However, you may have realized that there are so many providers to choose from. Before you get overwhelmed by their sheer volume, allow us to help you. But, before going to that list, here are a few terms to understand that you will come across when researching hosting providers.

Terms to Familiarize Yourself With

1. Speed – This refers to how much time is taken before you receive the first byte from a server. If your server loads in 200 to 350 ms, it’s considered fast. If it takes between 400 and 700 ms, it’s average. If your server takes any more time than that, it’s considered slow.
2. Customer service – You will undoubtedly encounter problems occasionally with your website. You need to pick a hosting provider with quality customer support and whose customer care personnel responds promptly.
3. Uptime – The uptime, written as a percentage, refers to the amount of time that your website is up and running on the hosted server. You want this percentage to be high, and some hosting providers have uptimes of up to 99.9%.
4. Shared hosting – This type of hosting is commonly used by bloggers and beginners. Your website is hosted alongside multiple other websites on a single physical server.
5. Managed hosting – This type of hosting refers to when the hosting provider will lease an entire server to a client. The hosting provider then manages these systems on the client’s behalf.
6. VPS hosting – A VPS is a Virtual Private Server. When you pick VPS hosting, you get the privacy and control afforded to managed servers while still using a shared server.
7. Dedicated Server hosting – Just like in managed hosting, you get to lease a server on a contract from the hosting provider. However, in this case, you will manage it yourself, and you have full control.
8. Free hosting – In this case, the hosting provider hosts you for free. However, because it is a business and the company has to make money, in most cases, the hosting provider will run ads on your website.

6 Hosting Providers to Consider

When you have a WordPress website, you have to have a good hosting provider and provide good, professionally written content. If you use a write my essay service to get good content, which may include white papers, blog articles, various essays, ads, emails, etc., all that’s left is the host.

The next step may be easier said than done as you have to find a hosting provider and migrate your website to their servers. You may have to do this several times until you find the right one. However, you can shorten this trial period significantly by testing out some of the providers listed below.

BlueHost

This is a WordPress-recommended hosting provider and one of the most popular hosting providers in the world. They are a great option for beginners. Their basic package offers one of the cheapest hosting options for beginners. Each of its packages has some perks you can take advantage of. WordPress installation is straightforward, and so is migration. They have great offers, and you get a free domain name and a free SSL with each package.

Pros

• This website is officially recommended by WordPress.
• You will find it extremely straightforward to set up your website.
• Some of their packages offer a staging site where you can run your plugins and run other tests before officially launching any changes.
• You get free migration with most plans, free SSL, and a free domain name.
• Their customer care is fantastic, and you can contact them through phone or live chat.
• Strong uptime and speed.
• They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

• You can’t pay for hosting on a month every month plan that doesn’t offer free site transfer.
• Their customer service may be slow sometimes.

WP Engine

This hosting provider offers excellent managed hosting solutions and is therefore used by some impressive clients like National Geographic and Yelp. This hosting provider does not aim for the majority of websites but for those looking for extra bandwidth, storage, security, and site speed with their website. For that reason, beginners and websites that are just starting may be better off with other hosting providers as some of the features offered by this powerful hosting provider may be overkill for their website.

Pros

• Your website will have excellent uptime.
• They have great customer care services.
• They offer to back up your website daily.
• They have great security measures in place and will monitor and protect you against real-time threats.
• They have a great staging area.
• You can choose between Google Cloud Platform ad Amazon Web Services cloud hosting.

Cons

• Customers on the startup plan may have limited phone support.
• You don’t get an email with your website.
• They don’t sell domains.
• To optimize their speeds, you may not be allowed to install some WordPress plugins.
• You will not get an unmanaged hosting option with them.

GreenGeeks

If you are looking for a website that focuses on security, reliability, and performance, this may be the hosting provider for you. What’s more, if you have a green thumb, you can rest easy as this is one of the most if not the most eco-friendly hosting providers out there. They have a 300% energy commitment, and they keep it by channeling three times their energy use back into the grid as renewable energy. You will get automatic software and plugin updates, a free domain, free backups, and great security.

Pros

• They have fast web performance as you get SSD storage.
• You will get free site migration, free SSL, and a free domain name.
• You can try them risk-free as they have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• You can pay for your website monthly.
• You get automatic updates for both software and plugins.
• They are a very environmentally friendly company.

