What is WordPress?

WordPress is a popular free php software that can run on almost any web hosting platform.  ‘WordPress’ also run their own hosting platform, but is subscription based and generally more costly than normal hosting providers.

WordPress software is a ‘content management system’ that makes building a website much easier than trying to build from the ground up.  Allowing users to build websites without having to know code, but will also interface easily with other brands 3rd party code.

We feel that the best way to enjoy WordPress is running on our hosting, as you get the best of both; best website building software with the best hosting platform while costing a fraction of what other providers are charging.

Why use WordPress?

  • Popular : Around 40% of all websites have been built with WordPress, and for good reasons…
  • Flexibility : makes building web content much quicker without having to learn code, but also makes it easy to add your own or other people’s code through a large market place of plugins.
  • SEO friendly : WordPress is SEO aware, and will help build the correct meta information for Search Engines
  • Standards : WordPress follows many of standard codes including accessibility, RSS and pingbacks.
  • Responsive : Content will automatically adjust to suit the device being displayed on.
  • Security : Your website is totally secure, as long as you don’t install unsecure plugins*
  • Optimisation : WordPress will help build a website that loads quickly
  • Pricing : WordPress software is totally free (but hosting isn’t).

Why use WordPress with Queensland Tech?

  • We use all the right tech on our platform.
    We probably have the best WordPress hosting in Australia. Latest Apache, cPanel and PHP software is installed on fast server hardware using fast SSD storage. All web servers are protected by a dedicated firewall and reliable uninterrupted power supply, as to make sure your website is always quickly responding to all page requests. You will see a noticeable difference in speed when switching to us.
  • Feature rich inclusions
    Each host can run unlimited domains with unlimited bandwidth, controlled by you through your personal cPanel.  Includes access to databases, free SSL, Email accounts, DNS editing and more. Extra secure with dedicated firewalls included.
  • Low pricing
    You won’t find consistent low low prices like ours.
  • Free backup
    All services come with free file backup included.
  • Best support
    Talk to real people in Australia that can actually help get stuff done!
  • Extra premium support available
    For extra piece of mind, we also offer bundled website maintenance services

Contact us to get started..

Recommend Plugins

  • Classic Widgets (By WordPress Contributors) Restores original widget interface
  • Contact Form 7 (By Takayuki Miyoshi): Enables you free build forms that email you.  Additional plugins integrate this with a database, and payment systems
  • Contact Form CFDB7 (By Arshid ) : Useful for storing your contact form data.
  • Email Encoder (By Ironikus) : If you intend to display your email address then you will need this to help stop spam
  • Yoast SEO (By Team Yoast) : A free plugin that will improve your SEO
  • Stop Generating Unnecessary Thumbnails (By codexpert): WordPress can generate a lot of image thumbnails; this will help recover some of the storage space that is lost
  • Duplicate Post Page Menu & Custom Post Type (By Inqsys Technology) : A small plugin that allows you to easily create copies of pages
  • WP Crontrol (By John Blackbourn) : Lets you see whats going on the WP-Cron (job schedule) system
  • QT Firewall (By Seb Gibbs) Monitors and blocks unwanted logins
  • Redirection (By John Godley) : Takes much better care of 404 pages
  • All In One WP Security (By Tips and Tricks HQ, Peter Petreski, Ruhul, Ivy ) : A free plugin that adds what additional security you want at a click of button
  • WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips (By Ewout Fernhout) : Create, print & email PDF invoices & packing slips for WooCommerce orders
  • AddressFinder (By Abletech) : Woocommerce address finder plugin for autocompleting addresses in New Zealand and Australia

How to optimise WordPress

We have a wide range of PHP versions and extensions, but to give you the best compatibility we currently use PHP 7.4 with these extensions switched on : bcmath, bz2, calendar, core, ctype, curl, date, dom, exif, fileinfo, filter, ftp, gd, gettext, gmp, hash, iconv, imagick, imap, intl, ioncube_loader, json, libxml, mbstring, mcrypt, mysqlnd, nd_mysqli, nd_pdo_mysql, opcache, openssl, pcntl, pdo , pcre, pdo, pdo_sqlite, phar, posix, readline, reflection, session, shmop, simplexml, soap, sockets, spl, sqlite3, standard, tidy, timezonedb, tokenizer, uploadprogress, xmlreader, xmlrpc, xmlwriter, xsl, zip, zlib.

