Today, a proper online presence is crucial to the success of any business, big or small. This may seem like a simple task, but when broken down it includes a multitude of things; content creation, marketing and advertising, sales, security updates, adding new themes and plugins, to name a few. WordPress users (especially non-Geeks) can end up spending more time on website maintenance than running the business itself, which is where managed WordPress hosting can really save the day.
If you are a WordPress beginner you might be wondering, what is managed WordPress hosting?
Managed WordPress hosting is a hosting service that manages all the technical aspects of your WordPress site. The goal of managed WordPress hosting is to have WordPress experts support you in the areas you need extra help so you can focus on the parts of your business, blog or project that you know and love. Think of it as your own personal IT department.
Click here to see what sets managed WordPress hosting apart
Some of the services included in managed WordPress hosting are:
WordPress is your website host, meaning the server and physical location of your website. While WordPress is responsible for managing the overall maintenance of the server, they do not cover the individual technical needs of your personal WordPress site.
Managed WordPress hosting, on the other hand, means that the host takes care of all your website's technical needs. Keep in mind that not all website hosting is managed hosting, so unless you are paying specifically for a managed WordPress hosting service, it is probably not included.
If you have read about different types of website hosting, you may have come across shared hosting as a lower-cost option. Why go with managed WordPress hosting if it costs more? The short answer is, you get what you pay for.
Shared website hosting features websites on all different platforms, not just WordPress, which means that in order to accommodate everyone, the hosting environment needs to be simplified. This can pose a number of issues from potential security risks to your site running slowly, depending on the other sites sharing your host.
Unlike shared website hosting, managed WordPress hosting is designed to handle WordPress sites specifically, which allows for greater customization and understanding of your exact technical needs.
Managed WordPress hosting is a great service, but whether or not you need it is dependent on how much traffic your WordPress site gets, how much technical knowledge you have and how much time and money you have at your disposal. If you are a serious techie or on a tight budget, managed WordPress hosting may not be for you.
For owners of small businesses or high traffic blogs looking to expand and lack the time or technical skills to deal with all that comes with running a WordPress website, Managed WordPress hosting is a great resource.
Managed WordPress hosting may be more costly than other options, but if you factor in potential website crashes and security breaches that could affect business, it is a service that pretty much pays for itself. Not to mention the added stress relief of knowing your WordPress site is in good hands.
If you are on the fence about whether or not you need managed WordPress hosting, weighing the pros and cons might help you make an informed decision.
Still not sure if managed WordPress hosting is for you? Let's break down some of the services included in managed WordPress hosting to help you make up your mind.
Managed WordPress hosting servers are built to handle high levels of traffic, meaning as your business grows, it will not be at the cost of your site's speed. So feel free to scale up without worrying about slowing down.
Managed WordPress hosting means having your own team of WordPress experts at your service at all times. Unlike shared hosts, these experts know WordPress front to back and can advise you on all things tech. No longer will you be left wondering how to fix a bug or which plugins to avoid, your personal managed WordPress council has you covered.
Managed WordPress hosting teams are constantly figuring out how to best optimize your site via proxy content distribution network (CDN) centers and server-level caching, so you don't have to worry about staying on top of the latest plugins for site-level caching. They can also help you remove unnecessary plugins, which means lower security risks.
Managed WordPress hosting should also include automatic backups to ensure your peace of mind every step of the way.
Managed WordPress hosting increases security on your site to the point that a hacking attempt is basically just a waste of time. Managed WordPress hosting provides features including but not limited to active spyware and malware scanning that help boost security specifically in areas of weakness that hackers know to look for on WordPress.
As mentioned above, managed WordPress hosting also ensures that your WordPress core, theme, plugins, etc. are all up to date, which is also extremely important to your site's security. On the off chance that a hacker is somehow able to bypass all of these measures, your managed WordPress hosting team will help you through the recovery process.
Managed WordPress hosting includes tools that help you to best develop your site. These tools may differ depending on your host, but one example of a dev tool is a WordPress staging site which is basically a clone of your website where you can test out different themes and design features before taking them live.
While we covered some of the top benefits of managed WordPress hosting, you can also look forward to many other perks from tools that help you monitor web traffic and customer behavior, to simple website conversion, among many others. Managed WordPress hosting ultimately allows you to scale your business by providing you the best support and tools to do so.
What is managed WordPress hosting going to cost? Managed WordPress hosting does cost more than unmanaged hosting, but the service you receive with managed WordPress hosting is at least equal to that of a system admin or tech support, which you would likely need to hire without WordPress experience.
Service admins, as opposed to managed WordPress hosting experts, generally do not have the same level of experience with WordPress specifically. This means that plugin updates and overall maintenance will still likely be left to you, which takes time and leaves room for error. Even one site crash or security issue could end up costing you more than managed WordPress hosting.
Managed WordPress hosting also ultimately allows you to scale your website by providing you the best support and tools to grow your business in ways that would take much more time and effort on your own. Think of managed WordPress hosting as a shortcut to a successful web presence, which we all know can’t be bad for business.
As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need advice on the pros and cons of regular vs. managed hosting, you want to know which plugins are critical, or you're finding that your site is slow and you need help troubleshooting. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet?