Cons

• They do not have any managed hosting plans.
• If you are just a beginner, you may find their starting prices to be a bit expensive.
• Renewal prices aren’t low.
• If you decide to pay for your website monthly, you may need to pay a one-time setup fee.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy is another great hosting provider with some cheap plans and offering great features. They have great speeds and uptimes. They offer a one-click installation for several applications, including WordPress. Their cheapest plan has some great features like 100 GB of storage and an unmetered bandwidth besides getting a free domain. Of course, there are even more perks with the more expensive plans.

Pros

• Their basic plan is great for beginners.
• They have good customer support, particularly for calls.
• Installation for the website is simple.
• They have excellent uptime and speed.

Cons

• Some missing features with their basic plan include an SSL certificate and site migration.
• You may have to get a longer contract to benefit from their discounts.
• Renewal costs are much higher.
• Customer support via chat may be slower than calling.
• No cloud hosting.

SiteGround

If you have read many such articles, you know that this hosting provider has built quite a reputation for itself. It’s so good that it is another WordPress-recommended website. They offer you a managed WordPress website at great price points. There are different packages to pick from, each with various features. For example, some packages have a staging area, SSL certifications, and free PCI compliance. The built-in WordPress installer makes installing your WordPress site a breeze, and they have a customer support center ready and willing to walk you through any problems you may encounter.

Pros

• Stable speeds and good uptimes for your website.
• They offer free site migration.
• They are officially recommended by WordPress.
• You get a free SSL certificate with some packages.
• There are features that anyone from beginner level to advanced can take advantage of.
• You get a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

• Their renewal rates are relatively higher than their starter rates.
• They have no free plan, and their cheapest plan is limited.
• You cannot get a free domain name.
• If you chose to pay monthly, you would have to pay a startup fee.

DreamHost

If age counts for anything, then this hosting provider has been providing consistently good service for over 20 years. They have a shared hosting plan that works well with WordPress. They have several plans to pick from, and they come with unlimited bandwidth and storage space. When you invest in the plans, you get a 97-day money-back guarantee allowing you to test them out risk-free.

Pros

• They have great speeds.
• Their uptime is above average.
• They have one of the best money-back guarantees offers at 97 days.
• Their cheapest plans have a lot to offer and are packed with many useful features.
• You get unlimited network transfer limits and disk space.
• They are a green hosting website.
• You won’t get exorbitantly high renewal fees with them.

Cons

• Their customer support could be better, particularly live chats.
• They don’t use cPanel, which may be confusing and tedious for old users.
• They don’t offer free migration. You have to pay for it.

1. Use Promo Codes

Using promo codes is one of the best and easiest ways to get free hosting. Using valid coupon codes allows you to get high-quality web hosting at the lowest possible cost[i]. Through the deal, the hosting provider might offer you shared hosting, which is going to be sufficient for you if you’re just looking to start a regular website. Through shared hosting, you will have to share resources, bandwidth, and storage space with the other users on the server. However, unless you are experiencing high levels of traffic, a shared hosting environment will be able to provide enough resources for your needs.

The bonus of using a promo code is you often get more resources than you would get with just a free hosting service. Of course, you need to pay attention to how long the promo period lasts until the cost goes back to the usual amount. As long as you keep track of the schedule, you shouldn’t have any surprises on your bill.

2. Sign up for WordPress

Do you want to start a blog? Then you should consider WordPress.com for your site. According to a web technology survey firm W3Techs[ii], WordPress now powers more than 30% of the web. WordPress is a free and open-source software, which means you can use it, and modify it as you want without having to pay any monthly fees.

The reason why WordPress is free is that no one company owns it. Because of this, thousands and thousands of people have contributed to the success of the platform. There are thousands of website themes out there that allow you to customize your website exactly how you want it. No matter what your site topic is, you can find something that works for you. You can make your WordPress site private here to have a secure site.

Don’t confuse WordPress.com with WordPress.org. WordPress.com is the free version, and you will have ads on your blog, and there are a few restrictions. For example, the name of your site will be yourname.wordpress.com. If you want to get rid of “WordPress” from your domain name and get rid of ads, you will have to pay to upgrade.

Watch this video to help you set up a WordPress site in just 24 simple steps.

