My host at the time was Hostgator, and while they're a great host, my concern was that by sharing bandwidth with other sites, mine would eventually suffer. Step up the search for a new web host.

One of the blogs I read a lot is that of Mark Jaquith, and he had a post about WordPress and how certain hosts weren't really set up for it (and I'm not saying this is the case with Hostgator, just to be clear).

In the comments of that post, Ronald Huereca mentioned a host called BlogOnCloud9. What caught my eye was the mention that they use Rackspace, who I'd been looking at, and how they seemed perfect for WordPress and were very security-conscious. So I decided to look into BlogOnCloud9. And was very pleasantly surprised.

The guys at BlogOnCloud9 set the service up because they were also WordPress lovers frustrated at how the platform wasn't always taken seriously by web hosts. They have a rich history with WordPress, with their involvement with ContentRobot, and so decided to set up their own dedicated service just for WordPress blogs.

Reading up some more on them, I contacted the BlogOnCloud9 guys with some questions about moving servers, their service, and just general questions no hosting, etc. They replied the same day, with a great personal touch (something that continues today), and really made me feel like their most important customer. Something that every business should do.

So I decided to go ahead with it and the move was smooth as marble. There was no downtime; the guys had me up on a dummy site to ensure I was happy with everything; and the transfer from Hostgator to BlogOnCloud9 was completed with no drama at all.

Since then, the performance and support continues to convince me I made the right move, and it's the reason I recommend BlogOnCloud9 for any WordPress blog or site, and for clients that are overhauling their web presence.

Should you check out BlogOnCloud9? Well, here are some features if you're interested:

• Custom installation tailored to your needs.


• Configuration and plug-in installation for security, SEO, performance and analytics.


• One-to-one support and forum support for all WordPress questions (not just your blog).


• Nightly back-ups emailed to you in case your blog goes down for any reason.


• Easy upgrade options to different plans, depending on your growth/new domains.

Because I have a few domains, I chose the Expert Plan that also gives me five development areas. This is where I can essentially create a clone of my blog to redesign, mess with template, try new features, etc, without damaging my live blog. Then I just flip the switch to set live.

If this post comes across as a bit promotional for BlogOnCloud9, I make no apologies for that. Just like you, I believe in sharing great products and service, and BlogOnCloud9 falls into both these categories and then some.

And like I said at the start, none of the links here are affiliate links (though BlogOnCloud9 does offer that if you're interested) so I'm not even posting just to make a fast buck…

Anyhoo… this is why I'm loving BlogOnCloud9 and if you're serious about WordPress and blogging/site host, you could do a lot worse than check them out.