WordPress is an open source software that has caused an internet storm in the recent past due to security, robustness and its simplicity to set up and customize. WordPress has been beneficial for many content management websites, e-commerce stores, blogger websites and other website development needs. Businesses from many different industries have adopted the use of WordPress, including Shopify, TechCrunch, Mashable and New York Times.
As often as businesses may be shifting to WordPress because of the earlier mentioned benefits, whenever it comes to WordPress hosting, each business takes a different route. Businesses have different needs, and there’s no one-fits-all solution for their WordPress hosting needs.
The WordPress Hosting business is very competitive. Despite the intense competition, some WordPress hosting companies will offer average service while others are remarkably good service. To settle for one may be daunting. In this article, you will find 10 tips you should consider when choosing the best WordPress hosting provider.
Security
Security is at the top of the list. Cybersecurity should be your first consideration when faced with a challenge of choosing a managed WordPress hosting provider. You will need to do a background check on their security history and protocols. A good WordPress hosting provider shouldn’t have a history of DDOS attacks and phishing. They should ensure they use the latest internet security measures, such as encryption and web application firewall.
For instance, CanSpace a Canadian WordPress hosting company offers web application firewall across its entire packages for WordPress hosting. The company is also GDPR compliant, meaning that any information you share with them cannot be shared with non-compliant third parties.
Support
Support is an important factor to consider. For any unexpected reason, your website may experience challenges or even go down temporarily. Since the servers aren’t physically near you, you may need the support of a WordPress host to troubleshoot the problem. The level of support that a host provider accords to a customer will matter at this moment. A 24/7 customer support, available in different languages, is highly recommended.
Additionally, your hosting provider customer support needs to be proficient in WordPress, and able to provide you with solutions within the shortest time possible. To gauge a WordPress host company’s level of support, check their help documentation.
Speed
Server performance has a direct impact on the speed of a website. A server with inadequate RAM space or that experiences a lot of load from other websites may affect the speed of a website that shares the same server. Slow speed has an impact on the page ranking of a website on search engines. A slow website doesn’t attract visitors, since they are prone to bypassing the content.
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Scalability
The success stories of many businesses have similar properties, such as limited resources, few employees, minimal web traffic to business conglomerates, a high number of employees, high revenues and so on. Therefore, a WordPress hosting company should offer room for business growth by providing an allowance of infrastructure resources. Jankus from cmswire argues that it is important to have a partner that supports your growth.
Hosting features
The list of features that your WordPress hosting provider accords you plays a role on how convenient you will rate their service. You should consider the number of domains and email accounts with which they provide you. A WordPress hosting provider that gives you multiple email address and domain names would be preferred over one that gives you a limit. There are hosting companies that will give their customer a free domain name for a year, which is a good offer. Other things to consider are storage space, bandwidth and backup policies.
Type of hosting
In deciding the type of hosting you need, you will be required to choose between WordPress-managed hosting and self-managed hosting. The latter is when the host provider distances himself and only does the hosting for you, assuming that you will handle the setup side yourself. This means you will need to configure the mail server to FTP, handle the server’s operating system and much more.
With WordPress-managed hosting the host provider will handle every aspect of your WordPress from configuring your email server, backups, WordPress updates, server operating system and more. You will need to do very little when setting up WordPress. CanSpace WordPress managed hosting would best suit busy businesses that would like another entity to handle their WordPress hosting and businesses that are looking for secure WordPress hosts.
Uptime
Website downtimes are annoying, and you wouldn’t like your business to fall under that category of websites that have frequents downtimes. Therefore, your WordPress host should have robust checks and balances that ensure that there is no server downtime, and monitoring is on a 24/7 basis.
Reputation
A WordPress company that has been offering excellent services for a substantial time is most likely to have good reviews and a stellar reputation. Although this shouldn’t be the only parameter to consider, it at least sheds some light on which host provider you should trust. The level of customer satisfaction as manifested on independent online forums will give you a clue of what to expect. You can also look for Cloudways review and other hosting providers like Hostgator before making your purchase.
Pricing
In deciding which WordPress host provider you will choose, you may need to consider the pricing. “You get what you pay for” is a phrase that perfectly applies in the web hosting industry. It is so common for WordPress host companies to advertise cheap plans, only for clients to end up frustrated after subscribing to a plan. Avoid falling into the trap of cheap service, resulting in frequent downtimes, lack of support and other letdowns. Conduct a proper scrutiny of what is entailed in every price package.
Ease of installation
A WordPress host company that gives its users a one-click installation would be ideal for those who are new to WordPress. It gives users time to focus on other elements of the websites.
The factors mentioned above are important when assessing a service provider you might want to use for your WordPress hosting service. The true judgment of the level of service offered can be measured best by actually trying the service. Therefore, if a WordPress host offers a trial period, consider it before subscribing for their premium services.