3. Use your student ID

Most students out there are strapped for cash, and if they want to start a website, it might not be a luxury they can afford. However, there are some websites that provide one year of hosting. Often, all you have to do is sign up with your .edu email address to get a free website. If you do a bit of searching, you can often find other sites that will provide additional savings, like free domain privacy protection or cover the cost of domain registration fees for the life of the account. Using your student email address is perfect if you have a school or college project. Of course, before you sign up, look at design templates to make sure you can make your new site work for you.

4. Enter a competition

This one might be the hardest to achieve, but sometimes businesses or blogs will host competitions for a free year of website hosting and domain registration. Do a quick Google search to find out if there are any contests you can enter. Even if it comes with a few strings attached to it, it might be worth it if it is free!

What to consider when choosing a hosting provider

When you are just starting out, chances are pretty good that a shared hosting plan will be more than sufficient. Just make sure to pay attention to these features.

1. Speed

According to research, 47% of consumers[iii] expect a website to load within two seconds. If you don’t want to see hordes of people bouncing off your website, you might want to look at the speed that the hosting plan offers. If you end up using WordPress, you can download plugins to help with caching to speed up your site. However, cheaper hosting providers typically will be slower than more expensive plans.

2. Security

Unfortunately, the average small business website is attacked 44 times a day. Before signing a hosting contract, learn to see if the hosting provider offers free, regular backups that you can use if you need to back up your computer to a safe point. Sometimes, you can even find free hosting plans that offer free SSL Certificates which can help encrypt all sensitive information – like credit card numbers – and offer DDoS prevention.

3. Support

Even if you are a full-time website developer, you might run into a situation where you need assistance from the hosting provider. Many hosting providers will provide support via email, chat, ticket, or phone support. You should always look at the turnaround time and see how long it takes them to resolve any issues. A host should be able to respond quickly and intelligently so that you won’t experience any unnecessary downtime. Look for a host that offers 24/7 support. You don’t want to have to wait until business hours if you are having issues with your site. Find a host that has a strong reputation for responding quickly to any problems.

Just because you have a free blog, doesn’t mean it has to look cheap. There are tons of great website-building tools and themes out there. Your website theme and design can still look amazing, even if you didn’t pay a dime! Use free resources like plugins to fully customize your website and make it as safe, beautiful, and functional as possible. You can also visit Easy Hosting Guide to get more details about free web hosting and read reviews!

Reference list

[i]https://s3.amazonaws.com/bluehost-promo-coupon/index.html

[ii]https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/05/wordpress-now-powers-30-of-websites/

[iii]https://neilpatel.com/blog/loading-time/

However, there is another choice that is nearly as important. Web hosting. Many people don’t think much about the web hosting they choose. They simply Google the term and take one of the first options that are offering good rates or discounts. Maybe they simply choose a service with a well-known name.

Unfortunately, this is not a worthwhile way to choose the hosting and it can cause you trouble later on (as many users of hosting sites such as GoDaddy have reported). Web hosting is very important, no matter what platform you’re using to build your site. When using WordPress, you want to host that caters particularly to your needs and works seamlessly with WordPress.

Here’s how to decide on the best WordPress website hosting.

Down and out?

The reason for choosing web hosting carefully is so important is that it is the biggest factor that determines whether or not you stay online. Any service has occasional outages, but some are simply worse than others. You can use online tools to see how often a website goes down, but if you want an accurate assessment of user experience, you need to see what users say. After all, there’s a difference between going down for a few minutes here and there at off-peak times, and an hour-long peak-time outage.

Customers will be able to tell you what happened during the outage – how the hosting service handled it and whether they were updated often and treated well.

Read customer reviews, but make sure you’re looking at real reviews that haven’t been paid for.

WordPress tools and optimization

You should also look for hosting that is particularly useful for WordPress. Many hosting services offer tools and optimization specifically for WordPress. This is especially helpful for beginners but is even worthwhile for those who have tons of WordPress experience.

SiteGround, for example, provides a one-click install, free transfer, auto updates and backups, and 24/7 WordPress support. A2 Hosting is known to be particularly versatile for WordPress users and offers knowledgeable 24/7 support.

