WP Reform Offers WordPress Services, Tailored to WP Engine Customers

With WordPress continuing its steady ascent to total & complete web domination (too much?), we’re seeing more companies based solely around WordPress services. The likes of WP Site Care, WP Curve, Maintainn, WP Mayday, WP Maintainer, The WP Butler and Valet (formerly WP Valet) all come to mind. But today, I’d like to introduce you to a slightly different kind of WordPress service: WP Reform.

Disclosure: I have not personally used WP Reform’s services. Chris, the founder, reached out to me about sharing his service with our readers. I think any new WordPress service deserves a shot, so I agreed to write this piece. All information in the top section is mine, and I wrote the interview questions. Chris was polite with his initial request, and responded very quickly to my request for more information.

I stopped by (virtually, of course) to talk to WP Reform founder, Chris Hardin (jump to interview). But first, let me give you an overview of the service.

WP Reform’s Focus on WP Engine Customers

What makes WP Reform unique is their primary focus on WP Engine customers. They offer the following services for WP Engine-hosted sites:

• WordPress performance audit
• WordPress hack recovery

And for those users who are experiencing challenges with their existing WordPress host, WP Reform offers a migration service to move your site to WP Engine’s platform. They chose to focus on WP Engine because they believe it is superior in both technology & support (their words, not ours).

WP Reform Services

Performance Audit

Their performance audit will evaluate your page load speed using a variety of tools. With these findings, they’ll implement a series of changes to speed up your site.

Most clients experience an average of 20-30% faster page load times.

During their performance audit, WP Reform will evaluate the following:

• Impact of your website’s code
• WordPress configuration
• Optimization of CSS, Javascript & other assets
• General caching strategy
• Impact of WordPress plugins
• Image optimization

A performance audit starts at $599.

Hack Recovery / Site Restoration

WP Reform’s hack recovery service is exactly what you’d expect—if your site gets hacked, they’ll restore it for you. In most cases, they offer a 24-hour turn-around time.

Site restoration services start at $899.

WordPress Migrations to WP Engine

WP Reform is clear in their belief that WP Engine is the best WordPress hosting platform on the market. This is why they focus exclusively on migrating unhappy WordPress site owners to the WP Engine platform. They promise zero downtime and a 2-3 day turn-around. As of April 2016, they have migrated 86 WordPress sites.

WordPress migrations start at $299.

NOTE: WP Engine’s automated migration tool will move a site for you, but Chris explains why they offer this service below.

Interview with Chris Hardin, founder of WP Reform

1. What is your background? Where were you before starting WP Reform?

I began my WordPress adventure back in 2007 (WordPress version 2.1). My wife was a wedding photographer and needed an easy way to display her work online. I was already familiar with HTML and CSS from my day job. The more I dove into WordPress, the more opportunities I saw to help others. In 2012, I created a virtual service called The WP Trainer and have been providing one-on-one WordPress training and support ever since.

2. Is it just you, or do you have others on your team?

Currently it’s just me, so I’m able to pass the savings on to the customer. I hope to become an employer in the near future, as the need arises.

3. Doesn’t WP Engine offer free hack repair? What makes your service different than theirs?

Yes, they do. WP Reform also offers painless WordPress restoration for non-WP Engine customers who are typically on shared hosting environments.

4. After you fix a hacked site, do your services include helping improve security to prevent future attacks?

Yes, to an extent. I ensure proper file permissions are set to deter future life-altering scripts from being executed and help enforce best practice security measures. I’m always upfront and let the customer know that this is a reactive service. Their host should be actively scanning their server to ensure top security. Many shared hosts overlook this and blame it on WordPress core. If you have ever been told “something with your WordPress is causing the problem,” that’s an immediate red flag your hosting provider doesn’t have your back, nor do they really understand WordPress.

As always, I recommend migrating to WP Engine to ensure real-time security threat detection and ongoing security audits. I believe your web host should have your back 24/7/365. These guys stay on top of WordPress changes.

5. WP Engine offers a free migration tool. Have you seen clients have issues with it? What type of extra service do you provide?

I’m aware of the tool, but many are turned off by it because the tutorial video mentions running the process twice. Many of my customers have larger than average sites. In some cases, this could mean the difference of 6-8 additional hours. Time is money and for the larger guys, ensuring migration is fast and as painless as possible is at the top of their list.

6. Do you setup a new WP Engine account for your customers, or host them on an existing account that you manage?

WP Reform customers setup their own accounts, and then assign admin access to the WP Engine Portal. I focus all my efforts on performance and let WP Engine do what they do best.

SEE: Providing access to WP Engine account

7. Do you have a case study you can share of a performance optimization you’ve done?

Yes (see image below). The benchmark outlines…

• hosting with Bluehost
• after migration to WP Engine
• after the Performance Audit

Traffic doesn’t play much of a role because WP Engine scales with zero effort to accommodate spikes in traffic. Typically, WP Reform customers have 25,000-150,000 unique visitors per month.

8. You guarantee a minimum of 10% increase in website performance. What metric(s) are you using to measure this? Do you offer a money-back guarantee if the 10% increase is not reached?

The 10% increase is based on the combination of:

• Page Speed score
• YSlow score
• page load time
• page size, and
• number of requests

I haven’t seen a reason to offer a money-back guarantee. I typically exceed expectations.

9. Why WP Engine over other managed WordPress hosts?

The WP Engine platform makes managed WordPress hosting simple, scalable, secure and lightning fast, without the need for another plugin. They have knowledgeable staff available 24/7, daily backups, one-click restores, and managed core updates. They offer real-time security threat detection, security audits and code reviews. If you get hacked, they will fix it for free. They’ve put the time in to create the perfect solution for any WordPress installation.

10. Your prices mention “starting as low as…” Does this mean your prices vary based on certain factors? If so, what are those factors?

Prices are based on a few factors:

• file system size
• database size
• complexity of the install

Most mid-sized sites will fall into the ‘starting at’ price range. Others will be quoted accordingly.

Have you used any of WP Reform’s services? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.

If you have questions about anything they offer, post in the comments and I’m sure Chris would be happy to chime in.