FastCow Hosting

15/08/2026

Been told your WordPress site is slow, then handed advice that starts with "edit your functions.php file"?

Yeah. Not helpful.

So we wrote the non-technical version. What actually makes a site slow, what to fix first, and how to check it worked, without touching a line of code.

It also covers the mistake we see constantly: installing several speed plugins at once, which usually makes things worse rather than better.

https://fastcow.com/blog/non-technical-guide-to-speed-up-wordpress

How to speed up WordPress without touching code: caching, images, CDNs and hosting, plus what your Core Web Vitals scores actually mean.

15/08/2026

If you run a WooCommerce store, here is the uncomfortable bit:

Of the four things that most commonly break a store, three give you no warning at all. The site keeps loading, the pages look fine, and the orders quietly stop.

Our new guide covers what WooCommerce maintenance really involves, how often each job needs doing, what it costs if you pay someone, and a monthly routine you can follow yourself.

If you only take one thing from it: place a real test order once a month, through every payment method you offer. It is the only check that tests everything at once.

https://fastcow.com/blog/woocommerce-maintenance

What WooCommerce maintenance covers, how often each job needs doing, what it costs and who does it well, plus a monthly routine you can run yourself.

10/08/2026

What font are you looking at right now?

If you are a developer, it is probably the single thing you stare at most in your working life, and there is a good chance you picked it in under two minutes and never revisited it.

We compared 16 free coding fonts and 5 paid ones, with every single font shown in the same four lines of real code so you can actually see the difference instead of taking our word for it.

The short version: the free ones have caught up. JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Cascadia Code, IBM Plex Mono and a dozen others are free, properly licensed, and genuinely as good as the paid options for most people.

Also worth knowing: increasing your line height to around 1.6 will probably do more for your eyes than changing the font at all. 👀

Free and paid picks, licences, ligatures and how to install them:
https://fastcow.com/blog/best-coding-fonts

The best coding fonts compared, free and paid. 16 monospace typefaces shown in real code, with licences, ligature support and how to install them.

08/08/2026

Thinking of moving your shop from Shopify to WooCommerce? 😀

Here is the one that catches almost everyone out.

When you export your products from Shopify, the file does not contain your images. It contains links to your images, sitting on Shopify's servers. Close your Shopify account and those links stop working, so a few weeks after launch your product photos quietly disappear.

The fix takes no effort at all: keep Shopify open and paid for a month after you go live. That is it.

We have written the whole process up properly. What actually transfers and what does not, what it costs, how long it really takes, the redirect map that stops you losing your Google rankings, and what replaces each of your Shopify apps.

No email required, no upsell. Just the guide.

👉 https://fastcow.com/blog/shopify-to-woocommerce-migration

Migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce without losing rankings or orders: what transfers, what it costs, and the redirect map that protects your SEO.

06/08/2026

Most "cheap" WordPress hosting isn't cheap. You just don't find out until renewal.

We just published a comparison of 8 WordPress hosts for beginners, and the numbers are eye-opening. Take SiteGround's StartUp plan: it advertises £1.99/month and renews at £13.99. That's a 603% price jump most people don't see coming until the bill lands.

In the guide, we break down:

→ Why you should calculate true 2-year cost, not the flashy intro rate
→ The 5 things that actually matter for beginners (predictable pricing, real support, free migrations, automatic backups, and current PHP versions)
→ Why managed hosting benefits beginners more than "power users." The host handles what you couldn't configure yourself anyway
→ The hidden risks of ultra-cheap plans: slow support, paid backups, outdated PHP, migration fees

The bottom line: you're rarely choosing between cheap and expensive. You're choosing between a price you know now and a price you find out later.

Full comparison (including Bluehost, SiteGround, DreamHost, WP Engine, Kinsta, Hostinger, and WordPress.com) here: https://fastcow.com/blog/best-wordpress-hosting-for-beginners

The best WordPress hosting for beginners in 2026, compared on real renewal prices, contract length and PHP support, checked against each host’s own page.

06/08/2026

Thinking about adding a slider to your WordPress site?

Most "best slider plugin" round-ups are quoting prices that have not been right for years, so we checked every one against the official page and printed the date we did it.

The short version:

Best free option: Smart Slider 3. Rated 4.9 out of 5 from over 1,100 reviews, 800,000+ sites running it, and the paid upgrade is $49 once rather than every year.

Best for animated hero sections: Slider Revolution at $45 a year, or $209 for up to 250 sites if you build for clients.

And the mistake we see most: lazy loading your first slide. It feels like an optimisation, but that image is usually the one Google times your page load by, so you are slowing down the exact thing being measured.

Full guide with pricing, ratings and a step by step setup:
https://fastcow.com/blog/wordpress-slider-plugins

The best WordPress slider plugins in 2026, compared on real ratings, installs and prices, plus how to add a slider without hurting Core Web Vitals.

05/08/2026

Starting a WooCommerce store? A lot of the guides out there are still telling you to build your checkout with a shortcode. That hasn't been how it works since 2023.🙂

We've written the current version: hosting, install, products, payments, shipping, tax, and the step most people skip, which is placing a real test order before you launch.

Plus honest numbers on what it actually costs. Spoiler: a domain and hosting, and nothing else until you're selling.

A practical guide to starting a WooCommerce store: hosting, install, products, payments, shipping, tax, and testing checkout properly before you launch.

04/08/2026

Moving a WordPress site to a new host? The file copy is the easy bit. The DNS switch is where people lose orders.

Our new guide covers the whole job: prep, the three migration methods, a ten-step manual walkthrough, the DNS cutover explained properly, and what usually breaks afterwards. Plus how to move a WooCommerce store without losing anything in the process.

https://fastcow.com/blog/how-to-migrate-wordpress-to-a-new-host

Or let us do it. Free migrations on every plan, done by hand, and you sign off on a preview URL before anything changes.

A step-by-step guide to migrating a WordPress site to a new host without downtime: backups, files, database, DNS cutover and the things that usually break.

30/03/2026

Chris from Light Bulb Web Design moves over 250+ client websites to FastCow! Listen to Chris's story and see what benefits he gained after moving.

How We Migrated 200+ Websites with Zero Downtime — FastCow Case StudyRunning a web design agency means your hosting has to work. For Light Bulb Web Design, s...

24/12/2025

Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!

May your holidays be filled with joy, laughter, good food, and cherished moments with loved ones. Here's to health, happiness, and new adventures in 2026!

From FastCow with lots of love.