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An Introduction to WooCommerce Fast Hosting

Danielle Di-Tommaso
January 4, 2022

Is your WooCommerce website losing sales because of your slow hosting provider?

A one-second delay in loading times reduces customer page views by 11%. That equates to $2.5 million lost revenue for large eCommerce stores. SEO leans towards a high-performance host with Google giving a better ranking to fast hosted sites.

This article provides a clear introduction to WooCommerce hosting and how to attain the best performance.

Learn the difference between shared and dedicated hosting options. Discover how speed can affect the WordPress plugin and WordPress editor. See how to implement the fastest WooCommerce plugins to increase sales.

Read on to provide your customers with the best shopping experience with the fastest host and WooCommerce plugins.

WooCommerce and WordPress

WooCommerce Website

WooCommerce is the world’s leading eCommerce platform with 7.8% of all sites using the plugin. It works alongside WordPress, which is also the most popular CMS.

Nineteen per cent of all WordPress sites use the WooCommerce plugin to run their online stores. Owners have full control over their sites. They can add as many products as they wish and there is no licence fee.

Plugins like our All in One WooCommerce Filtering Plugin offer extra functionality to the basic install.

Our product filter software provides a frictionless customer journey to find the right product. Yet many sites let their customers down by choosing a slow hosting provider.

Types of WooCommerce Hosting

WooCommerce and WordPress can operate on most types of hosting environments.

A Google search returns thousands of results with terms like ‘dedicated’ hosting plans and ‘shared hosting’. Each provides a range of services like SSL security, free domain, and WP control panels. Some offer WordPress-specific options that include easy WP and WooCommerce installations.

What do these terms mean? Why the difference in cost? And which type is right for your business?

Shared WordPress Hosts

A shared hosting plan means that your website sits alongside other sites on the same web server.

Shared solutions are a great starting-off point for many online stores. Costs are relatively inexpensive and the host offers an easy way to get up and running. The control panel installs WordPress within a few clicks and you can then add the WooCommerce plugin.

However, shared hosting has significant disadvantages, chiefly slower speeds.

Due to the nature of sharing server resources, bottlenecks can and will occur. If one of the websites experiences high traffic then everyone else on the same server will see a performance drop.

Dedicated High Performance Hosts

A dedicated option removes these barriers by hosting your site on its own server instance.

Larger web stores that require fast access to the backend database will benefit from a dedicated host. Cloud solutions also provide quicker access by serving content from a nearby server. Virtual Private Servers (VPS) instances give you full control over the software you install.

What are the essential features of fast WooCommerce hosting options? And do you always need a dedicated option to provide the best experience?

Essential Features of Fast WooCommerce Hosting Providers

Website speed affects both customer experience (CX) and SEO. Google’s recent Core Web Vitals update makes it clear that fast-loading interactive sites now rank higher.

A specialist WooCommerce host endeavours to provide faster speeds by offering:

  • SSD drives instead of older HDD technology
  • A super-charged backbone network
  • Dedicated IP address and unique SSL certificate
  • Multiple MySQL database connections

These elements ensure quick access to serve files like product images. As WordPress works in tandem with the database, connections must occur within milliseconds. A dedicated solution means you have all of these resources to yourself.

Content Delivery Networks or CDNs also play a major role in fast hosting.

A CDN caches content so the user doesn’t need to download it multiple times. This speeds-up page visits considerably and Google recommends the practice.

Pros and Cons of High Performance Hosts

A high-performance host provides the best possible environment for you to sell online.

The dedicated option is fully customisable and often offers larger disk space to hold thousands of products. Security gets enhanced as you don’t share resources with any other site. It can scale to match your growth and providers will give you better support.

All of this comes at a price.

A VPS option is often two or three times more expensive than a shared option. A physical server will set you back thousands. Also, you might need to manage and maintain the software yourself which takes dedicated resources.

Do I Need Fast Hosting for the WooCommerce Plugin?

Your site should run as fast as possible to deliver the best CX. However, a fast host means little if you install the wrong plugins.

For example, our product filter plugin is optimised to run on any web host.

Unlike other WooCommerce product filters, our plugin does not refresh the page. This cuts down on loading times and presents the customer with content instantly.

Some WooCommerce themes are notorious for slowing down sites.

They produce dozens of CSS files and scripts instead of combining them into one and hosting them on a CDN. Complex JavaScript coding halts interactivity which will frustrate users.

How can you ensure your site is optimised for speed regardless of the host?

Optimising For Speed

Page Speed Insights

You can check your website’s performance using these free online tools.

Google offers additional feedback through the Google Search Console. Any issues regarding slow page loads or blockages will get reported here.

WordPress Optimisation Plugins

WP Rocket is an all-purpose optimising tool that offers:

  • Web page caching
  • Gzip compression
  • Browser caching
  • Script and stylesheet minification

However, it costs $49 per month. WP Super Cache is a free alternative that connects to a CDN of your choosing. W3 Total Cache also offers a similar service but is for more advanced users.

Lightning Fast WooCommerce Product Filtering

If your WooCommerce hosting plan results in slow-loading pages and decreasing sales then it’s time to act.

Review dedicated WordPress options, especially those that specialise in the eCommerce plugin. Make sure it offers a secure payment platform but don’t go above your budget.

Don’t forget to read our Ultimate Guide to Setting Up a WooCommerce Site article. Sign up to get our product filter plugin for free. And let us know what you thought of this post on social media.

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Interested in learning more about how you can make your WooCommerce site even faster?