Category: Web Development

Looking for the best WordPress theme for your eCommerce site?

With more and more people opting to set up small online stores to sell handmade products and other novelties to a global market, it is increasingly essential to focus on a sturdy web interface. There are various online services that you can log onto or buy a subscription to set up a virtual shop. However, these come with limited features and you may not be able to tweak things according to your taste.

WordPress is one of the world’s most popular CMS solutions and they have thousands of templates and themes to help you set shop immediately. Originally started as a blogging site, WordPress has now grown to become a powerful platform that can host a variety of websites including eCommerce. WordPress also has strong SEO features that you’ll need to get your site ranking high on Google. Even online casinos these days have to rely on SEO to ensure success as you can read in this article here. There are innumerable premade themes and templates on offer from WordPress so we’ve gone through them and listed out a few of them for you.

Jayla

Jayla uses the WooCommerce plugin that allows for ease of set up for an online store and has a modern design. The demos that you get to see will show you the diversity of Jayla which allows you to sell everything from physical goods to digital downloads. There are everything from furniture stores to music bands that are using this theme. Once you choose your demo, you can simply import the content and set up your website within a few minutes. Add you products to your store, choose your payment methods and there you go.

Divi

Divi is an incredibly stunning ecommerce theme which is also extremely powerful to use. It uses Divi Builder which is a drag-and-drop technique of designing WordPress pages making it very fast and easy to use. There are many pre-made layouts that include homepage and a store front. All you have to do is choose your favourite, import it, make your necessary tweaks and get selling.

Shoptimizer

Shoptimizer is one of the fastest WordPress themes related to e-commerce. It loads quickly by loading a minimal sheet and helps you retain any fickle customer. The theme is focused more on mobile phones to catch customers who are mostly shopping through their smartphones. This is obviously helpful in a time where Google has been pushing for mobile-friendly sites. It is also a well-known fact that most customers shop late in the night on their phones as this article here states. Making custom designed pages is very easy with this theme and you can quickly change the font and colour and backgrounds of your pages. At $99, it is one of the more expensive themes but it comes with very good round-the-clock customer support.

These are just some of the themes available for you to delve into. There are several others both free and paid like Astra, Jevelin, Uncode and TheGem. Check these out as well before you take a final decision and start your business.

January 21, 2025
Why Is My Web Hosting Slow (And How To Fix It)?
I hate it when my website takes forever to load and my term of “slow” is 2 seconds or more. When that happens, I often ask myself why is my web hosting slow. What were the things I did right and I did wrong that lead to a slow loading WordPress site?

You see, there are many reasons that could lead to a slow web hosting and slow website loading speed.

Here are the top reasons (as well as how to fix them).

Your Web Hosting Is Generally Bad

A bad web host—that’s what I call it. If you are using a cheap web hosting solution, this could be a real problem for you. You see, you may have the best WordPress plugin installed and setup, you may have the lightweight WordPress theme and a well-optimized WordPress database.

But if your web hosting is generally slow, you are going to get a slow loading website. Period.

The solution to a bad web host?

Get a better web hosting solution such as SiteGround or Kinsta (if you can afford managed WordPress hosting solution). A good web hosting company is going to give you better optimized servers that will make your WordPress site loads faster. Plus, other perks such as nightly backups and live chat support.

Lightweight WordPress Theme Matters

Generally, the larger the page is, the longer it will take to load. In this case, using the right WordPress theme is important to improve your loading speed. If you are using a heavy WordPress theme builder, it is not the fault of your web hosting company that your site loads slowly. Instead, it is actually your own!

Here are some of the best lightweight WordPress themes:
- Thrive Themes Builder with ShapeShift
- Elementor Builder
- Oxygen Builder
This website is using Oxygen Builder with Thrive Architect for a customized solution—lightweight WordPress theme with powerful content builder plugin under one roof.

Overselling Server Allocation

Web hosting is a complicated business and ROI is all that matters. In order to generate more income and achieve breakeven point faster, most shared web hosting companies will oversell their server allocation.

Here’s an example.
- Server “A” can host up to 1,000 websites at one go.
- The real occupants in server “A” is 100,000 at any given time.
Instead of having the resources equally distributed between 1,000 websites, now you are looking at a distribution ratio of 1:100,000, that’s a 100% oversell ratio.

