Page load issues aren’t always your fault

I have had a very long week. I’m not quite done (very close) with a client hosting issue and while I wait for more help from my hosting company (not disclosing the name here to keep the trolls away), I thought I’d share a recap. I am going to share this not only with my Cafe regulars, but also with the hosting company to recap my issue.

ISSUE: I had a client that starting having massive website slowdowns a couple of weeks ago, maybe a little longer. It’s hard to say. We loaded WP-Rocket and saw improvements, but in the last few days the site really went into a crawl. What do I mean by that? A test on GTMetix showed over 30 seconds of page load time. First, I did all the typical testing. I deactivated plugins, then the theme.  Still 30 plus seconds.  I then moved the site to the staging space on the hosting and instantly the site was performing at 3 seconds, not 30 plus. Still, to be extra thorough, I went through each plugin and the theme and deactivated, reactivated, did a GTMetrix test, repeat.  When I was done, I found nothing that made the load time increase.

Next, I thought – could it be the SSL certificate?  The staging site is http and the site is https. The client’s SSL certificate was purchase at the same hosting company last July.  I decided to check into the client’s old hosting company account (she had an SSL there for years) and found her previous SSL order was still visible and not expired, even though  her hosting was deleted.  They deleted it for me just in case there was an issue. Still, no improvement.

Frustrated, I called the current hosting company.  I didn’t and still don’t understand why a staging site had such a different result in page load testing results.  It’s a mirror image of the website it came from.  I spent two hours on a call with hosting and in the end was told, “It’s has to be the content”.

I woke up at 4am to call in the next day.  I did this because I was on hold for 40 minutes just to talk to someone the night before.  I had a very nice tech and told him my story, all the troubleshooting that they ask to do had been done.  I asked if I could talk to an SSL expert.  He reached out and the next level said no, it has to be hosting.  Next level of hosting said it had to be content.  The call rep was so nice and saw what I saw, a staging site that was passing the GTMetrix page load test with flying colors, and a live site that was dogging it.  After an hour and a half, the site was still performing so badly, that I thought I might have resort to moving the client out of the current host entirely.  Despite my kind call rep, the next level was not going to help.  I was on my own after another hour and a half on the phone with support.

In the shower, it hit me to buy one month of the old LINUX hosting plan I used to put all my clients in and move the site there. It was a long transfer and I needed help. Currently, after reaching out to someone I know at “giant hosting company”, let’s just say I used my “lifeline”, and that lifeline “phoned a friend” and that friend got a call to me.  At this point, I was near tears and so happy to finally get someone to help me.  That someone is now my own “hosting hero” and I have a feeling I’m going to get to know her really well over the next few months.

When the site was finally moved, the SSL attached, GTMetrix showed 3-6 seconds of page load time and the client was overjoyed with the performance.  NIGHT AND DAY.

What I learned:  

• Streamlining my client hosting is a positive when it’s working and a real bitch when it doesn’t.
• Managed WordPress hosting is NOT the best hosting for WordPress.  WHAT?  Really?  How can this be? 
• Managed WordPress hosting (at the shall be nameless hosting provider) is on PHP 5.6.
• Deluxe Linux hosting plans  (at the shall be nameless hosting provider) are on PHP7.  I saw instant results when the site was moved.
• Here are the unsupported versions of PHP: http://php.net/eol.php – Support ends for 5.6 in December (and it says 7, too):  http://php.net/supported-versions.php
• I can also access all the files I need to to clean a hacked site in the Deluxe Linux plan vs Managed WordPress.  Forgot to mention, but another client site showed up hacked this week in the middle of all this hosting drama!  36 minutes for me to clean even with the phone call needed to do the job on Managed WordPress hosting.
• I’m giving up the staging site, but if a client’s site is going to take 30-45 to load, it’s not worth it to have a staging site.

My plan: 

• New clients are going into Deluxe Linux plans
• Old clients that need to renew will go into Deluxe Linux plans
• If a client’s site starts to take 30 seconds to load, and I do all the testing to prove it’s not the content, I’m calling my “hosting hero” to help me move that client into a new plan
• I’m going to test other hosting companies, like MDD that comes highly recommended.  Probably with one of my own sites first.  What do I have to lose?

What are your thoughts on hosting?  Do you offer it to your clients in a package?  Do you have them get their own accounts like me? I would love for you to share it on our Facebook group!

RESOURCES: Entrepreneur – Asking For Help Is Good For You and Your Business