Impressive Hosting

By Jesse Friedman

Impressive Hosting is a podcast that explores the core tenets of great WordPress hosting, from performance and security to scalability and user experience. Hosted by Jesse Friedman of WP Cloud, each e... more

· Technology

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Impressive Hosting:

How many episodes does Impressive Hosting have?

The podcast currently has 17 episodes available.

Impressive Hosting episodes:

July 08, 2025What Makes Performance the Foundation of Exceptional Hosting?
Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Christos Paloukas from Presidio about performance optimization in managed WordPress hosting. They explore how hosting companies should proactively help customers optimize sites, the responsibility hosts have for the broader WordPress ecosystem, and why bundling performance features creates better value than piecemeal solutions that nickel-and-dime users.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
(00:00) - Teaser
(00:38) - Introduction
(01:54) - How do you help customer optimize their sites?
(03:19) - How do you help customers figure out the technical details of hosting?
(07:15) - How do you educate customers on optimization?
(17:17) - What role does security play in optimization?
(20:13) - How do we evaluate WordPress plugins and their performance?
(21:51) - What is a hosting company's responsibility in performance?
(29:54) - Community Questions
(36:47) - Conclusion
...more
38min
July 01, 2025How Can Performance Excellence Drive Managed Hosting Success?
Jesse Friedman interviews Christos Paloukas from Pressidium about WordPress performance optimization and load testing. They discuss mobile performance challenges, Core Web Vitals, and how slow sites directly impact sales and SEO rankings. Christos explains testing methodologies, customer expectations, and why two-thirds of global users lack access to high-speed networks.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
(00:00) - Teaser
(00:24) - Introduction
(05:39) - How does Pressidium do performance measurements?
(10:03) - How do you set expectations for customers in load testing?
(14:47) - What's the best way to help customers optimize for performance?
(29:22) - What is the impact of performance on SEO in hosting?
(34:52) - Conclusion
...more
37min
June 24, 2025How Do You Turn Hosting Customer Frustrations Into Delight?
Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Aaron Campbell from hosting.com about transforming customer frustrations into delight. They explore building trust through transparent status pages, improving support communication with clear wait times, and aligning internal KPIs with actual customer success rather than efficiency metrics that game the system.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
(00:00) - How Do You Turn Hosting Customer Frustrations Into Delight?
(00:31) - Introduction
(01:09) - How do you build trust through reliable status pages?
(06:02) - What are best practices for customer communications and support in hosting?
(18:02) - How do you align KPI's to customer success in hosting?
(23:16) - How can we learn from agencies in hosting?
(27:07) - How should we be thinking about AI in hosting?
(31:17) - Conclusion
...more
33min
June 17, 2025How Do You Build Trust in WordPress Hosting?
Jesse Friedman interviews Aaron Campbell about hosting.com's recent rebrand from A2 Hosting and building trust through empathetic design. They discuss serving different customer segments, transitioning from infrastructure to product companies, and the importance of business vulnerability when problems occur. Campbell emphasizes hosting companies' responsibility to provide experiences that help WordPress users succeed.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
(00:00) - Teaser
(00:35) - Introduction
(02:42) - What are some of the ways to rebrand a hosting company?
(08:35) - What is Hosting.com working on right now?
(12:07) - How do you build success with agencies?
(13:23) - How do you build trust and empathy in hosting?
(26:11) - How (and why) to implement vulnerability and transparency in Hosting
(29:57) - Conclusion
...more
32min
June 10, 2025How Can You Sell Hosting Without Using Fear Tactics?
Jesse Friedman talks with Elise Prather, WP Cloud sales team member, about ethical sales practices in hosting. They discuss building relationships over using fear tactics, consultative approaches versus high-pressure sales, and how hosting companies can hit revenue targets while maintaining trust. Elise shares strategies for creating genuine partnerships with customers without compromising ethics or community values.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
