know if you go with them, your website will be fast and up and available for people to use.
If you start getting a lot of traffic and traction. Or, you want to add a membership or eCommerce to your website, the service will scale, and you won’t have to worry about speed, downtime, or security issues.
And if issues DO come up, they’ll help you out quickly, and you won’t waste your time with endless customer service calls.
I hope that was helpful!
Jennie