Upgrades and downgrades

We all want our websites to be successful but have little guarantee from the get-go of how successful they would be. This is why many people start on a midrange hosting plan, that will cater to them as long as their website isn’t getting millions of visitors. However, along the way, your needs will change. Either you’ll realize you overestimated your audience growth, or you’ll begin to expect far more visitors. Either way, you need hosting that allows you to easily upgrade or downgrade. It should keep most of the features intact even if you’re downgrading and shouldn’t negatively affect your website functioning. Ultimately, you’ll want versatile WordPress web hosting with a good reputation for uptime and customer service. Don’t simply go with the first Google result!

What to Consider When Choosing a Hosting Solution

For those who are just starting with their website, a shared hosting plan should be able to take care of your needs. Additionally, those who are just beginning should pay close attention to the allowable bandwidth, whether the hosting solution allows multiple domains on a single plan, and the pricing, including how cheap it gets if you decide to commit to a longer hosting plan (such as 36 months).

Bluehost

Bluehost can cost as much as $49.99 a month depending on the plan you choose, but they provide generous discounts for new customers, such as $2.95/mo for WordPress hosting.

The main features of Bluehost include:

• 30 GB of disk space
• 2 GB of RAM
• 30 GB of backup space
• Up to 5 WordPress sites
• Free IP address
• Free domain name
• 24/7 support
• Free SiteLock Pro security
• Free SiteLock CDN
• Free SSL
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Even the most basic Bluehost plan is suitable for sites getting about 100 million monthly visits. Bluehost plans are built on VPS and typically provide good site speed. Plans with Bluehost include advertising offers from Yahoo, Google, Bing, and more which can help you grow your business. However, Bluehost can be a bit expensive for those without coupon codes and there have been some frequent issues with support.

Cloudways

Cloudways is a user-friendly hosting platform offering essential features for seamless website management. With industry-best performance, exceptional 24/7 support, and enterprise-grade security, Cloudways ensures hassle-free hosting starting from $11/month.

Key Features of Cloudways:

• Advanced Security Measures (DDoS Mitigation, Vulnerability Scanner, Automated Protection with Fail2Ban)

• Performance Optimization (Built-in Caching Mechanisms, Up-to-Date PHP Versions, Dedicated Environments)

• Enterprise-Grade CDN Integration (Cloudflare with Edge Caching, Smart Routing, Image Optimization)

• Application-Level Support (In-Depth Assistance, Proactive Application Monitoring, Private Slack Channel)

• Flexible Scaling and Choice (Seamless Vertical Scaling, Renowned Cloud Providers, 1-Click App Deployment)

• Streamlined Workflows (Git Integration, Teams, and Projects, Server & App Cloning)

• Easy Control and Management (User-Friendly UI, 1-Click Backup & Restore, Custom Varnish Settings)

• 24/7 Real-Time Server Monitoring (Constant Surveillance, New Relic Integration, Cloudways Bot Notifications)

• SafeUpdates (Automated WordPress core, theme, and plugin update detection and deployment)

• Cloudflare Enterprise Add-On (Enterprise-grade performance and security)

• Cloudways Autonomous (Platform for high-availability cloud management with advanced load balancing and autoscaling)

Cloudways caters to diverse customer needs, offering a range of options from high-performance servers to mid-range affordable hosting platforms. This flexibility accommodates various budgets and allows hosting websites to run custom PHP software. If you seek an ideal managed hosting provider that aligns with your requirements while providing room for growth, Cloudways is an excellent choice.

WP Engine

WP Engine plans start at $29 a month and their most basic plan is suitable for sites getting about 25,000 visits per month. The main features of a WordPress hosting solution plan with WP Engine include:

• 60-day money-back guarantee
• Free automated migration
• Free SSL certificate
• 10 GB local storage
• 24/7 support
• Fast site speed
• Transferrable installs
• Curated plugins

Perhaps the biggest advantage to using WP Engine is site speed, which just might make up for the fact that it’s not the cheapest hosting solution. Additionally, you get daily backups and there don’t seem to be any issues with downtime, which is certainly a plus. Perhaps most notable is their expert support, given that WP Engine support is a three-time Stevie Award Winner for best customer service.

SiteGround

SiteGround plans start at $3.95 a month and are most suitable for sites that average about 10,000 visits per month. Its main features include:

• 30-day money-back guarantee
• Free setup and transfer
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Free daily backups
• Unlimited emails and databases
• Free CloudFlare CDN
• 10 GB web space
• 24/7 support
• Free app installs
• cPanel and SSH access

One of the biggest advantages Siteground has is its response times, considering it’s one of the fastest hosting plans. Additionally, Siteground’s sign-up process is quick and easy to follow. It includes a WordPress built-in installer, which saves you time and effort. One disadvantage to using Siteground is that once you start to bring in more than 10,000 visitors a month, you have to upgrade your plan. For some, only 10 GB of space can be a problem.

