Here it is:
1. Find a VPS provider. At GOODHost we offer 512mb OpenVZ VPS for $37/year
2. Open easyengine.io, follow their steps to install a wordpress site
3. Or use my step. Type this on the command line:
sudo ee site create yoursite.com --wpredis -- php7
4. Migrate the contents from the old wordpress site to the new one, or starts anew.
5. Enjoy
Proof? Here’s the result of sucuri performance benchmark of this site, hosted on our LA VPS:
You can test your own wordpress site performance on Sucuri Performance Benchmark
And here’s a result of pingdom speed test from New York (the server is in LA):
You can test your own wordpress site performance on Pingdom Speed Test
Note that i didn’t use a CDN, nor i use any kinds of caching plugins.
Also, as a bonus: If you need an SSL certificate to give your site an enhanced security & a boost in google rankings, you can use this command with easyengine:
sudo ee site update yoursite.com --letsencrypt
This setup is so much faster than the typical wordpress installation on a shared hosting environment, even without static caching.
The installation steps that i use above basically told easyengine to create a wordpress site using PHP 7 (huge performance boost compared to PHP 5), and use Redis as object memory caching.
Of course, with a VPS you’d need to know how to properly secure your server. But that’s a guide for another day, and i’m sure your VPS provider would be more than willing to give a hint or two.