I don’t know how they stack up against others but I’ve been using http://www.compila.com for several years now with no complaint. if you find someone better I’d also like to know but they have always been helpful and responsive and have low downtime…
Why do you want a host based in the UK? Unless you plan on visiting them onsite it’s not going to make much of a difference.
I live in the UK and use Dreamhost and am perfectly happy with them. If you really want a UK host, the aptly named UKHost4U looks promising, although I can’t personally vouch for them.
Chances are with UK costs being what they are, you’re going to get a better deal by going across the pond.
I’d echo the advice above – I also use Dreamhost, but there are others (some recommended by WordPress themselves). The cost comparisons made it a no-brainer for me, and I have no complaints whatsoever. Which is more than can be said for friends who *have* chosen UK hosting.
It appears that Dreamhost can’t actually sell or host co.uk, but all you need to do is get your domain redirected to them and that’s sorted.
Add to this the fact that Dreamhost (and presumably others recommended) offer one-click installs for WordPress, SQL databases, etc. etc. :o)
http://www.asmallorange.com
Extremely good, quick and efficient.
It appears that Dreamhost can’t actually sell or host co.uk, but all you need to do is get your domain redirected to them and that’s sorted.
That’s not quite correct. DH host co.uk domains just fine; I’m using DH and as you can see, I’ve also got a co.uk domain.
There’s also no need for redirect or forwarding; they host it the same way they host .com domains.
You can’t register .co.uk domains via DH but it’s no big deal to use a dedicated domain registration company.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I use dreamhost myself (and love it) but the site I just built is for a british audience. At one point in time conventional wisdom was, generally, the closer you are to the site, the faster it will be. Is that no longer the case?
Well, there is a little latency connecting to a west coast US site compared to a UK one, but I don’t think the extra 100 or 150 milliseconds will make much difference to your visitors…
(Also with Dreamhost)
I’ve had excellent service from http://www.kualo.com/ who offer space on US and UK servers. It’s worth bearing in mind that the physical location of your site’s server can influence search engine results for your site – MSN increasingly so, and if a site is hosted in the US a Google search for UK-only pages probably won’t list the site.
Not sure about that last bit. I’m in the UK, my domain is hosted is Atlanta GA. A google for ‘wordpress help’ shows me at #1 here, but apparently not at #1 if you search from the US. Given my site is org.uk, that probably means more in such a case.
“At one point in time conventional wisdom was, generally, the closer you are to the site, the faster it will be.”
In the main, the transatlantic latency is negligable. There are other factors which are of more importance with regards to visitor experiance such as server load, server hardware, server configuration i.e. web servers, load balancers.
“It’s worth bearing in mind that the physical location of your site’s server can influence search engine results for your site – MSN increasingly so, and if a site is hosted in the US a Google search for UK-only pages probably won’t list the site.”
The TLD, i.e. the .co.uk suffix, has considerably more weight. My site is hosted by DH, yet features well in the Google searches for UK only pages. Likewise, the same occurs with Podz site which is a org.uk domain.
I’m not sure either, but some of my sites hosted in the US, and which rank well for non-UK searches, are nowhere to be seen for UK-only Google searches. There are one or two exceptions where the domain is a UK one, but my experience suggests that it makes a difference in most cases.
Interesting stuff, thanks everyone. I wonder then about hosting a mydomain.com and a mydomain.co.uk with one mirroring the other for googlability. Is that cheating? Would it even work?
I’ll throw in my 2 cents.
Google does NOT like seeing two of the same site because it thinks that it is a copy and will discredit the second site. You’re more than welcome to have two domains for the same site, but only market one of them.
Secondly, I’ll throw my extra 2 cents in for Site5.com as an AWESOME Webhost. I have been with them for a while and truly appreciate them.
