Why 3000 Websites Use BionicWP Fully Managed WordPress Platform: Q/A with CEO Michael Borgelt

Michael Borgelt has run an agency for 14 years and he noticed one problem with all his web hosting partners: they do not value customer service as much as agencies do.

So he founded BionicWP to take that agency-level service in the web hosting world and solve the common pain points business owners and agencies often face when managing WordPress sites:

• Dealing with technical issues
• Managing WP updates
• Site speed optimization
• Editing content

In this interview for Website Planet, Michael explained to me what’s unique in the way BionicWP solves these common frustrations for the over 3000 websites hosted on their one-of-a-kind fully Managed+ WordPress platform.

P.S. WP agency owners should read on to find out the next two big things in the industry

What problems are you solving for your customers and audience?

SUPPORT and SPEED are the two big headaches for agency owners managing WordPress sites that we’re tackling at BionicWP.

As an agency owner, I tested 42 different hosting solutions looking for amazing support and fast load sites. As I tested these other solutions I figured out that either the support was less than ideal or the speed of their service was not what I was demanding for my clients.

That’s why BionicWP was born — to serve everyone from freelancers and small businesses to agencies, helping them smooth out any WordPress issues with a truly unique set of features and services. We’re all about going the extra mile for our customers.

Forget the hassle of dealing with technical troubles yourself or calling your developer; BionicWP will sort it out for you – Plugin conflicts, weird site behaviors, you name it, we’re on it. We also manage all WordPress updates (core, theme, plugins) and carefully check to make sure nothing goes haywire.

We optimize your site to score great on Google Pagespeed Insights. If for some reason your site isn’t getting amazing scores, we break down the issues and send over a detailed report with what is going wrong and what can be changed on the website to make it run better.

We also offer “unlimited edits” to help agencies streamline their business. This is anything from changing out text and images to adding blog posts for clients.

All this stuff usually eats up tons of time for agencies. That’s where BionicWP comes in, offering a one-stop solution to these common frustrations.

Which types of companies benefit the most from what you offer?

The companies that benefit most from BionicWP’s offerings are diverse, but they generally fall into a few key categories:

• Digital Agencies: Agencies often manage multiple websites for clients and need reliable, speedy hosting, plus hands-on support to handle technical issues efficiently. BionicWP does all of this.

• Freelancers: Freelancers who manage websites for clients can save time and effort with our support and speed optimizations. This lets them concentrate more on their core services and less on the technicalities of website management.

• Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs): SMBs that rely on their WordPress site for their online presence greatly benefit from our services. They often lack the in-house technical expertise to manage website performance and security, which we provide.

They eventually choose BionicWP over competitors for several compelling reasons:

• Unmatched, Proactive Support and Customer Service: We take pride in providing exceptional, personalized support. Unlike some hosts that redirect you to developers for technical issues, our team tackles problems head-on, offering solutions directly.
• DFY Speed Optimization: Our commitment to speed is not just a claim; we actively work on optimizing sites to achieve top performance scores, crucial for user experience and search engine rankings. If you ever see any issue, just email us and we take care of it.
• Hands-On Management and Updates: We handle WordPress updates and manage sites with meticulous care, including regression checks to prevent issues post-update, saving our clients time and effort.
• Proven Track Record with Agencies: Our background in the agency world gives us an edge in understanding their challenges and needs, making us a preferred choice for these clients.
• Server Setup: Our servers are designed just to handle WordPress and our team is all WordPress experts from around the globe, so you won’t have to worry about a slow loading site or waiting for someone to assist you with a website trouble.
• Autoscaling Resources: Our system is built to scale up when your website needs it, automatically. If your next needs more PHP works, it is automatically provided. Same goes for RAM as well.
• Failover: If for some reason a server has an issue or goes down, we have a standby server that the traffic is rolled over to immediately so there is no downtime.

Since you started, what helped you grow and retain your audience?

Providing stellar, responsive customer service has been a cornerstone of our company’s growth. By solving issues promptly and going beyond basic assistance, we’ve built a loyal customer base that appreciates our hands-on approach, while being always transparent about our services, including performance reporting and honest advice, has built trust and credibility among our users.

By consistently delivering and improving website performance, we’ve attracted and retained customers who value fast, reliable hosting. Keeping our technology and services up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in WordPress hosting has helped a lot with that too. For example, BionicWP recently introduced DNS management in the platform and created white label site reports to see how your website is performing.

No one else on the internet is offering a solution with unlimited edits at our price point with web hosting and DFY technical support included. Agencies find this super helpful.

What tools are you using to run your business and daily activities?

Front – Front is a customer operations platform that enables teams to streamline communication and deliver exceptional service at scale.

Slack – We use slack for internal communication

Custom built dashboard – We have our custom built dashboard that we use to manage all the sites for our customers.

What perspective do you have about where your industry is headed?

While the hosting industry has made significant strides in providing user-friendly solutions, there’s still a common misconception among users about the level of technical expertise required. In fact, many agencies and businesses may not fully grasp the intricacies of server management, security protocols, and performance optimization.

This lack of understanding can lead to unrealistic expectations or underestimation of the importance of choosing a specialized hosting provider. BionicWP, with its emphasis on personalized support and in-house issue resolution, addresses this gap by offering a hosting experience tailored to the specific needs of WordPress users.

Besides that, as the industry moves towards more specialized and managed services, challenges and opportunities arise…

One challenge is the need to balance automation with human touch, ensuring that users receive personalized support in addition to automated optimizations. The increasing complexity of cyber threats poses a continuous challenge, requiring hosting providers to stay vigilant and invest in robust security measures. Opportunities lie in embracing emerging technologies to further automate routine tasks, enhance security, and provide innovative features that simplify website management.

An alternative trajectory could involve a decentralized hosting model using blockchain for enhanced security. While presenting potential benefits, this approach faces scalability challenges.

What’s in the roadmap for your future?

We recently introduced a couple of features in our platform, like DNS management, white-labeled reporting on the sites, activity logs and edge caching, and that’s not all, we have a lot of features in the backlog for the coming year for our customers so they can get the best out of the platform. This can all be viewed on our roadmap.

Scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2024, the platform is preparing to introduce a comprehensive white-label feature that allows agencies to leverage our platform and hosting under their brand. This can be pushed as far as our team responding directly to our agencies clients under their email, domain and branding standards.This feature is poised to revolutionize the way agencies operate, allowing them to streamline their processes and concentrate on delivering top-notch services to their clients.