(00:00) - Teaser
(00:36) - Introduction
(02:02) - Working at Automattic
(03:23) - Current Hosting Conditions
(06:01) - Ethics in Sales and Building Trust
(09:24) - Hosting Sales Strategies and Relationship Building
(18:18) - Challenges and Ethical Dilemmas in Hosting Sales
(28:16) - Conclusion
...more
30min
June 03, 2025How Does Ivapix Create Premium Hosting Without Racing to the Bottom?
Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Ivan Pjano and Dale Obradović from Ivapix about building premium WordPress hosting without competing solely on price. They discuss automated real-time failover, custom panel design focused on user experience, and how listening to customer feedback helps small hosting companies deliver enterprise-level features while maintaining quality over quantity.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
Links:
Ivapix
Cloudfest
Avjar
Moć planine
Material Design
(00:00) - Teaser
(00:32) - Introduction
(01:04) - Meeting at CloudFest
(03:50) - What Is Automated Real-Time Failover, and Why Does It Matter?
(05:41) - The Imapct of Great Hosting
(11:27) - How and Why to Design a Good User Panel
(15:24) - Empowering Agencies and Freelancers
(20:17) - The Importance of Customer Feedback
(27:32) - Conclusion
...more
29min
May 27, 2025What Happens in WordPress Hosting When Customers Choose What They Need?
Jesse Friedman interviews Ivan Pjano and Dale Obradović from Ivapix about their custom WordPress hosting dashboard built on WP Cloud. They discuss flexible pay-per-site pricing, eliminating rigid hosting packages, and creating simplified panels focused solely on WordPress instead of bloated universal control panels that overwhelm users with unnecessary features.
(00:00) - What Happens in WordPress Hosting When Customers Choose What They Need?
(03:29) - The Value of Ad Hoc Partnerships
(06:32) - Building a WordPress-Only Dashboard
(10:20) - Breaking Free from Rigid Hosting Packages
(16:13) - Why Universal Panels Don't Always Work for WordPress
(18:41) - Customer Choice Over Company Convenience
(21:59) - How to Scale with Customers in Mind
Ivapix
CloudFest
...more
28min
May 20, 2025What Role Should AI Play in Great WordPress Hosting?
Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Krys Lambiase, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Bluehost. They explore AI's role in WordPress hosting, solving the "blank canvas problem," balancing automation with creativity, and product marketing challenges. Krys shares insights on what features should be free versus premium, and both reminisce about the "weird internet" - and how to bring that spirit back.
(00:00) - Chapter 1
Bluehost
Gutenberg Editor
Wonder Blocks
Let’s Encrypt (Free SSL)
Hamster Dance
...more
31min
May 13, 2025How Can Excellent Product Marketing Make WordPress Hosting Better?
Jesse Friedman sits down with Krys Lambiase, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Bluehost, to discuss how effective product marketing can transform WordPress hosting. They explore creating personalized experiences that guide users based on their specific goals, avoiding confusing interfaces, and extending onboarding into ongoing customer education and support.
(00:00) - 106.1 - Krys Lambiase (Newfold) Audio
(00:29) - Introduction
(01:20) - Getting Personal(ized) with Product Marketing
(04:41) - Serving Entrepreneurs and Agencies
(14:15) - The Difference Between Hosting and Managed Hosting
(18:52) - Good Support is Table Stakes
(24:39) - The Importance of Customer Success
(26:47) - Conclusion
Convesio
Five for the Future
WooCommerce
WS Form
Gravity Forms
WP Cloud
Gutenberg
...more
29min
May 06, 2025How Do We Build a More Collaborative WordPress Economy?
Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Tom Fanelli of Convesio about strengthening cooperation across the WordPress ecosystem. They explore host contributions to plugin improvement, value alignment between service providers, and Convesio's WP Cloud integration. Tom also shares his vision for white-label support that frees agencies to focus on creative work.
00:30 Introduction
01:12 The Role of Hosting Companies in WordPress Community
03:25 Five for the Future and the Value Proposition of Collaborative Community
08:18 The Race to the Bottom in Hosting in Agency Pricing
13:59 The WP Cloud and Convesio Partnership
19:23 Aligning Hosting Success with Client Success
25:49 How Convesio Implemented White Label Support for Agencies
28:38 Conclusion
Convesio
Five for the Future
WooCommerce
WS Form
Gravity Forms
WP Cloud
Gutenberg
...more
30min

FAQs about Impressive Hosting:

How many episodes does Impressive Hosting have?

The podcast currently has 17 episodes available.