A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting plans start at $3.92 a month, which is certainly exciting compared to other WordPress hosting solutions we’ve mentioned. The main features of their most basic plan include:

• 1 website
• 5 databases
• Unlimited transfer
• Unlimited storage
• Anytime money-back guarantee
• Free SSL and SSD
• cPanel control panel
• 99% uptime guarantee

Quite obviously, A2 Hosting is one of the more affordable WordPress hosting solutions. Additionally, it’s incredibly easy to get started to take advantage of their low prices. They also offer incredibly fast hosting services and dependable customer support. The A2 Optimized WordPress comes with WordPress already installed which saves you time and effort.

InMotion Hosting

InMotion offers three different plans, ranging from $3.49 to $7.99 a month. Its main features include:

• Unlimited disk space
• 2 websites on one account
• Unlimited monthly transfer
• Free domain registration or transfer
• Free data backups
• Free no-downtime website transfers
• WordPress pre-installed
• 24/7 US-based support
• 90-day money-back guarantee
• As many as 6 parked domains and 25 subdomains
• Shared SSL included
• Unlimited email accounts with IMAP

InMotion works incredibly fast because it runs on SSD drives and the setup is super easy since it comes with WordPress already installed. Also, it should be known that if you want to pay as little as $3.49 a month, you have to sign up for a two-year plan. Plus, there’s no mention of the kind of traffic the hosting plan can handle, which may be a concern for some.

Kinsta

Kinsta provides premium hosting solutions for a wide variety of users from starters and SMBs to bigger enterprises with high-traffic sites. Their plans start from $30/ month including free CDN, Letsencrypt SSL, and 20 000 monthly visitors.

Kinsta’s fully managed WordPress hosting features include:

• Free SSL and CDN
• 24/7 support by WordPress developers
• 13 global data centers
• Free white glove site migrations
• Automatic scaling to handle traffic spikes
• 1440 daily uptime checks per site
• Daily backups
• One-click staging area
• SSH, WP-CLI, and Git support
• Custom-designed site management dashboard
• Full page caching at the server-level
• Free hack fix

Kinsta’s premium managed-to-host is powered by Google Cloud Platform and Google’s premium tier network. They guarantee blazing-fast site speed, and your site is handled and monitored by a group of WordPress experts. With the custom-designed dashboard, you can create staging sites, choose your data center, and track resource usage, visitor analytics, and billing information.

Conclusion

It can be quite the intimidating task to try to select the best WordPress hosting to serve for your site. With so many web hosting companies claiming to be the best, it’s hard to narrow down your options and decide on one. That’s why it’s most important to pay close attention to your specific needs and wants, including the type of website you have, the number of visitors you get each month, and your budget.

By carefully comparing the different hosting solutions, you can better understand which would best suit your needs. Keep in mind both your current needs and your future needs, in order to make the best decision for you. That being said, rest assured that although one may work better for you individually, each of the five hosting solutions mentioned above were included because they are quality companies providing quality services, so we highly doubt you would be extremely disappointed with any of them. To each their own, so good luck on finding which is yours.

Web Hosting in General

Considering the technological advancements these days, web hosting has become a critical part of every online business. When we say web hosting, it’s a kind of service that makes your site accessible to viewers on the Internet. It enables individuals and companies to store some information, images, and other content that covers your website. As the hosting provider gives space on its server, people across the globe can now view your site by searching through the Internet. If you hire a hosting provider, you should expect some features from them such as FTP access, email accounts for a domain name, and WordPress support.

Moreover, there’s a wide range of web hosting services to choose from nowadays. Depending on your purpose and budget, you can take advantage of the following services to keep your site running online:

• Domain hosting – It’s a less expensive choice for small business owners because it gives you the authority to host your website wherever you want whether on a free hosting service or an Internet service provider.
• Free web hosting – If you’re running a personal site, free web hosting is all that you need. It provides all kinds of features that you require to operate a smaller, personal website.
• Paid hosting – It means you have to pay for the storage and service offered by the provider. The more dollars you spend, the more and better features you can get such as database support, extra bandwidth, SSL, and many more.
• Internet service providers – It’s an inexpensive type of web hosting service that provides a small amount of storage and some tools to make the site’s uploading speed faster.
• Direct Internet access – This means you have absolute and full control of your web server since you host your site yourself. If you’re looking for the security of your web, having this type of web hosting service can be a great option.

