Here at GreenGeeks, we want to hear your success stories and highlight our customers and their websites. The idea is to share your experiences and what we’ve done to help you succeed. The best part is that virtually anyone is welcome to reach out to us to be featured.
To kick things off, I’ll go first. This is a sample of what the interviews may look like. Keep in mind that not everyone will have the same cookie-cutter questions. Each interview is independent and tailored to everyone’s specific experience.
Building WriterSanctuary
In January of 2012, Michael Brockbank began his writing career, using content mills such as Textbroker to connect with clients. During that time, he created the WriterSanctuary.com website to document his journey on becoming a freelance writer while sharing everything he learned with those who may need assistance.
Over the years, WriterSanctuary grew to include blogging and self-publishing. Today, it features various types of writing and ways to help others succeed in their own journeys. This includes information such as tips, reviews, and ways writers can succeed today.
Michael has currently published two books with many more planned in the future. And with the addition of the WriterSanctuary YouTube channel, he expanded his reach even further.
However, the website itself didn’t always have the best track record for performance. His web host at the time was using outdated hardware and didn’t put a lot of effort into optimizing. And when he brought up various technical problems in the hosting account, their response was to upsell a faster cloud service instead of fixing the problems with the web servers.
That was when Michael decided to move over to GreenGeeks Web Hosting.
Moving From One Host to Another
Cost was the initial reason why Michael decided to move his websites. Instead of paying almost triple what he was due to “cloud hosting,” GreenGeeks kept the price reasonable and comparable for shared hosting plans.
I thought it was unfair that a company tries to upsell a product instead of fixing a technical issue, several that were outside of what I could fix as a shared hosting customer. It’s like they didn’t care whether anyone succeeded or not, just as long as they kept making money.
The trick was to move all of Michael’s websites without causing disruption to services and traffic. Most of the money WriterSanctuary and the others brought in was from ad revenue. And Google hates it when pages go missing for any length of time.
Transferring Data Across Four Blogs
Although WriterSanctuary is Michael’s flagship website, he owns several others to facilitate different facets of his personality. The hardest part was moving all of the websites over from the old host to GreenGeeks.
Needless to say, that was a lot of images and content to accompany the domains.
One of the key factors in moving this data was Michael’s use of WordPress. Thanks to the informative GreenGeeks tutorials for transferring WordPress, the process was smooth and seamless, albeit time-consuming.
I’ve never moved entire sites before, as I’ve been with my old web host for more than 10 years. I was hoping not to lose anything as that would undo a lot of my work over the past decade. But it all went smoothly thanks to GreenGeeks’ tutorials and tech support team.
If you’re not technical or don’t feel safe moving files en masse as Michael did, WordPress has a collection of migration plugins that work brilliantly for virtually any size of website. For example, the All in One Migration plugin is a great tool for those moving from one host to another.
Instant Performance Upgrade!
Before Michael moved his site from the old host, he spent a week testing all of them on PageSpeed Insights. He was curious about how much of a difference there would be, if any, in the performance of the sites. He’s naturally a skeptic and likes to collect his own data. The average mobile score was roughly 26, throwing several errors and issues in the reports.
After moving, without optimizing the sites in the slightest, the average score for a week rose to about 77. Simply moving the sites from the old host and onto GreenGeeks’ servers resulted in nearly 3x the performance according to PageSpeed Insights.
Michael also reported that GTMetrix recorded the “Fully Loaded” times at 15.15 seconds before the move and 5.2 seconds after. Again, this was before he made any changes to the sites aside from simply moving them from one host to another.
Even the response time of WordPress was faster on GreenGeeks. It didn’t take forever for the admin panel to load, and it was like a completely different website. I was blown away.
Easy-to-Use Dashboard
Michael found the dashboard easy to manage for his many blogs. With access to cPanel, he can make changes directly to the sites through the File Manager. He has also used the Staging features to set up temporary sites to test plugins and settings before implementing them live.
Although he never used the new WordPress installer, he did find using the Softaculous addition of cPanel quite easy to use.
It almost makes me wish I had another website to build. The new WordPress creator looks pretty cool, as I’ve played around with it on a sample site. It looks much easier than anything else I’ve used since I started using WordPress in 2011.
