Every day many WordPress websites are launched, and about 26% of all websites on the internet use WordPress as their CMS. This is a true testament to WordPress’ popularity and the numbers are only growing! Bringing us to this topic’s essence, as many of you reading now, either already have a WordPress website or are in the process of or thinking of developing one.
Since there are so many sites on WordPress, it is only logical to have a specialized hosting environment specifically built for WordPress. A hosting environment that is technically configured for WordPress, integrated with WordPress specific software and tools and comes with a solid support team with core expertise in WordPress. This is what is aimed for and achieved by WordPress Hosting.
There are many WordPress Hosting providers out there, and if you are in the phase of finding the right hosting provider, or are looking to switch from the current provider for whatever reasons, this post will help you understand exactly what you should look for in your WordPress Hosting plan.
- Automatic Updates:Most of the WordPress Hosting Providers will, of course, have pre-installed WordPress for you, but one thing that they may not give is automatic updates. Any WordPress user knows how important keeping the platform up to date is.
Having your WordPress setup up-to-date will not only help improve the performance but also help in keeping the overall system secured. Moreover, an updated website will also help reduce bugs over time.
- Caching and Content Delivery Network: Faster content delivery and page load times are not only important for user experience but also help in the overall organic visibility of your website. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) works by providing alternative server nodes for users to download resources. These nodes spread throughout the world, therefore being geographically closer to your users, ensuring a faster response and download time of content due to reduced latency. Integrated caching and CDN is definitely a must-have.
- Security and Data Integrity: WordPress being an open-source platform, there are a ton of potential security breaches like Cross-Site Scripting and SQL injections. There are also server-side threats and operating system related security threats like Heartbleed Vulnerability or the Shell-Shock Vulnerability. When you are choosing your WordPress Hosting provider, verify if they give security on multiple levels such as Anti-Malware, Anti-Vulnerability and Backup & Restoration.
WordPress Hosting providers like ResellerClub provide a Data Mirroring feature that helps mirror data across 3 distinct devices on multiple drives and cabinets to make sure a seamless transition in the event of any hardware issues.
- Data Monitoring: Not monitoring server data and managing a website is like flying a plane blindfolded. It is a recipe for disaster. When you know how much your website means for your website, make sure that your WordPress Hosting provider has a comprehensive control panel that allows you to monitor CPU and Memory utilization data. If you are driving enough traffic to your site, then mission-critical metrics like ART, PRT, and Error Rates should be easily accessible from your control panel.
- Managed Service Support: Managed WordPress Hosting support is by far the most crucial feature you should look for. With the way WordPress is growing and expanding, it is difficult to keep up with the updates. Having a dedicated account manager for your WordPress Hosting will ensure you have 24×7 support from WordPress experts and you can dedicate your time on growing your business and not spending hours figuring out solutions and best practices for your WordPress website.
Of course, the need of these services and the budgets that you have for your hosting will ultimately help you to decide, but it is essential to know that there are WordPress Hosting providers out there who package these features for you at a very affordable price and it all starts with the knowledge of the available features, which I hope this post will help with.
