We started work on Spark Web Hosting in 2023, during the inflationary economy. During this time, many business owners and entrepreneurs were hit hard in the pocketbook.

Though web hosting and other companies were raising prices, we realized clients needed premium web hosting and managed services at an affordable price. At the same time, we wanted to use the server and hosting resources we already had in place. Spark Web Hosting was developed as a result of these goals.

Our primary aim was to provide a seamless, well designed, and easy-to-use site. We wanted a professional yet inviting experience that would leave a lasting impression for current and future clients.

The Solution

For Spark Web Hosting we originally investigated automated solutions. These included platforms such as WHMCS (Web Host Manager Complete Solution), and even a custom backend portal with WP-CLI (WordPress command-line interface).

In the end, because of our familiarity with WordPress and WooCommerce, we decided to go this route. For the build, we used Storefront, a WooCommerce bootstrap theme, combined with Elementor. This allowed us to build a WooCommerce site that loaded within 0.5 seconds and was easier for us to customize and maintain. We also added a CDN (content delivery network) with site caching to increase page load speed even more.

We rebuilt the My Account section to provide a custom hosting dashboard, and added in other customizations on the backend. We modified the product page and other WooCommerce features as needed. Our goal for Spark Web Hosting, was always to keep the user experience as visually appealing and easy to use as possible.

This method allowed us to develop fully in-house and design the frontend of our site as needed. It also meant we could separate the hosting and frontend website, which also allowed us to keep the hosting side of things more secure.

Project Scope

Spark Web Hosting was a bespoke WooCommerce project, built to provide a seamless experience for web-hosting clients. Services include the following:

• Branding and design
• UI and UX experience
• Website build
• Complete WooCommerce setup, including tax rates, shipping, payment gateways, and hosting plans (products).
• WooCommerce customizations for product and My Account pages.
• Integration of Freshdesk client support
• Integration of Google Analytics via Site Kit
• Domain setup and DNS
• CDN and site caching integrations
• Continued hosting, maintenance, and support