Frequently asked questions

After I've placed my order, how do we proceed?

Nothing more simple:

Step 1: Execute a Cpanel back-up of your website. We will also perform a back-up from inside Wordpress through UpdraftPlus, but it's a good practice to also have a Cpanel back-up just in case.

Inside Cpanel, search for the "back-ups" icon. Then, create a "total back-up" and a "database back-up" and save them in your computer.

Step 2: We need Wordpress access. Create a new user with administrator permissions. (for example: username - TurboWeb, password - 12345, role - administrator). You can do this from Users -> Add New. Here you can check a print screen of the process: click here

Step 3: Wait 3 days for us to perform the optimization. During these 3 days, try to be available because we might need to communicate with you. Some plug-ins will have to be eliminated. Many websites have all kind of bling-blings that are highly detrimental to their performance. We need to discuss with you which bling-blings are truly important for you and which are the ones that can be removed.

Step 4: Once the optimization is complete, the website needs to be tested by you in order to make sure everything is working properly. Of course, we will also examine the site, but you are the one who knows it better than anybody else, and you might notice things that have escaped our eyes.

Step 5: From now on, your website will stay optimized pretty much "automatically." Just some small maintenance chores, that require only a couple of mouse clicks, will have to be performed from time to time in order to keep it in perfect condition.

For 3 months following project completion, we will offer help in case problems arise due to optimizations we have implemented on your website. We will also deliver 3 technical reports that will cover everything you might need to know in the future.

Is it normal that I'll have to provide Wordpress access?

Yes, it's something normal and necessary for anyone who has to perform intensive work on a website. You have probably already provided or will have to provide this kind of access in the future to the following persons:

- theme support in order to fix bugs
- hosting (who has access all the time anyway)
- your SEO company
- your web design company

Do you guarantee me a certain score on Google Page Speed Insights?

No, because:

1) That testing tool, although very popular, is a "best practices" and "synthetic" tool that DOES NOT ALWAYS REFLECT REALITY. Real speed for real users can only be measured with WebPageTest.org (tool meant for professionals, also developed by Google)

2) Every website has a different architecture.

How do I test how well my website has been optimized?

The most important numbers are:

- Google's "Speed index"
- Start Rendering - This reflects how fast above the fold content is loading.
- Total loading time
(checked on WebPageTest.org)

In order to test your website on this tool, enter your address and then select to run 9 tests (instead of 3). Then, choose a location close to home. After testing is complete, on the top part of the screen, you will notice a "Speed index" score. On the left part of the screen, next to individual testing results, you will notice total loading time. (under "First View")

Put shortly, speed optimization has two main goals:

1) Deliver the above the fold content as fast as possible. Above the fold content must be delivered as quickly as possible to the visitor and all other resources must be loaded in the background, while he spends 1-2 seconds reading the first thing that appears on the page. For example, a website could have a total loading time of 3.5 seconds, but above the fold content could be delivered in just 1 second. An optimized site must deliver this above the fold content in 1 second while loading all other things in the background.

2) Reducing total loading time. An optimized website should have a small total loading time.

How do I check whether I have good hosting?

Good hosting should have the following:

Mandatory:

- GZIP compression (can be checked with GTMetrix)

- Keep Alive enabled (can be checked with GTMetrix)

- PHP version 7+ (can be checked in C-Pannel)

- HTTP/2 internet protocol (can be checked at https://tools.keycdn.com/http2-test)

Optional:

- MariaDB 10 instead of MySql (can be checked in C-Pannel)

If a host has all these options and you are still having a big TTFB (time to first byte), that means your hosting is either packing websites on the server like sardines in a can in order to reduce costs, either that the server is not configured correctly or in any case, something is wrong. We will fix things that might be wrong on the front-end. Things that might be wrong on the back-end are the responsibility of hosting. Therefore, if you are still having a high TTFB after our optimization is complete and hosting support is unable to fix it, you might have to change hosting.

I have bad hosting! What do I do?

Turbo Web does not have a partnership with any hosting company. We prefer to maintain our credibility. That being said, we advise you to use SiteGround since it's generally considered to be the fastest shared hosting around and our experience confirms that.

My Web Design or my SEO company says that they've also optimized my website for speed, yet it's still very slow!

Web Design companies have little to do with speed optimization. If you'll have the curiosity to check their own websites speed, you will notice that almost all are doing absolutely catastrophic in this regard. SEO companies, despite theoretically being marketing companies, are doing a little better, but still far from perfection. Some SEO companies are capable of performing a medium speed optimization, but such an optimization is highly inferior to what we offer. How could a company that doesn't even have its own website optimized to perfection be able to optimize yours?

Performance optimization is not some random task that any "wordpress guy" can take care off. Same as any other field, it requires skill and experience. Only companies that actually specialize in it can deliver high results and also do it in a cost-efficient manner.