To sum it up, SiteGround is a great choice because:

• Minimal down time
• Great, fast customer service
• Ease of Use
• WordPress-friendly
• Multiple domains and websites
• Popularity
• Price

However, even with all that said – sometimes a photographer may outgrow a hosting company like Siteground. For example, Photocrati’s Scott, was using Dreamhost (similar hosting style to SiteGround) for many years. Eventually his grew to the point where consistent traffic continually crashed the server.

So Scott had to make a conscious decision to change hosts, and turned to more advanced options that require some knowledge of how servers function and how to maintain them. Since making the move, new hosting styles have emerged from the abyss of infinite web hosting options. Termed: Managed WordPress Hosting.

Basically, these hosting platforms are cloud-esq virtual private servers that are managed entirely by the hosting company for the utmost speed, reliability and performance. In addition, they’re optimized specifically for WordPress so problems should not exists.

Web Hosting For Photographers

In the Managed WordPress Hosting space, there are two companies that stand out above them all. We have had the fortunate opportunity to take a deeper look at both and feel comfortable, like we do with Bluehost, to recommend either for web hosting for photographers.

WP Engine

It is safe to say that WP Engine is the most popular management WordPress hosting solution on the market. In fact, soon enough they could become the most popular advanced web hosting for photographers. They’re used by some of the most familiar technology brands around, like FourSquare and HTC.

WP Engine prides itself on speed, security and scalability. Due to the cloud style hosting, the speed of a website hosted with WP Engine will be lightning fast. The platform has been designed specifically for WordPress driven websites, so downtime should be minimal if not eliminated completely. The developers at WP Engine have taken every security precaution they can to keep their customer’s websites safe, and has made it clear that they use a third-party security company to handle testing. It is unclear, however, if they have the third-party handle regular scans or hack restoration or whether they do it in-house.

The nature of a cloud infrastructure lets WP Engine easily increase their storage limit with a few clicks. Of course, with more storage comes more fees. There are a couple of WP Engine features that are worth pointing out.

The first is the ability to connect an Amazon S3 account for scalability without increasing your WP Engine plan. Another feature is the option for using WP Engine’s CDN (content delivery network) so bigger files, and photographs are delivered from another cloud server for increased speed and durability. A really neat feature is the curated plugins list that WP Engine provides. Inside are plugins that WP Engine has tested and will gladly support on their servers. The others are plugins that they do not support and will not let customer’s activate.

For photographers interested in WP Engine, they do provide migration for free, so if you need a website moved from SiteGround then there are no additional fees.

Web hosting for photographers on WP Engine starts at $29 a month.

Synthesis

Synthesis is a product of Copyblogger who also developed Scribe SEO. Synthesis prides itself on being the fastest, most secure and with the greatest expertise. Synthesis is a managed Linux solution for WordPress. They do not provide hosting solutions to any other website platform and is a great choice of web hosting for photographers.

Its servers are specifically configured for WordPress. The method results in the ability to handle even the highest volume traffic spikes. They eliminate any worry about WordPress performance.

Combine the performance and security of Synthesis with the expert WordPress developers that run the business, and you really do have a top-notch management hosting solution.

It is important, however, to note that Synthesis provides website migration services for a fee. So if you’re going from SiteGround, for example, to Synthesis, and need assistance with the move it will not be free.

Web hosting for photographers on Synthesis starts at $27 a month.

Advanced Web Hosting For Photographers

In conclusion, if you are a photographer in need of expansion, then both WP Engine and Synthesis are amazing choices. They can be fantastic solutions as web hosting for photographers because they are both the best managed WordPress hosting solutions on the market.

In the end, it’s a matter of checking out their websites, features, reviews and chatting with the companies.

Good luck.

OUR HOSTING RECOMMENDATIONS

We’ve now been in the WordPress business for 6 wonderful years and our main products, Photocrati and NextGEN Gallery, are active on an astounding 1.3 million websites.

As experienced veterans, we’ve used, supported, tested, and worked with dozens of hosting companies, including all the names you know (Bluehost, GoDaddy, HostGator, Dreamhost, Rackspace, MediaTemple, 1and1, etc), and lots that you don’t.

