Author: Deano

It's likely both:

• WordPress-specific bottlenecks,
• exacerbated by Host-specific configuration (in this case, GoDaddy)

Yslow or Google Page Speed will help identify a lot of the content or WordPress-layout related issues, including javascript and CSS slowdowns that might be the fault of particular plugins/themes.

A quick Googling shows that WordPress on Godaddy has a history of performance issues:

http://wordpress.org/support/top…

In the above forum topic, one reader mentions around 3900 websites all running off the same virtual host server IP – that's… a lot. Other posters mention larger-scale issues with MySQL performance with Godaddy hosted sites.

The following advice is also given (much of which is still applicable):

Things I've found that help on GoDaddy's shared hosting:
1. WP-Super-Cache. The hosting isn't as bad at static files.
2. Use Google Libraries plugin, to eliminate long load times for javascript loading.
3. WordPress 2.8 causes a rather dramatic dashboard loading speedup.
4. In GoDaddy's hosting configuration, change it to PHP5 instead of the default PHP4. PHP5 runs much quicker on their systems for some reason.

WP-Supercache, or any of the other reputable caching plugins, will make a huge difference in performance – cached static pages require no database access to load, so especially for Godaddy this should be a big performance win.

Other similar options, like using Gzip/html/css compression will also reduce the size of files that are downloaded, which will "speed things up" for browsers. Being able to use canonical URLs and expiration dates on all relevant files will make sure that they are only downloaded once and cached on the client side, rather than at every request/visit. Some of these features can even be enabled via plugins, if you don't have lower-level webserver access. For more on this, just google "wordpress compression", and read to your hearts' content.

Long story short, it sounds like hosting WordPress with Godaddy is neither the cheapest, nor the fastest solution… But as long as you're going to stick with them, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the above tools and plugins – they will assist you greatly, regardless of where you eventually migrate your site (highly recommended).

My WordPress CMS is very slow to load. Is this a WordPress issue or a hosting issue or?

I'd also recommend at least looking through job postings with similar keywords. To what you're looking for on oDesk.com and freelancer.com, to get an idea of what things you want to specify for the job itself, and to get an idea for the going rate for similar work… You may even find a contractor or three worth speaking with further, and be able to (at least on oDesk) get some pretty immediate feedback on how much experience they have via their test results, total hours/jobs worked, and portfolio, and whether or not other outsourcers are happy with their prior work via ratings and comments/feedback on actual jobs.

Where can i go to find a cheap wordpress developer?

By definition, all WP-specific hosting options would offer the features required to run WordPress safely and securely.

And, unlike generalized hosts, such WP-specific hosts would be more likely keep things in better "sync" between versions of SQL/PHP/Apache/etc and the latest/stable releases of WP, to react quickly and preemptively when vulnerabilities are discovered, etc.

The main reason to use general webhosting OVER WP-specific hosting is the desire to run multiple disparate web platforms/services on the same hardware… And these days there are fewer and fewer reasons to do that, apart from potential cost savings through consolidation of storage/bandwidth across sites/services. And that advantage is certainly something that WP-specific hosting could negate through dramatically higher value service, and/or competitive pricing (especially at the lower-end of the scale where cost is the number one concern).

Is there a benefit to WordPress specific (i.e., Page.ly, WP Engine, Zippykid, KahunaHost) hosting?

Generally: yes, you can point an unlimited number of domains at the same web site.

Whether or not this is possible will largely depend on your web host's setup, and what they allow their clients to do.

A concern you may also have in so doing, is the "duplicate content penalty", wherein two websites would look, to search engines, to possess identical content, and therefore one of the sites would be penalized for the duplication… Since you could not necessarily CHOOSE which domain would carry the penalty, it's worth thinking things through thoroughly before pursuing this course.

Alternately, you may set one domain to point at a certain part of your site (a particular subcategory, for example), and then prevent search engines coming to the second domain from searching that subcategory.

Can i use 2 .com domains for the same WordPress.com blog?

A quick point not yet covered: After some personal experimentation, I've discovered quite a few hindrances to establishing and tracking all "best practices" for SEO via WordPress.com. The lack of plugins prevents all manner of SEO extensions… WordPress.com does not make use of certain ranking factors, like the page Meta Description, for example.

Thus, I'll say this: it's possible to transfer the SEO benefits of a wp.com site that uses a custom domain to a self-hosted WP install, or other WP hosting provider – in fact, wordpress.com offers a specific premium option ($120) to assist with such a migration. What is not possible, is achieving optimally SEO'd pages using wordpress.com to begin with.

Would putting a purchased domain on a WordPress.com blog help maintain SEO later if I decide to self-host?