Most WordPress websites can be classified as either simple or complex. Business portfolio or informative websites are fairly simple, while others such as online learning and membership sites fall into the latter category.
Online learning platforms, discussion forums, social networks or other membership websites require special attention to detail for proper configuration and set up. Otherwise, it will be a constant hassle to optimize for scalability, performance, speed, and longevity.
Here, I will go over the challenges, dos, and don’ts of hosting WordPress membership sites to help you cover all of your bases.
Let’s get to it, then.
Types of WordPress Membership Websites
Let’s view the types of WordPress memberships, and the purposes they serve:
- Online learning websites that use LMS to organize and sell courses to students.
- Community forums to discuss similar interests or provide answers to questions asked by other members.
- Social networks
- E-commerce websites that provide incentives, review systems or special deals to members.
When looking for hosting for these complex sites, carefully consider all of the dos and don’ts in this piece for optimum performance.
Challenges faced by users in WordPress Membership Hosting
Unlike business portfolio websites, WordPress membership websites are not static. The content is not just sitting there, but constantly enhanced and evolving. Some websites are password-protected for limited access to a set of information, while others encourage interaction of members in community discussion boards and various forums.
Listed below are a few common challenges faced with WordPress membership hosting.
Challenge 1 – Concurrent Visitors
Visitors tend to spend a lot more time on membership sites than they do on blogs or business websites. After all, content such as tutorial videos, courses, training sessions, and even live webinars are designed to keep visitors engaged for hours. As a result, the site has to handle large numbers of visitors at the same time.
Challenge 2 – Complex queries
Since users have access to areas or content based on their subscription tier, membership sites generate a lot of complex queries that need to be catered to. Given the huge amounts of data that need to be retrieved from the MySQL database, latency is a common issue. After all, there are a lot of users relying on the search function and using the database at the same time.
Challenge 3 – High Density of Uncacheable Content
WordPress membership sites typically include discussion boards, checkout pages, and a login page. Based on the number of active members, these pages keep updating and can’t be cached. Uncacheable content poses a problem with real time content delivery without sacrificing performance.
What’s more, standard WordPress dashboards are
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This article was written by Hussain Fakhruddin and originally published on The Official Cloudways Blog.