Yes. Chris & I are currently building an enterprise-level e-CMS platform and yet I’m still looking at premium WordPress hosting solutions for a project. More on the why below.
But first, here are the questions I sent WP Engine, Pagely, A Small Orange, and GoDaddy – with updates and amendments based on peer suggestions (thank you, guys).
Questions I asked enterprise-level WordPress hosting SaaS platforms.
Hi, guys,
The premium WordPress hosting platform will be for the plans we have my site at natfinn.com. I was wondering if you guys could help me answer the following questions.
- Who does the installs? Me or y’all?
- Subdomains: if I went with subdomains to fix my keyword dilution issue, how many many installs would the site be treated as? For example if I had blog.natfinn.com, kb.natfinn.com and work.natfinn.com, and they all worked as part of my site, would they be three installs or 1 install?
- Followup: If I ran with subdomains, could I still run a blog feed through my main blogroll. For example, if I run tutorials.natfinn.com and I’d like to have the latest articles I write for it show up on http://thefindlings.wpengine.com/blog, would I be able to do that?
- Are there plugin restrictions? Do I have to approve them with you?
- I think my DB is damaged – can’t create multiple users. Will the fresh install fix them?
- I think my template is hacked? Is that a problem (for migration)?
- I think there’s an affiliate hack. If you Google “otis redding nat finn” and go to this listing: http://thefindlings.wpengine.com/otis-redding-10-live-cuts-b-sides-rare/ and you’ll get affiliate spam and redirects.
- Do I have to fix that before I move it over?
- CDNs:
- I currently am not running a CDN. Is that a problem?
- is the CDN link a subdomain of my site(s) (like images.natfinn.com) or is a wpengine based link? If it is a wpengine based link, can I redirect it to a subdomain link on my site?
- Do my visits to my website to do edits, upload content, or design count against my monthly hit total?
- How do I send email confirmations for those who contact me via my contact form?
- Do I have to buy my SSL through you or can i purchase them through another vendor?
- If I can, what other issues would I have to worry about before having it implemented?
- How much more a month does it cost to run and SSL on the basic plan (where I’ll start)?
- Backups: do I do them or are they performed automatically?
- How many user accounts am I allowed per site? How many admins, editors…?
- Themes: can you do parent and child themes?
- FTP Access? Can we use filezilla?
- Will it work with the WordPress Mobile App?
- I have my domain registered through Bluehost. I’m going to switch to Google Domains. Can you guys work with Google Domains?
- SLA: What are your guarantees, warranties, and overall terms?
Backstory: Why I’m [still] using WordPress for the project
Part of the equity-valued, cross-applied digital projects we’re working on in the inevitability of finishing BiziPorts is a digital marketing resource for clients, co-workers and students alike.
To do this solution, we decided we were going to use a tool known as a Learning Management System.
What is a Learning Management System?
A learning management system is online classroom-style software that allows teachers to provide lessons, courses, tutorials, quizzes and tests. It also provides locations for students to check their own progress, scores, rankings, etc…They’re pretty incredible.
There are some pretty remarkable, detailed ones such as Litmos LMS, which would be awesome to use
[Full Disclosure: Katie’s employer owns it and, buddy, if you’ve found this by now, let katie know how long it took ;-)]
but is a bit out of of scope for my lack-of-funds, for now.
To get started, we’re going to use a WordPress Plugin. More on that choice later.
We’re not in the business of building our own LMS…today.. That’s why it’s not going on BiziPorts at this time.
Plus, because of its open-source nature, WordPress gets hacked frequently if one isn’t taking constant, vigilant care of the install. We simply don’t have time to babysit 3rd party, open source installs. So, we’re taking it to one who specializes and keeps a vigil on WordPress security. We’ll pay a pretty penny for it, but for the time being it’ll be worth it.