WordPress Hosting Server Upgrade

Port 80 Services is pleased to announce we have made some improvements to our Premium hosting package. As we are continuing to expand and to host more and more websites, we have decided to invest in a new, high-performance hosting server.

Our brand new VPS (Vitual Private Server) is specially optimised for hosting WordPress sites. It runs the latest Linux operating system, PHP version, and Nginx (pronounced “engine x”) webserver, all of which make for a much faster machine.

The main difference between the current server and the new one is the web server. We chose nginx for its speed and built-in caching system. This means pages are generated once and then served as “flat” content, reducing resource usage and cutting load times dramatically. In addition, all sites will now get a free SSL certificate, meaning they run over https instead of http.

That’s Nice… But What Does That Mean Exactly?

Well, put simply, a better performing server means a noticeably faster page-load time for the websites it hosts. And using an SSL certificate means a more secure connection between the client and the server.

Both of these are good news for two reasons: the first is your customers enjoy a better user experience. The second is that page-load speed and use of SSL are factors Google considers for its search engine rankings. In fact, the former can have a dramatic impact on site rankings.

The best news of all for all our clients is that this server upgrade is being rolled out to you completely free of charge, and our hosting rates are not changing as a result. Aren’t we nice!

We shall be migrating our WordPress customers’ websites over to our new server over the coming weeks. If you’re a Port 80 customer with a WordPress site, you’ll be notified once your site has been moved.