However, in our own performance testing of WordPress we discovered that for best results you should use PHP 7.4 with minimum required extensions running.  Only Opcache and Memcached and improved performance.   Testing was done on a vanilla install of WordPress 6.2.2 which had theme Twenty Twenty-Three running by default, and on an instances of WordPress with the salient theme and basic plugins.

What’s the most ideal PHP extensions to use for WordPress?

WordPress only needs mySQLi and json extensions to work initially, and possibly xml, but if you check your ‘site health’ (/wp-admin/site-health.php), these extensions are recommended by WordPress:

  • mysqi
  • json
  • gmagick
  • mbstring
  • zip
  • xml
  • xmlreader
  • fileinfo
  • exif
  • curl
  • dom
  • hash
  • intl
  • pcre
  • imagick
  • xsl
  • xmlwriter
  • xmlpc
  • sockets
  • soap
  • mbstring extension – detects encoding via the function mb_detect_encoding, WooCommerce and Gravity PDF uses this function.
  • gd extension – is used by WordPress to crop images, such as for the site Identity icon.
  • opcache extension – will significantly improve your website performance
  • memcached extension – will also improve your website performance

What is WordPress hosting?

It is a server that is able to host WordPress websites.  These hosts normally allow you to install and configure multiple WordPress sites with just a few clicks.

These services often include specialised caching and optimisation tools to improve the speed and performance of the site. Additionally, it may offer security measures that are tailored to WordPress, such as firewalls and malware scanning.

Most websites today use WordPress and Queensland Tech offers the best full WordPress hosting Australian support.

What features should I look for in a WordPress hosting provider?

  1. WordPress-specific optimisations: Look for a hosting provider that offers specialised optimisations for WordPress, such as caching, automatic updates, and pre-configured settings.
  2. Reliability and uptime: Your website should be available to visitors at all times, so look for a hosting provider that offers a high level of reliability and uptime.
  3. Speed and performance: Your website’s speed and performance can affect its search engine ranking and user experience, so look for a hosting provider that offers fast loading times and optimised performance.
  4. Security: WordPress sites can be vulnerable to security threats, so look for a hosting provider that offers strong security measures, such as firewalls, malware scanning, and automatic backups.
  5. Customer support: Look for a hosting provider that offers responsive and knowledgeable customer support, ideally with specialised support for WordPress users.
  6. Scalability: As your website grows, you may need more resources to handle increased traffic and demand, so look for a hosting provider that offers scalability options, such as the ability to upgrade to higher-tier plans or add additional resources.
  7. Price: Consider the cost of the hosting plan and whether it fits within your budget. However, there are many cheap hosting plans that don’t provide the necessary basic features mentioned above.

What are the different types of WordPress hosting available?

By default, you will get the latest version of WordPress with all it’s features.  Unlike other hosts, we don’t charge for any extra features, they are all included from the start.

If, for some reason you require an older version of WordPress, we do offer these too.

How much should I expect to pay for WordPress hosting?

Our standard WordPress hosting is $150 a year, this is what we charge most of our clients, as it includes all the features that you should need to run your website. You will have access to the free marketplace of thousands of plugins and themes, and put as many pages and/or products on your website as you want.  You have your own cpanel, free SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth and automatic backups. The only limits we place are the amount of server space; you will have plenty of room to grow, but if you start to have thousands of images within your website then you may need upgrade your hosting so that you don’t run out of server space.  Upgrading/downgrading server hosting is a very a simple process.

Can I migrate my current WordPress site to you?

Yep, not a problem. Transfers are free. You can either send us a copy of your website in a zip file, or give us access to your current cpanel so that we can transfer it.

What security measures are included with WordPress hosting?

We have an excellent track record on securing our customers websites, since our server hosting service comes with built-in hardware firewall protection, and we install extra security on your WordPress site too as to block and report any unwanted intruders. SSL security certificates are completely free with us, and we also backup all sites multiple times per day!

Any questions?