Sure, not every website generates more than 10,000 visits in a month, but you only need one who has a super high traffic and you are pretty ‘toast’.

“Ask your web hosting company about overselling. It is best to avoid web hosting companies that oversell their servers.”

Reginald Chan

Unoptimized Servers

Are you using a normal web hosting service or a dedicated to WordPress? In most normal web hosting companies provide servers that are not geared towards WordPress but to a wide range of applications such as Magento, PrestaShop and OpenCart.

Each of these application performs differently and you will end up with servers that are not optimized for WordPress.

In easier terms, unoptimized servers = means slower web hosting performance.

Shared Web Hosting Solution

Are you using a shared web hosting? If the answer is yes, shared web hosting is known for a slow hosting performance. In shared hosting environment, a hosting server is shared by a large number of websites and this will lead to performance issues.

As servers have a fixed CPU and memory, having ‘bad neighbours’ in your hosting environment will be a problem for you.

Take a look at SiteGround GoGeek plan:

SiteGround GoGeek plan is a great example of shared hosting done right. This particular plan comes with the highest tier of resources, means that you get more resources at one go, as compared to other tiers such as SiteGround Startup or SiteGround GrowBig plans.

If you are doing freelance web development, SiteGround GoGeek is also an awesome hosting plan because it comes with white-labelling which allows you to add client’s domains into your account without them seeing any SiteGround logo.

Speak To Your Web Hosting Support

Last but not least, speaking to the web hosting support might help you fix a slow loading website. You see, 50% of the ‘slow web hosting’ issues often originated from server level. By speaking and voicing out your concerns with the support team, they would be able to advise you on the matter.

Here’s the thing. Not every web hosting support will support you on that as it is rather out of their job scope. However, it is definitely worth the try to say the very least.

Summary: Fixing A Slow Web Hosting

There are many ways to fix a slow web hosting. More importantly, it is important to get this fixed once and for all because your website ranking is going to be affected badly with a slow web host.

If you are struggling with your web host below slow, I recommend you to change web host to something more affordable such as SiteGround.
January 6, 2025
Managed Hosting vs Control Panels: Which is the best for YOU?

If you are a WordPress speed fanatic who always looking to speed up your WordPress site, this post is exactly for you. When it comes to blazing fast WordPress site, it boils down to a few critical factors such as hosting solution, cache plugin configuration and having a bloat-free WordPress theme.

You can find my write up on configuring a WordPress cache plugin correctly and even my top choice for a bloat-free WordPress theme … but I had never ever talked about WordPress hosting. More specifically, managed hosting vs control panels.

I’m just like you. I love tweaking my blogs to make it loads faster. Here’s an example of my WordPress service blog, WPMaven.net.

It takes 807 ms to load (according to Pingdom Tools, click here for the result) and while I know this is some stats many would love, I decided to go deeper to see if there is anything else I could do to make my site loads even faster.

And I came across WordPress hosting panels.

What Is WordPress Hosting Panel?

If you do a quick search on Google for “WordPress hosting panel”, you will find tutorials such as how to login to cPanel or your WordPress wp-admin.

A WordPress hosting panel is the backend system of your web hosting solution that gives you advanced features and tools to have full control of your WordPress site. Yes, this includes performing backups, staging and even, making your WordPress site faster.

A WordPress hosting panel is not similar to cPanel. It is often an optimized backend system that is configured specially for WordPress.

Journey Towards Finding A Reliable Control Panel

I started checking through Facebook Groups and other forum related with WordPress and control panels. My journey had brought me to GridPane, RunCloud and Closte. For your information, Closte is a managed WordPress hosting solution just like Kinsta. MPMaven.net is hosted on Kinsta Business plan.

Among GridPane and RunCloud, I decided to head over to GridPane simply because it is more powerful and has better reviews. I migrated one of my live sites to GridPane and my journey in discovering which is better started.

If you are looking for a detailed comparison between GridPane, RunCloud, Closte and Kinsta, you can find a nice write up here.

Managed Hosting vs Control Panels

This is a tough comparison to make. No two websites operate the same and therefore, it really boils down to how your site is being setup.

If you are looking for a hand-free and powerful hosting solution, I recommend you to head over to managed hosting route. For example, managed hosting solution such as Kinsta makes it really easy for you to manage your WordPress site. As a matter of fact, you don’t have to worry about performance, security and backups. At anytime you need any help, just hit the live chat and support would be there under 30 seconds or less.

