An Introduction To SiteGround
Packages They Offer
Introduction
Because these courses focus primarily on practical use, and I use SiteGround personally to run Morgan Web Development, all of the videos centered around hosting, domain, DNS, etc will involve using that service. This is not an endorsement for SiteGround, but it would be foolish to say that it wouldn’t be easier to also use SiteGround if you need hosting and are taking these courses and following along. No matter what you choose, it is what we will be using throughout these courses so we will take some time to get to know it better, and most other hosting services will function much in the same way. For the most information and best experience you can watch the video below where we will go through the SiteGround’s site and cover the different areas of interest and the packages they offer. Otherwise I will also be covering the same topics in the written section below.
We are going to start our introduction to SiteGround with an overview of their unauthenticated site. I will cover some of the different resources they have and the packages that they offer. While I cover these topics I will also discuss the benefits and possible downsides when applicable as well. Let’s get started.
The Homepage
When you visit SiteGround’s homepage, the first thing you will see is some hero (the first thing you see on a web page) marketing text and the products that they offer. No matter which of these you choose, except for cloud hosting, you will still be shown the same packages, they will just provide you with different marketing material relevant to which tile you clicked on the homepage.
As you scroll down you will then see information about the different tools and services that they offer as well as some additional marketing material.
The tools they feature are tools that you will be able to find through any major hosting provider, but still can be useful. Especially the website transferring. While it is possible to transfer a website yourself, it’s kind of a pain and personally it’s worth the cost to just have them do it. If you are working for a client you can always just incorporate this into the cost of the project. When it comes to the website building and managed WordPress, they have some awesome tools to make installing WordPress and managing websites easy, and you will use these often. Lastly the mention their collaboration tools. This can be very useful because it allows you give selected access to clients that you may host and provides some worthwhile perks if you are ever transferring a website that you have built off of your account for a client.
Packages They Offer
StartUp
The StartUp package is their baseline package. It is alright and allows for your clients to create a site under their own hosting account. It has everything they will need to get the job done, but will definelty have some limitations that they will with they had latter on. This will be the package most of your clients will want to buy simply because it is cheaper. It still comes with 24/7 support, allows for WordPress installations, daily backups, and free emails and SSL certificates. The way they see it is they only need one site and they aren’t going to fill up the space limit, so it makes sense to get the cheapest option. What they don’t know, and it’s your job to tell them, is that they will want the staging environment, and if they have multiple employees, the collaborators feature as well. The staging environment allows them and you to make changes to their site without affecting the live version. You can make the changes you want and once you are satisfied you can push it live. While not critical to have it is close. It is always risky to make changes to the live version of the site and personally I wouldn’t want to work with a client who didn’t have a staging environment.
So while the StartUp package will get the job done you should encourage any client you work for to get the ‘Grow Big’ package instead. They will be happier for it. Also it is important to note that this is just for any clients you work for that don’t yet have hosting or are looking to switch. As a designer you should absolutely not get this package as it is way too limiting.
GrowBig
The GrowBig package is their most popular package and what they recommend as well. This package is ideal for your clients since it offers the staging capability and collaborator tools mentioned above but is also the package you should get, especially if you are just starting out. It has everything you will need and you can always upgrade if you happen to need more resources. It allows you to create and host as many sites as you’d like and has all the tools you could possibly need. A helpful note as well, if you client already has a site and wants to switch hosting (happens more than you’d think), this option also includes a free website transfer so it makes it worth the cost if they are on the fence about not getting the StartUp option.
GoGeek
The GoGeek package is something you will probably never recommend to your clients. It is an amazing service but all the extra tools and features are things that they will probably ever need. The same applies to you as a designer. If you or your clients ever get to the point where you are running out of space or just getting too many visits to the website, then you can solve that problem when you have it. They offer tools for greater site speed but most likely if your site is slow, it’s something could be fixed by improving the site design.
Support
One of the reasons I use SiteGround and I recommend other using it is their support. I have used just about every major hosting service out there at some point or another and they are without a doubt the best. Not only do they have a great search feature with a repository of documentation which allows you to solve issues on your own, but their 24/7 webchat support is amazing. I have never had an issue they couldn’t solve, they are always available within a couple minutes and if you ask they will even tell you the technical details behind what you are trying to fix. On top of that if you contact them they will add subdomains, transfer sites and perform other tasks for you which can be very helpful if you simply don’t want to take the time to do it.
The Blog
The blog is really just an added perk. I personally don’t use it a bunch but they do have a lot of good articles for using their service, design trends, and small business resources. Again I don’t really use it but it’s nice to know it’s there and if you have some time, check it out.