If you want to learn how you should choose the right web host for you, online resources like makeawebsitehub.com can provide you with informative reviews about some of the best providers in the industry.

Benefits of Web Hosting

Now that you’ve already understood the role of web hosting in making your website available to a variety of viewers on the Internet, it’s time to take a look at some of its essential benefits. Below are some of the reasons why you should start investing in reliable web hosting services for your business:

1. Minimized loss of customers and revenue

Having a poor web host is equivalent to having more website downtime. It means your website usually suffers from issues like being unavailable or disrupted. Remember, the more time your site goes down, the more you lose customers, their trust, and potential revenues.

2. Improved site performance and SEO

With a good web hosting service, your site’s loading speed will be much faster, helping you boost your search engine rankings over time. A site that takes more time to load can lead to a poor user experience and a high bounce rate. Thus, it’s best to use a good web host to improve site performance and SEO to give your visitors the best user experience they can get online.

3. Better security

There can be a lot of reasons why your website needs a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. You’ll know that an SSL is there if you have HTTPS on your site which means better security for your business. To do that, you should work with an experienced web hosting company that will host with a secure IP address to provide a more secure website for all your online visitors. Always keep in mind that better site security is an indication that all confidential and sensitive information is duly protected. In other words, all data coming from your site is encrypted, and any hacker can’t be able to access any info from it.

4. Better support

With excellent web hosting, you can rely on better support when anything goes wrong with your website. If you can’t fix some site issues right away, you may probably lose some vital information and your business in general. Take note that any disruptions or downtime experienced by your website can adversely impact your conversions, search engine rankings, and statistics. Hence, get a good web hosting service now to control these technical problems.

Conclusion

Indeed, having a great web hosting service is essential for any business that’s looking for success in the digital marketplace. By keeping all of this information in mind, you’ll get a better understanding of what and how web hosting can bring more customers and increase sales to your business. As you can see, there’s a wide range of options to select from. With a little research, you can find the best web host that suits your needs.

Managed WordPress Hosting vs. Regular Hosting

Keeping the unique needs of all website owners in mind, let us bring about the differences between the two most popular hosting types – Regular or Shared Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting.

What is Regular Hosting (Shared Hosting)?

Regular hosting or shared hosting, as the name suggests, is a web hosting service where the resources are shared between different website owners. Multiple websites are hosted on a single server to share the server maintenance cost among these website owners.

What is a Managed WordPress Hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a web hosting service that is specifically built to boost the performance of WordPress websites. It is ‘managed’ in the sense that all the technical aspects of building and maintaining the website are handled by the host.

Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting

Shared hosting comes with a set of pros and cons that you must weigh while selecting this hosting type for your website. Let us consider them in detail here:

Pros of Shared Hosting:

• 
  

  Extremely Economical

  
  

Shared hosting is the most economical type of web hosting as all the server resources are shared between different users. You get to use a part of the web server for a fraction of the cost that you would have to pay for the full server.

• 
  

  Flexibility to Use other CMS

  
  

Since shared hosting is not specifically built for WordPress websites, you can completely skip using WordPress as your website’s Content Management System (CMS). This means you have the option to use any CMS that you might prefer be it Drupal, Joomla, or another. 

• 
  

  Unlimited Resources

  
  

Many hosts offer unlimited resources in terms of bandwidth, storage, and the number of websites that can be hosted with their shared hosting plans. This allows you to use the server resources without any upper limit.

• 
  

  Email Hosting

  
  

Hosting your email on your website looks very professional and must be considered by everyone who is planning to establish a website for quite a long term. Many shared hosting plans come with email hosting so you don’t need to invest in it separately.

Cons of shared hosting

• 
  

  Poor Website Performance

  
  

Since the server is shared among different website owners, the host might overload the server with a large number of websites to cut down on total server maintenance costs. Your website performance will be negatively impacted by the increase in server load. More the server load, the poorer the website performance.