On the other hand, WordPress hosting panels such as GridPane offers you more flexibility, control and advanced setup to make your WordPress even more powerful. This option may not be the best for you if you are a blogger. However, a WordPress developer will find GridPane a better solution for clients.

January 6, 2025
5+ Web Hosting Malaysia Terbaik For Performance, Speed And Security
Which is the best web hosting solution in Malaysia? I’m glad you asked, because in this post, we will go through some of the best a.k.a. web hosting Malaysia terbaik!

I hope you are ready to dive in, so let’s get started right now.

Most Common CMS For Websites

Before we go into the best web hosting in Malaysia, it is important to understand the type of CMS you are using. The choice of CMS will affect the type of web hosting you should be using.

You might be reading this as a blogger, a writer or eCommerce—and WordPress is often the most popular CMS in Malaysia. Therefore, chances are you’re using WordPress.

And if that’s the case, you are in luck. Most of the web hosting solutions in Malaysia support WordPress.

Are you ready to discover web hosting Malaysia terbaik?

a) Web Hosting Malaysia Terbaik (Cheapest a.k.a. Murah)

There are many types of web hosting solutions and the most popular ones are always the cheapest web hosting Malaysia.

Here are the most popular ones that you should be using today (like seriously serious).

Web Hosting Malaysia Paling Murah a.k.a. Cheapest Web Hosting Malaysia

5.0

Exabytes EBIZ Lite, RM11.99/mo

Affordability, scalability and stable are three reasons why you need to use Exabytes. They offer one of the best web hosting deals in Malaysia.
- 10GB Disk Space
- 20GB Monthly Data Transfer
- 10 Email Accounts
- 1GB Memory
- 1 Website
5.0

Serverfreak Lite, RM16.58/mo

Integrity, reliability and powerful servers are three reasons why Serverfreak is well known as web hosting Malaysia terbaik. You can’t go wrong with Serverfreak (seriously).
- 10GB Ultra Fast SSD-Accelerated Disk Space
- 50GB Monthly Data Transfer
- 10 Email Accounts
- 1.5GB Server RAM
- 1 Website
4.5

Shijiru Eco Startup, RM11.94/mo

Shijiru is another great web hosting Malaysia that is often considered interesting. They provide great shared hosting solution that is affordable (look out for their ad-hoc promotions).
- 10GB Ultra Fast SSD Disk Space
- Un-metered Data Transfer
- Unlimited Email Accounts
- 1 Website
b) Web Hosting Malaysia Terbaik (WordPress Optimized)

The next web hosting Malaysia terbaik is WordPress optimized servers. What are the differences between WordPress optimized servers and shared hosting?

“WordPress optimized servers are often servers that are designed to cater for WordPress CMS. This means that the infrastructure of the servers are tweaked to ensure that they perform at their peaks with WordPress. As a result, your WordPress site will load faster.”

Reginald Chan

WordPress Hosting Malaysia Terbaik (Only For WordPress)

5.0

Exabytes WP Blogger, RM16/mo

Exabytes takes Malaysia WordPress hosting to whole new level with Elementor Page Builder plugin pre-installed in all accounts. Plus, dedicated resources speed up your WordPress by over 2x!
- 1 WordPress Website
- Jetpack Pre-Installed
- 10GB SSD Storage
- Easy Backups & Restorations
- 2 Email Accounts
- Unlimited Data Transfer
5.0 5.0 5.0

Serverfreak WP Starter, RM19.91/mo

If you are looking for powerful WordPress hosting solution in Malaysia, Serverfreak offers LiteSpeed web server. Combined with LiteSpeed cache plugin, your website will load blazing fast and rank higher on Google.
- 1 Domain Allowed
- 25GB Monthly Data Transfer
- 10GB SSD RAID10 Powered Storage
- 1GB Server RAM
- 30 Days Retention Backup Included
5.0

Kinsta Starter, $30/mo (~RM145/mo)

Rated as one of the most powerful managed WordPress hosting solutions in the world, Kinsta offers premium WordPress hosting with superb customer support (live chat). All plans come with Google Cloud Platform and KeyCDN for faster loading speed.
- 1 Domain Allowed
- 20,000 Monthly Visits
- 10GB Disk Space
- Free SSL & CDN
- Google Cloud Platform
4.5 4.5

WPEngine Startup, $25/mo (~RM110/mo)

If your website requires a lot of server resources, WPEngine is another great alternative to Kinsta hosting. It is important to understand that this particular web hosting plan is on a shared hosting platform.
- 1 Domain Allowed
- 25,000 Monthly Visits
- 10GB Disk Space
- 50GB monthly bandwidth
- Free SSL
Which Is The Best Web Hosting Malaysia? (Web Hosting Malaysia Terbaik)

Personally, you can’t go wrong with any of the web hosing choices above. Each of them comes with different pricing and features. Therefore, you need to understand and define the ones that give you the best benefits.

