Pipe Wrench is an online magazine with a conversational model.
Published bimonthly, each issue features one longform story that is surrounded by a constellation of interpretations, reactions, and digressions from people of all walks of life.
Readers start with 7,000 words on an idea they’ve never thought about before and then go on to find a piece of short fiction, a playlist, a personal essay, and more, all riffing off it from different points of view.
Each issue of Pipe Wrench is unique. The conversation is fluid, unexpected, and serendipitous.
Read our interview with Michelle Weber, Editor in Chief at Pipe Wrench, below.
Snapshot
- Industry: Publishing/Media
- Company Size: 1-10
The Problem
A low-cost host made sense at the beginning, but it was no match to Pipe Wrench’s anticipated traffic spikes. They needed a host that could scale with their traffic as well as provide expert support when needed.
“Like most businesses when they first create a website, we started building out Pipe Wrench on a host chosen mostly for their low cost. It was a pretty standard hosting environment, with cPanel for site administration and so-so support.
As we got closer to our launch date, and as we saw the incredibly high quality of the contributors who were part of our inaugural issue, we realized that cutting costs with our host was counterproductive.
We had no real way to estimate traffic but anticipated a serious spike, so we needed something that would scale without our needing to request an upgrade to a bigger plan.
As we were doing a lot of the site-building and layout ourselves, we also needed a production site that we felt comfortable working with as non-developers. And we had questions! A lot of questions. So we needed great support.”
The Solution
Pipe Wrench knew they wanted a managed host that could provide easy scaling, easy staging, and great support. After some trials and chat with support, Kinsta just felt right.
“We looked at a range of managed WordPress hosts with a focus on those three elements: easy scaling, easy staging, and great support. I wanted to stay away from cPanel, and I wanted to make sure we had access to real-time support, and wouldn’t be restricted to email as a smaller client.
I signed up for some trials and had some chats with support folks at a few places, and found that support conversations often assumed a level of technical knowledge that we don’t have and were aimed at quick resolutions rather than real understanding.
Kinsta’s UI immediately felt friendly and usable, including the staging site, which is something I’d never used before, and the support was fantastic, from pre-sale to site launch and beyond. I always felt like I was talking to a person who was not only an expert but who was invested in helping me learn.”
The Result
Rather than worrying about their website, the folks at Pipe Wrench can now focus on growing readership, commissioning and editing stories, and building a sustainable business.
“We couldn’t be happier with Kinsta. I really can’t overemphasize how helpful the quality of support and ease of creating and working with staging sites has been.
We had some thorny domain mapping issues due to settings at our original host that took several sessions to resolve, and every one of the Kinsta support folks I worked with were exceptional. I don’t have to worry about our website and can focus on building and editing the magazine, because I know that great help is accessible if I need it.”