We could choose to partner with any of these companies, and all offer various kinds of strategic partnerships and financial incentives. For many years, we recommended Bluehost on this page, but more recently their technical reliability and customer service quality has declined.

So starting last year, we announced we were looking for a new go-to host. After a year of exploration and testing, we’re happy to announce that we’ve finally settled on a new shared host we can use, love, and recommend: SiteGround.

SIX GREAT REASONS TO USE SITEGROUND

1) THERE’S A GROWING CONSENSUS IN THE WORDPRESS COMMUNITY. I started looking into SiteGround because they came up over and over and over in my conversations with others that I trust in the web and WordPress communities. A large and growing number of web developers, WordPress product companies, and WordPress and web-related blogs now use SiteGround and recommend it to their own clients and friends.

In short, there’s an emerging consensus around SiteGround among those who are knowledgeable and experienced. The speed with which SiteGround has become the standard recommendation in the WordPress community, in particular, is remarkable.

2) THEY’RE AFFORDABLE. With most hosting, you get what you pay for. We seriously considered no longer recommending shared hosting at all, and instead recommending services like WPEngine that provide advanced, managed hosting. We’d still recommend WPEngine if you have the budget and need for their service level, but most of our users are still looking for inexpensive, shared hosting.

Unfortunately, it’s a huge challenge to offer great hosting reliability and service for a few dollars per month. Today, SiteGround is one the very few companies that I’d say pulls it off.

Their basic “Start Up” plan is a crazy $3.95 per month. But we’d recommend going with their “GrowBig” plan for $7.95 per month. It comes with more storage and bandwidth, and most importantly, allows you to run multiple websites from one account.

3) THEY HAVE LIGHTENING FAST SERVICE. One of the things I’ve been happiest about in my own experience SiteGround is the speed and quality of support. Like the Bluehost of old, when I call in or contact live chat, support is instant. The few times I’ve had a wait, it’s been less than a minute. And once technical support is on, they’ve proven to be both polite and very competent every single time.

4) THEY HAVE AN EASY, UNCLUTTERED INTERFACE. SiteGround offer a simple interfaces. It’s not beautiful, but it’s simple, clean, free of upsell offers and other distractions, and just easy to use.

5) THEY’RE WORDPRESS-FRIENDLY. WordPress works best in certain server environments. We’ve worked with a lot of hosts that just don’t handle WordPress well and the process is painful for us and for users. SiteGround places a lot of focus on WordPress, so you can be confident that their server environment is friendly and their staff knowledgeable.

6) I AM MOVING MY HOSTING TO SITEGROUND. Finally, when it comes to recommendations, I always put my money where my mouth is. One reason it’s been a challenge to find a new recommendation is that I need to believe in the recommendation enough to move my own hosting. I have three personal Bluehost accounts with two dozen domains and six websites, so moving involves substantial cost and hassle.

I should note that the Photocrati and NextGEN Gallery websites will remain on Rackspace. They handle a level of traffic that would never work on shared hosting.

So for all the reasons above, and based on the great experience we’ve had, if you are looking for hosting, there is just no way to make this an easier choice. I’m happy to be associated with SiteGround, and feel 100% comfortable standing behind their services. Do yourself a favor, save yourself some headaches, and just come join me over at SiteGround.

Thanks and best,

Erick Danzer
Founder & CEO
Photocrati Media
NextGEN Gallery

Secondary Recommendations

If for some reason you don’t want to use SiteGround, our next recommendation for shared hosting would be A Small Orange, a smaller host but one that we’ve had generally outstanding experience with the last year.

For advanced users, we could strongly recommend both Rackspace and WPEngine (for WordPress sites only). We manage our major sites, including Photocrati.com and NextGEN-Gallery.com on Rackspace, and while there are periodic bumps, the experience is a good one. Support is especially first rate. WPEngine, for those willing to run only WordPress and operate within the limits they require (ie, they limit which WordPress plugins you can use), is exceptionally fast and reliable with outstanding support.