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

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

In this episode of Impressive Hosting, Jesse Friedman interviews Tom Fanelli, CEO of Convesio, about their unique approach to WordPress hosting. Tom explains how Convesio differentiates itself as a platform rather than just a hosting company, focusing on containerized WordPress solutions for mid-market to enterprise clients with complex needs. The conversation explores Convesio's evolution from targeting agencies to serving mission-critical commerce sites, including online learning platforms, membership sites, and WooCommerce stores.

"00:45 Introduction

01:44 The Origin Story of Convesio

04:46 Innovations and Pivots

10:16 The Future of Support is Human Attention in Slack, and AI

19:55 Avoiding the Race to the Bottom in Hosting

23:32 How to Level Up with Your Customers

28:38 The Importance of Plugin Compatibility

37:06 Conclusion"

• Convesio
• Unthread – support tool Convesio uses to manage tickets and SLAs in Slack.
• New Relic – performance monitoring tool used for in-depth diagnostics.
• MemberPress – Membership plugin for WordPress.
• Guildenberg – Community initiative for WordPress professionals.

Jesse Friedman hosts Jessica Frick (Pressable) and Joshua Goode (WP Cloud) to define quality managed WordPress hosting. They discuss how true managed hosting provides security through site isolation, malware protection, and vulnerability scanning. Performance considerations include preventing "noisy neighbors," implementing multi-level caching, and maintaining control over third-party services. The conversation highlights the value of reliability through geo-redundant infrastructure and responsive human support. Developer tools like SSH access, WP CLI, and Git integration are essential for agencies. They emphasize that while lower-cost options exist, truly managed hosting delivers peace of mind through thoughtful infrastructure decisions and specialized WordPress expertise.

00:56 Intro

05:23 What is Managed Hosting?

09:10 Security in Managed Hosting

21:26 Performance in Managed Hosting

27:26 The Risks of Relying an External Services

29:33 Metrics in Managed Hosting

31:40 Reliability in Managed Hosting and Service Level Agreements

34:26 Support and Customer Service in Managed Hosting

42:13 Developer Tools and Automation in WordPress Hosting

49:44 Cloning Tool for Agencies

51:33 Conclusion

• Jessica Frick
• Pressable
• Joshua Goode
• WPScan
• PatchStack
• ReviewSignal
• WP-CLI

In this episode of Impressive Hosting, Jesse Friedman speaks with Aaron Ware from Linchpin and Joshua Goode from WP Cloud at Automattic about WordPress hosting for higher education. They discuss approaching university websites, managing peak traffic during enrollment and commencement, and the debate between WordPress Multisite versus single-site implementations. The conversation covers performance optimization, caching solutions for logged-in users, and the "noisy neighbor" problem in shared environments. Throughout, they emphasize making hosting decisions based on an institution's specific needs rather than defaulting to legacy approaches.

00:00 Teaser
00:54 Intro
23:57 Scaling for Success in Higher Education
28:37 Making the Right Decision in Higher Education with Multi-site
30:16 Navigating Caching Challenges in Higher Education
33:16 Multi-site and Higher Education
38:15 Single Site versus Multi-site in Higher Education
44:26 "The Noisy Neighbor:" Performance Scaling Challenges on Multi-Site
51:28 Post-Game Analysis

• Linchpin
• Aaron Ware on Twitter/X - @AaronWare
• Joshua Goode's personal site
• Impressive.host (for questions and comments)
• Impressive Hosting episode with Jim Groom
• Query Monitor plugin
• WordPress Multisite documentation

Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Christian Dawson from the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition) about the upcoming Secure Hosting Alliance launch party at CloudFest 2025. Jesse and Christian discuss how the Alliance aims to establish industry standards for ethical hosting practices and create a trust seal to help consumers distinguish between quality providers and "fly-by-night" operations. Christian also explains how collective action could combat the "race to the bottom" pricing model while maintaining service quality. The conversation also explores CloudFest's unique appeal as the premier hosting industry conference, where professionals gather in Europa Park, Germany for exceptional networking opportunities.

Host & Guests

• Jesse Friedman - Host
• Christian Dawson - Guest

• (00:00) - Teaser
• (01:35) - Cloud Fest: The Ultimate Hosting Conference
• (02:00) - Networking and Experiences at Cloud Fest
• (06:11) - The Secure Hosting Alliance Launch Party
• (09:44) - The Importance of Ethical Hosting
• (18:45) - The Open Web vs. Social Media
• (26:35) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

• i2Coalition
• Secure Hosting Alliance
• Christian Dawson on LinkedIn
• Christian Dawson on SpeakerHub
• CloudFest 2025
• Europa Park
• RSVP to Secure Hosting Alliance events
• Impressive.host (for questions and comments)

Click here to watch a video of this episode.

In this episode of Impressive Hosting, Jesse Friedman speaks with Christian Dawson, co-founder of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), about the newly launched Secure Hosting Alliance. They discuss how competing hosting companies are coming together to establish industry standards for responsible hosting practices and proactively address issues like content moderation and security. Christian explains the importance of Section 230 protections for hosting providers and how losing these protections could harm smaller WordPress hosts. The conversation explores how the Alliance works to educate legislators about the hosting industry while simultaneously encouraging hosts to collaborate on raising standards, demonstrating that competition doesn't have to be cutthroat when working toward a safer, freer internet.

Host & Guests

• Jesse Friedman - Host
• Christian Dawson - Guest

• (00:00) - Teaser
• (00:47) - Intro
• (02:03) - The Secure Hosting Alliance
• (13:13) - Global Influence and Legislation
• (16:56) - The Importance of Section 230
• (23:14) - How and Why to Join the Secure Hosting Alliance

• i2Coalition
• Secure Hosting Alliance
• Christian Dawson on LinkedIn
• Christian Dawson on SpeakerHub
• CloudFest
• The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet
• Electronic Frontier Foundation - Section 230
• Impressive.host (for questions and comments)

Click here to watch a video of this episode.

In this episode of Impressive Hosting, Jesse Friedman is joined by Jim Groom (Reclaim Hosting) and Ronnie Burt (Automattic) to explore the unique hosting challenges and opportunities in higher education. They discuss the power of WordPress Multisite, the importance of giving students their own digital space with "A Domain of One’s Own," and the technical strategies for scaling university-wide hosting. From infrastructure surges during semester starts to the evolution of web literacy in academia, this episode investigates the space shared by higher education design and hosting, open-source, and the open web.

00:00 Intro

05:33 The Domain of One's Own

07:33 Why Higher Education and Institutions Choose Multisite

10:40 The Advantages and Challenges of Multisite

15:51 Interesting Uses of WordPress in Higher Ed

18:45 Editor Usage and Customization in Higher Education

24:06 The Joy of Using "Duct Tape and WordPress" in Higher Ed

30:33 Users and Multisites in Higher Ed

36:36 The Seasonality and Surges of Higher Ed Hosting

38:09 Managing Higher Ed Sites Remotely With Success

44:13 Post-Game Analysis

• bavaTuesdays.com (Jim Groom's blog)
• reclaimhosting.com (Reclaim Hosting's website)
• gravatar.com/ronnie (Ronnie Burt's Gravatar profile)
• gravatar.com (service for avatar management)
• FeedWordPress
• Gravity Forms
• WPCampus
• Sensei LMS
• Tom Woodward’s Blog