Here’s a review of SiteGround web hosting, which I have been using for 6 months and am happy to recommend.
If you are interested in using SiteGround, and would like to help me out my using my referral link, jump straight in here: SiteGround web hosting referral link. However, if you need the reassurance of a review, please read on.
SiteGround free website migration review
I joined SiteGround because I wanted to migrate an existing website to a new URL. My cycling blog, called “The Drum-Up”, was hosted with 123-reg on www.owenphilipson.com/blog, and over the years it had taken on a strong brand identity. (key point – my wordpress installation was in the /blog folder on my domain, not in the ‘root’.) I wanted to move it to a URL called www.thedrumup.co.uk (key point – I wanted the site to be in the root folder).
I heard that SiteGround offered new subscribers a free migration service, and that this was to encourage potential customers to move their site to SiteGround. But I had heard they’d be willing to go the extra mile and move my site to a new URL and modify the location of the site installation.
My experience was absolutely faultless – they did the switch for me in a couple of days. Although there were one or two minor issues I had to keep them right with, the communication was open and clear and I got the result I wanted. I was seriously impressed.
If free website migration with SiteGround sounds like what you need, please click my referral link.
SiteGround customer support review
I’m not a web developer by trade, but I know a bit about it. One of the reasons I have my personal websites is for learning. I’ve picked up a lot by tinkering with the installation, adding plugins, and trying things out. But when something doesn’t work, I usually get stuck and need help.
I’ve heard some web developers talk about problems with SiteGround’s customer support people – that they work remotely, in various countries, and were not always highly skilled and knowledgeable. This has not been the case for me. Every single interaction with customer support has been extremely helpful.
I use the second tier of subscription – the ‘Growbig’ option, which at $14.95 per month gives you priority customer support. I have found this to be extremely worthwhile.
SiteGround’s customer support chat is fantastic. My sites are a personal blog and a hobby site. I work on them in my spare time – evenings and weekends. Occasionally there is a minute or two of wait time before you get connected to support. But the fact that I can access this help at any time of day is the deal-breaker for me.
SiteGround support is a live chat, so the person can ask you questions in real time to clarify your issue, which means it is easy to resolve. I have found it is more effective than a support ticket system.
Although the support people probably have some targets and are rated on how quickly they resolve issues, I have found that they will stay on for as long as it takes to fix the problem. I have been on chat for 20 minutes and 45 minutes on occasion, fixing a problem. And they are polite and friendly!
Please use my SiteGround web hosting customer support affiliate link if this sounds like it would be good for you.
SiteGround vs 123 reg for web hosting
Previously my websites were hosted with 123-reg. Both companies offer much the same features, and the price is fairly similar. The big difference for me is the speed of the customer support – SiteGround offers
Both offer fairly similar services – you can register domains with each and you can have separate sites on one hosting account. With SiteGround, these are called ‘addon domains’. The addon domain is hosted in a subdomain folder on your main domain hosting, but then it redirects, so it looks like a completely separate website. This was useful for me, as I wanted two separate websites, but neither will be a big, complex site. I’d rather host them with the same company, with the same login details, and to be fairly cheap.
Problems with addon domains
I’ve had problems getting my SSL certificates working with addon domains. This is something I am still resolving – my addon domain has an SSL certificate, but Google Chrome seems a little suspicious because its installation (in a subdomain) redirects to another place.