As a summary, Exabytes are best for bloggers and small/medium sized blogs. If you are looking for more firepower and WordPress website is your core business, I recommend you to take a look at what Kinsta hosting has to offer.
January 6, 2025
31 WordPress Agency Tools That Everyone Should Be Using Today
What are the tools used by WordPress agencies? For starters, no two WordPress agencies are using similar set of tools. But in this post, you will find popular WordPress agency tools that are commonly used by WordPress agencies around the world.

Let’s start, shall we?

WordPress Builders And WordPress Themes

Most WordPress agencies would use WordPress builders to build websites. These tools are fast and easy to use, as well as creating templates to make the website development even faster.

Here’s the list:
Using WordPress builders are not compulsory but they certainly helps when it comes to WordPress development.

Analytics Tools

WordPress agencies don’t only create WordPress websites, they often offer SEO and content writing services. In this case, analytics tools are critical for performing the tasks properly.

Here’s the list of analytics tools most agencies are using:
Using the right analytics tool will help you create better content and UI to create conversion-focused WordPress designs.

WordPress Hosting Solutions

One of the best way to upsell a client is to offer WordPress hosting solution. This allows the WordPress agency to have better control of the server and perform the need speed optimization to make WordPress faster.

Here are some of the best WordPress hosting solutions for WordPress agencies:
I recommend you to take your time to decide on choosing the best WordPress hosting solution for your client. Going with the wrong one will create a lot of headache and unforeseen challenges.

WordPress Plugins

The right WordPress plugin is going to save you a lot of time and gives you tons of advantages when building WordPress posts and pages.

At the same time, WordPress plugins give you functionabilities that would take a long time to craft if you are hard-coding yourself.

Here’s the list of WordPress plugins that are used by WordPress agencies:
It is important to note that some of these WordPress plugins come with lifetime deal (LTD). This makes it even more profitable for the WordPress agencies in the long run—since they only need to pay once and use forever.
January 6, 2025
Do I Need A WordPress Care Package?
WordPress care packages are pretty much on demand WordPress support. WordPress is a powerful and user-friendly CMS for beginners but at times, it can be really challenging for those who have no experience with coding.

If you have ever encountered your WordPress going down (error 404, ouch) or a totally destroyed website layout thanks to the incompatibility of new plugins, you know exactly what I mean.

Launching a WordPress agency with the right skills and people can be really profitable — that’s why there are so many companies including large ones are promoting WordPress care package.

But, do you know that you DO NOT need WordPress care package as much as you thought you need it?

Here’s why!

The Truth About WordPress Care Packages

When you sign up for a WordPress care package like the ones I personally promote in WP Maven, you are guaranteed with support whenever you need it. This means that you don’t need to wait for day for a response for your support ticket.

These on-demand WordPress support allows you to solve WordPress related problems fast and effectively, avoiding any downtime or loss of income.

Here are some reasons why you NEED a WordPress care package:
- High traffic website (over 100k traffic per month)
- A complex WordPress site, making out of over 20+ plugins
- Cases of hacking and invulnerability
- Using shared web hosting or low powered web hosting plans
- You want to sleep well at night knowing that your website is taken care of
Here are some reasons why you DON’T NEED a WordPress care package:
- Paying a subscription fee on a monthly basis can be heavy for your wallet
- You require less than 5 hours of support each month
- Your website has under 100k traffic per month
- Your website revenue generation is under $100 per month
- You don’t mind ‘trying an error’ and fixing WordPress problems
You see, WordPress care packages are often billed on a monthly basis. This can be rather heavy for many website owners especially when they are only generating under $100 a month.

In this case, it is better for you to go for pay-as-you-go WordPress care packages that helps you to save money and only paying for WordPress services when you really need it.
January 6, 2025