Blacklisted Plugins - Are They Hurting Your Site? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

Let me be first to say that I'm about as "non-techie" as they come.  The fact that I even have a blog that doesn't make your computer blow up when you come to visit it is beyond a miracle. 

It's actually kind of embarrassing….seriously.  

Anyway, I'm in the process of changing hosts and have been exploring a few options.  One option that caught my attention was WP Engine.   They are a bit on the pricey side, but they specialize on WP blogs and claim to be fast….super duper fast.   The part that really intrigues me is that they offer a completely hands off option.   Right up my alley. 

One thing that caught my attention with them is that they have certain plugins that they have blacklisted; meaning that if you absolutely cannot use them if your have your site with them because they slow down your site too much.  

It's interesting because I do use some of the plugins and wanted to share with the group if load time is something you're concerned about.   I've really focused on load time in the past year especially with Panda and have seen incredible results because of it.  

Here's their list:  http://wpengine.com/faq/plugin…..wp-engine/

Thanks for the list, I am guilty of using two on that list. A Caching plug and the broken link checker. I am not willing to give up either. My site is slow, but the caching plugin has definitely sped it up.

I have bookmarked them though for later reference though, Thanks for the link.

My web designer just told me about WPEngine last week. It looks really cool, but I'm not sure I can justify $99/month. I'm still thinking it over…

And thanks for the list! I just deleted broken link checker, wpsmush, and switched to their recommended sitemap builder. My page speed literally just dropped in half. Sweet!! Thanks Jeff!

Kyle

The College Investor said:

Jeff,

 It can be complicated to setup the first time.

 

I just don't have time for "complicated" right now.  I'm sure I could figure out, but how it stand right now, all my free time is either recording or writing content and coming up with another good #movement ideas.  :) 

The Penny Hoarder said:

My web designer just told me about WPEngine last week. It looks really cool, but I'm not sure I can justify $99/month. I'm still thinking it over…

Right now I'm paying $45/mo for my host so doubling doesn't excite me.  But if they do what they say they do then for me it's totally worth it.

I had a call with them today and they seem to know their stuff.  I was worried about migrating their site, but they've partnered with another company and essentially will reimburse you up to $200 for the move. 

Only major downside that I can see is they don't host email.  :(   That's kind of a bummer, but I can find a work around.

If you want to know which plugins are slowing your site down there is a plugin (runs in background) that you can install.

It is called P3 Plugin Profiler and will provide a detailed report that identifies the impact each installed plugin has on page load time.

I would recommend using this first and eliminate unnecessary plugins.  Next step is to run an optimization test on your site: recommend using Websiteoptimization.com.  This test will identify what you need to do to fully optimize your site.

Very interesting, Jeff. Thanks for sharing this list. I would definitely be interested in hearing how you like WP Engine after you use them for a little while….also how the migration goes as well. Please keep up up-to-date. Was there a traffic threshold that made you want to switch hosts or some other reason?

The College Investor said:

Jeff,

 

If your thinking about changing hosts, think about going with Amazon EC2.  You get your own dedicated server, and it is super cheap!!!  It can be complicated to setup the first time, but I think you will be very very happy with the end result.

Jeff,

Can I ask what you are paying per year for hosting with EC2?