• 
  

  Misleading Introductory Prices

  
  

Many web hosts attract new customers by offering deeply discounted introductory prices on their shared hosting plans. Such promotional rates apply only for the first billing period of 1 to 3 years. Thus, you must always check the renewal rates along with the introductory prices to prevent a sudden rise in expenses later.

• 
  

  Confusing Dashboard

  
  

Since your host is unaware of the CMS you will be using, your dashboard is loaded with a lot of options. Along with different options for WordPress, you will find many features that do not relate to WordPress at all. Your dashboard, thus, lacks user-friendliness because of options for different Content Managements Systems making it all very confusing.

• 
  

  Missing Automatic WordPress Optimization

  
  

Since shared hosting plans are not specifically created for WordPress websites, many hosts do not offer automatic optimization for WordPress sites. You will have to take the responsibility of boosting the performance of your WordPress website.

• 
  

  Experiencing Website Downtime

  
  

Since the server resources are shared among different website owners, it might affect your website negatively. If there is too much increase in server burden because of other websites hosted on it, your website will experience downtime. 

• 
  

  Unexpected Website Shut Down

  
  

Though you might be offered unlimited resources with your shared hosting plans, you cannot practically utilize all the server resources for your website. If your website starts using too much of the server share, the host might take your website down without any prior notice.

Pros and cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

Just like regular shared hosting, Managed WordPress hosting also has its share of pros and cons that you must consider when selecting this hosting type. Here we discuss them in detail:

Pros of Managed WordPress Hosting

• 
  

  Automatic WordPress Optimization

  
  

The biggest advantage of using managed WordPress hosting is the automatic optimization of your WordPress website. All the technical stuff is handled by your host to leave you with a well-performing WordPress website.

• 
  

  Secured Hosting Environment

  
  

The host who provides managed WordPress hosting can adjust the security of the hosting environment to WordPress for an added layer of protection. Malware protection and firewalls are used to make your WordPress website more secure.

• 
  

  Automatic Updates and Website Backups

  
  

Web hosts offer automatic WordPress updates with managed WordPress hosting plans for the efficient functioning of your website. You will never have to worry about manually updating your WordPress site. Additionally, such plans usually come with automatic backups to ensure the safety of your website’s data.

• 
  

  Improved Website Speed and Better SEO

  
  

In the case of managed WordPress hosting, the server is generally utilized to host only WordPress websites. The host can optimize the server for advanced server caching that will improve the speed of all websites hosted on the server. Your WordPress website will, therefore, perform faster. This will also improve the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website making it rank higher on Google.

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  In-built Content Delivery Network

  
  

A content Delivery Network (CDN) is necessary to decrease your page loading time thereby enhancing your website performance. Many hosts offer in-built CDN with their managed WordPress hosting plans.

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  User-friendly Dashboard

  
  

Since the host knows the CMS you are using i.e. WordPress, your dashboard is fine-tuned specifically to WordPress. This way you will get all the features that you might need in a nicely arranged manner making your dashboard user-friendly.

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  Efficient Handling of Traffic Spikes

  
  

Many web hosts offering managed hosting services use cloud hosting for better traffic management. They can, thus, easily add more resources in case of unexpected traffic spikes and efficiently handle your website during such instances.

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  Superior WordPress Support

  
  

Since managed WordPress hosting is specifically for WordPress sites, you will receive better guidance and support for your WordPress-related problems.

Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

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  Expensive Hosting

  
  

The biggest disadvantage of managed WordPress hosting is its high price tag. It is much more expensive than shared hosting. Luckily, there are some Managed WordPress hosting providers who offer a free trial, so you can certainly try them out without any advanced payments to see if they are worth the high price or not.

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  WordPress-only Websites

  
  

With managed hosting plans, you can only host a WordPress website since these plans are specifically built for these sites. If you prefer any other CMS over WordPress, you do not have the option to use it with this type of hosting.

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  Limited Resources

  
  

The majority of the hosts who provide managed WordPress hosting offer limited server resources. Also, there is an upper limit of your website visits beyond which you will be charged overage fees.

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  Restrictions on the Use of Plugins

  
  

Some plugins might overlap the features offered by the managed WordPress host. Such plugins are banned and you cannot use them on your website. In other cases, plugins that put a high burden on the server i.e. the resource-intensive ones can also be banned by some hosts.

