Why do so many businesses use (and love) WordPress?
For starters, you don’t have to be a developer with decades of experience to create a pretty amazing website. Plus, WordPress boasts a healthy library of plugins and themes that give you almost limitless opportunities to customize how your website works. But, you can’t bring that amazing WordPress website to the world without a hosting provider.
A quick Google search will reveal a ton of options when it comes to managed WordPress hosting. Many of them will make similar claims when it comes to things like speed and support – so much so that you may be tempted to use the old “ennie-meenie-miney-moe” technique to make a choice. But, keep this in mind: the hosting provider you choose will become a vital part of your business’ online presence, and can make the difference between success and frustration.
How do you make the right decision?
Read on to discover the things you need to consider when looking for WordPress hosting and why they matter.
Consideration #1: Value
At the end of the day, you want to save money. But, keep in mind that you do often “get what you pay for.”
It’s important to think about what’s most important to you when it comes to your website. Is it speed and performance? Security? Reliability? Support? What factors are going to help you grow and achieve your goals? Remember, hosting is more than just a place to park your website, and the wrong WordPress host can lead to slow load times, unreliable service, and (worst of all) lost opportunities.
Shop around. Do some research. Read reviews. Schedule demos. Make an informed choice based on data, not a clever Facebook ad.
Consideration #2: Reliability
Websites go down from time to time. Occasionally, this is planned due to maintenance – which is ok. But other times it’s not – and every minute of unexpected downtime means money lost.
Choose a WordPress hosting provider that will guarantee up-time, preferably as part of their service agreement. For example, here at Pressable we guarantee that our data center network will be available 100% of the time (excluding scheduled maintenance). If you experience unplanned downtime, Pressable will credit your account 5% of the monthly fee for every 30 minutes of downtime, up to 100% of your monthly fee for the affected server(s).
Consideration #3: Performance
Did you know that more than 40% of web users will leave a website if it doesn’t load in less than three seconds? Just one second can mean the difference between gaining a customer or losing a sale. Cheap hosting might not have the bandwidth, processing power, or network performance to run a fully commercialized website with tons of plugins and media.
Ideally, you’ll want to find a host that offers the most bandwidth, global data centers, redundant infrastructure, and a free content delivery network (CDN). A CDN ensures fast and consistent delivery of pictures, videos, and other media no matter where in the world your visitors may be. This means a better customer experience, higher SEO rankings, and improved business outcomes.
Consideration #4: Customer Service
Occasionally, Murphy’s Law will kick in and something will go wrong with your website. If you’re a seasoned developer or an IT guru, you may be able to handle it without any difficulty. But, that’s not necessarily true for the average WordPress site user who has a business to run. In that event, you need to torn to your hosting provider’s customer support team for on-demand help.
A company’s customer support reputation is a crucial thing to consider when looking for a web hosting plan. Good web hosting companies offer multiple contact channels in case of complications. Generally, a contact list should include a phone number, email address, and chat. This ensures you can always get in touch in case one of those channels isn’t available.
Consideration #5: Security
If website security isn’t one of your top concerns, it really should be. On average, a new website is hacked every 39 seconds. That means every minute, about two websites – along with their visitors’ data – are compromised by hackers. And, weak hosting can be one of the main culprits – leading to data breaches, malware, or other cyber-threats that endanger your business.
While doing your research, make a point of asking about the hosting provider’s security measures and their history of dealing with online threats. This is crucial because you want to protect your valuable data, as well as the information of everyone who fills out a form or makes a purchase on your site.
Choose a hosting provider that conducts regular scans and other routine maintenance designed to protect your site against malware, DDoS attacks, and other hacking attempts. Additionally, ensure your WordPress hosting provider automatically updates the WordPress Core for you. This way, any security vulnerabilities from past versions are avoided and your website stays as safe as possible.
Consideration #6: Control Panel
If you’re new to managing an online business website, having access to a control panel is vital. Choose a hosting that provides an easy to use control panel so that you can manage your website with ease. Having an easy-to-use control panel allows you to do basic domain-specific functions.
This is more crucial than some people think. You’ll spend a lot of time on this dashboard and a poor UI with features lacking can make running your site a nightmare.
Our control panel, for example, allows you to add collaborators with a single click of a button. It’s also quick and simple to retract or expand which portions of the control panel your collaborators can access. You can also easily manage SFTP users, add sites, access your database, and manage site migration.
Consideration #7: Website Migration Support
When it comes to changing hosting providers, one of the biggest hurdles is the migration process. It can often take days for larger sites, and even then you still have to spend more time ensuring no functionality was lost in the data transfer.
Instead of leaving migrations up to you (which you can totally still do, if that’s your thing), a good managed WordPress hosting company will do it for you. All you have to do is submit a migration request and the host’s support team takes it from there. It’s really that easy.
For example, with Pressable…
We Will Handle It
All you need to do is contact support and let them know you’d like us to migrate your site for you. Once your site is migrated to our platform, we’ll send an email with next steps. Plus, we typically get these “white glove” migrations done in less than 24 hours.
Or, Use Our Automated Migration Plugin
Are you’re WordPress savvy and more of a DIY type of person, our Automated Migration Plugin makes migrating websites effortlessly. Just download the plugin, follow the prompts, and the plugin takes it from there.
Get the Right WordPress Hosting Service Now!
Hosting is one of the prime components of a successful WordPress website. Without a proper WordPress hosting service, you may have a more difficult time managing it or gaining customers. The right hosting service can improve your SEO results and help you increase your sales.
Of course, it’s better to have experts help you manage it. This is where we come in so don’t hesitate to avail of our services today.
If you need help in managing your WordPress website, we’re available right here! Feel free to contact us today and request a demo!
Amanda Nadhir
Amanda serves as the Head of Sales and Enablement for Pressable. She's worked in the tech space for well over a decade and has spent the majority of that time building/training/leading teams. She loves travel and adventure and when she's not working, you can find her spending time with her family, lounging pool/beach-side, playing tennis, working out, and meeting people/making friends all along the way!