Our online chat support is also a key feature for Michael. He has used it a few times, and all of his issues were resolved quickly. And since he could access it from the dashboard, it was quick and easy to get online help without waiting for hours.
The chat support is always amazing and responds relatively quickly. GreenGeeks’ support is so much faster than my old web host.
Future Plans for WriterSanctuary and GreenGeeks
Michael has a lot of plans for WriterSanctuary, going well beyond a simple blog. And he’s excited to build the site using GreenGeeks as its foundation to create something meaningful.
Like any long-lasting house, you need a strong foundation upon which to build. That’s how I see GreenGeeks. Stable servers, fast response times, and a “handyman” at the ready allows you to build just about anything on the Internet.
In a way, your web host offers digital real estate to build your online presence. The website would be the building that your visitors enter and explore. And the more welcoming the establishment, the more often those visitors will return.
Although building that website is entirely up to you, GreenGeeks offers that solid base to create a wide range of sites for almost any need.
Scalable Hosting Plans
As WriterSanctaury continues to grow, it will outpace what is suitable for a shared hosting account. In this environment, Michael is sharing the resources of the server, which can accommodate a few hundred visits per day.
However, there will come a point when expansion is necessary, and GreenGeeks makes that scalability easy and seamless.
I want WriterSanctuary to be more than just a blog about writing. With the plans I have in place, I’m going to need to scale up at some point. Luckily, GreenGeeks offers ways to go beyond a simple shared hosting plan.
eCommerce, Social Media, & Online Courses
The top three expansions for Michael and WriterSanctuary include eCommerce, a social hub of sorts, and offering online courses. Each one will come in due time, as he mulls over which to implement first.
The hardest part is deciding whether I want to keep it all centered on WordPress or use one of the many pieces of software in Softaculous. For instance, I can install Moodle as an LMS for online courses from Softaculous, or I can use one of many WordPress plugins to add them.
There are a lot of options available, and I’ll have to spend a bit of time figuring out which ones are going to work best for my needs.
Building a Brand Based on Writing
WriterSanctuary focuses on helping people who want to learn more about freelance writing, blogging, and self-publishing. However, there is much to explore when building such a brand, especially if you want to produce more than just a blog.
The website is your base of operations. Creating an intricate web of marketing for your content should eventually lead visitors back to your site. Whether you’re selling books or promoting a newsletter, it all evolves around your domain.
With GreenGeeks, I can rest easy knowing that visitors and fans can visit my site and quickly find what they need. And as I expand what WriterSanctuary offers, I know that GreenGeeks has my back. I feel like more than just a customer to them.
Michael is looking forward to expanding his brand to include various products and services. With what we have available here at GreenGeeks, we’re able to accommodate all of his needs as WriterSanctuary continues to grow.
Key Reasons Why WriterSanctuary Continues Using GreenGeeks
According to Michael, he continues to use GreenGeeks because of:
- Affordability
Paying three years in advance breaks down to spending less than a cup of coffee each month to maintain the site. - Reliability
GreenGeeks has been far more reliable than my previous host, which was part of the reason why I left them. - Plenty of Growth Potential
Between scalability and the website builders, I can build almost anything I’d like with GreenGeeks. - Awesome Tech Support Staff
I’ve had a few glitches here and there pop up over the years. But the staff were always able to sort things out very quickly. - Green Hosting
I’ve always been conscious about the environment, and I love the idea of putting green energy back into the grid as well as planting trees.
A Good Foundation to Grow On
A building is only as strong as the foundation on which it’s built. And GreenGeeks goes out of its way to ensure that the foundation is strong enough to support a customer’s needs. In the case of WriterSanctuary, GreenGeeks also offers scalable solutions that grow with a client.
From adding eCommerce to building a Wiki about your favorite television show, there is nothing you can’t accomplish with the right host. And I’m thankful of the support and flexibility GreenGeeks has offered over the years. I’m looking forward to what we can accomplish together in the years to come.
If you are interested in seeing how we can help you, feel free to reach out. We’d love to hear from you.
