Hey fellow web developers! I'm currently managing a multi-site WordPress network that includes over 50 sites. We experience massive traffic spikes, peaking around a million visits per day during certain seasons, which completely bogs down the backend. This issue prevents our content creators from doing their work, leading to a flood of messages my way. The external team that originally set everything up does their best, but they can be slow to respond to my requests. As a freelancer maintaining a network I didn't build, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I've optimized the sites as much as I can, but I'm at a point where I can only suggest that ownership upgrade our servers (currently hosted with WP Engine). What can I do to improve the situation? Any advice would be appreciated!
6 Answers
You might want to consider switching to Kinsta for WordPress hosting. Their CDN and caching capabilities are designed to handle large amounts of traffic much better.
Thanks for all the thoughts! I'll definitely consider these suggestions and see what we can do moving forward.
If you're using WP Engine, part of what you pay for is their support, so definitely have them get involved. They're usually pretty good at helping with issues like this.
Do you have Cloudflare set up? It can help with caching and reducing the load on your server during high traffic times.
Have you checked if the heavy traffic is coming from actual users or if it's bot traffic? That could make a big difference in how to approach the problem.
You're in a tough spot since you didn't build the network, but you're doing the right thing. Here are some tips: 1. Keep all your communications documented about recommendations, especially regarding server upgrades—it'll protect you. 2. Encourage ownership to open a support ticket with WP Engine focused on backend performance during peak times. They might need to escalate this to a higher plan. 3. Check into WP Engine's caching settings; there might be tweaks you can make to reduce backend strain. 4. Clearly define the boundaries of your role with the team—let them know you can suggest solutions, but ultimate decisions on scaling need to come from the ownership or platform team. You're not failing—just escalate the issues where needed!
Great advice! Keeping everything in writing and setting clear expectations is key.
Absolutely! They should be able to weigh in on whether your setup is optimized for high traffic.