Difference between Shared Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting

Have a look at the differences between various aspects of shared hosting and WordPress hosting:

Which is better Managed WordPress Hosting or Shared Hosting?

When choosing between shared hosting and managed WordPress hosting, your current needs must be taken into account. 

Both these hosting types can be excellent for different website owners as well as the same website owner at different times. Also, both beginners and pros can benefit from these hostings alike.

Shared hosting is the best option for you if you have a limited budget. It allows you to set up and maintain a website even on a shoestring budget. Also, if you prefer using a CMS other than WordPress, shared hosting is the most suitable option for you.

Managed WordPress hosting is the right choice for you if your budget is not restricted and you need a secure plus WordPress-optimized website. It offers you greater flexibility and speed along with the convenience of automatic WordPress management.

If you are planning to work with WordPress, you can take advantage of both hosting types. Start small with regular or shared hosting and upgrade to managed WordPress hosting as your website grows. This will provide additional security and stability to your website when it grows while taking off your work burden with automatic management.

Conclusion: Is managed WordPress hosting worth it?

Yes, managed WordPress hosting is truly worth the extra cost you pay for it. It saves you a lot of time that goes into managing your WordPress website. Also, your website performs better in terms of speed, security, and stability because of advanced server caching.

As the server can house only WordPress websites, it can be optimized for speed making your website perform faster. This also improves your website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) boosting its ranking on Google and other search engines.

Also, Check-Out:

• Best Free One-Page WordPress Themes

However, it takes a lot of work. Not only on the creative aspect of it, but it is equally important to be informed about the tech world. You need to find the right hosting provider with a powerful server that may keep your site up and running. After you get all that, your site is ready to launch. It can be all that you ever wanted to have for your online business.

In an online business, everything might not be as smooth as we want it to be. You might encounter a few bumps on the road that leave you wondering if you have made the right choice considering your hosting provider. You have chosen the plan that after some time had not proven to be right for you. The price may be too much for you, or you have reached the limit of your disk space or bandwidth. The tech support was not of good service to you. There are a variety of reasons why someone would want to change a hosting provider.

Afterward, you may find yourself wondering what might happen with your Google rankings. Because you have put your efforts into making sure your website stays at the top of the search engine. All of this is a real concern that thankfully is not fatal for any business, for there is always a way to conquer any issue that may cross your path.

Firstly, if you are not satisfied with your hosting provider, you can always switch to one that you assume is better for you. This time you might want to look at free hosting. Free hosting will provide with you the same services as those hosting companies that billed you annually. The money you save on hosting services you might want to use as an investment for your business growth. And, the free hosting services are no less than paid ones. Read reviews about such hosting options, and make the best choice that will help you grow both your website and your business.

The good thing about online business and the tech industry is that it is always evolving its shape, is always changing and there is something for every taste. The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year and if you happen to be a WordPress site owner, here you might find something to your taste and decorate your site. Even though Christmas is behind us, the holiday spirit is still around us.

After you switch to a different hosting company your search engine ranking will be affected due to several causes. Firstly the important factor affecting the ranking is the location of the new server. If the location of the new server is the same as the one of the previous one, meaning if it is in the same country then the search engine rankings should not be affected. Search engines such as Google have one of the ranking rules the location of the website is in close proximity to the user.

Next, the loading speed of the website after it is transferred to a new location is also one of the factors. If the loading of the website is slower than 2 seconds this will automatically cause Google rankings to drop. For you, as a website owner, this means that you need a web hosting provider with a new server that is optimized to handle the hits toward your website fast enough so, it would not cause your Google rankings to drop.

Not to be forgotten is the uptime during the transfer. If you shut down your website before you transfer it to another server, your search ranking could be seriously decreased. So you should leave the website, on the old server until the transfer to the new one is completed and you can switch your domain name to the new server. Afterward, you should take 72 hours to make sure your domain name is working properly.

The transfer of a website to a new server is not an easy task to do. There are several items to be taken into consideration. However, if you are sure that it would be a good solution for your business in the long term, do not hesitate to make a change. Granted it may affect your Google rankings, but with the right approach to it, meaning after you have all the possible information you may need in your hand you should deal with it in no time. You should consider Google ranking factors to have better SEO results. Who knows, maybe a new server will in the long run even increase your rankings. The only way to find out is to be brave and do it.