What Is Managed Web Hosting?
Managed web hosting is a service in which a service provider takes care of the technical aspects of running a website.
With managed hosting, website owners can focus on their content and business while experts handle the complex technical details.
This type of hosting often provides faster load times, enhanced security, and more reliable uptime compared to unmanaged options.
Key Features of Managed Web Hosting:
- Server maintenance and updates
- Security measures and monitoring
- Performance optimization
- Backup and recovery services
- Technical support
Who Is Managed Web Hosting For?
Web hosting is for website owners who want to focus on running their business, as well as enterprise brands that need top-notch support and ecommerce business owners who want a safe platform.
Basically, anyone eager for a smooth, worry-free website management experience!
How Much Does Managed Web Hosting Cost Monthly?
Web Hosting
The first cost is web hosting, which can be $15 to $50 a month for bottom-of-the-barrel solutions and $100 and higher for dedicated hosting.
Domain Name
Your domain name will likely cost you $10 to $30 per year if you’re just starting out. Some domains, however, can cost a lot more than this.
How much you pay depends on what domain name extension you are using. Dot com is the most expensive, and lesser-used domain extensions such as dot net and dot IO are cheaper.
SSL Certificate
Every website should have an SSL certificate. Some inexpensive hosting platforms charge you for your SSL separately, while professionally managed web services like ours include this in the service.
Plugins
The cost for premium plugins ranges from free to potentially hundreds of dollars.
eCommerce
For eCommerce, we use Woocommerce with WordPress. Prices range for this service, but WooCommerce is free out of the box, and premium plugins can then be added.
Web Maintenance Plans
Ongoing support typically costs as little as $250 a month to potentially thousands of dollars monthly, very dependent on the web design agency you hire and your needs.
When it comes to price, your website deserves more than a digital cardboard box
The price and quality of your web hosting are important. Although very common, it’s a bad idea to pour time and money into your website only to skimp on high-quality web hosting later.
It’s like owning a luxury car and filling it up with the cheapest gas you can find. Here’s the thing: web hosting isn’t something you want to mess up.
In fact, it’s the foundation of your entire online presence.
Cheap hosting might seem tempting, but it comes with a boatload of headaches. We’re talking snail-paced loading times, security holes, and more downtime.
Plus, when things go south (and they will), good luck getting any decent support.
Four Ingredients of Excellent Managed Web Hosting
At its core, good web hosting guarantees security, reliability, infrastructure, and great customer service — the four factors every website owner desperately needs.
1. Security
Without website security, your site might become a target for hackers and data thieves. This is not quite the clientele you had in mind, is it?
While managed WordPress hosting isn’t an impregnable fortress, it does fortify your site with cyber security, routine surveillance, and malware sanitation. This brings us to an important and related subject, one integral to your website’s security.
Shared servers.
Going the shared server route is a bit like renting a room in a sketchy hotel. Sure, it’s more affordable, but the noises in the night can be disconcerting, and you never know who might try climbing through the window.
It’s an unfortunate reality that many hosting services pack websites together like sardines in a can due to resource constraints. This sort of cramped, shared environment can leave you susceptible to the misadventures of your server-mates.
One security breach can turn into a cascading disaster, with your site swept up in the chaos — not exactly the control over data security you envisioned.
Opting for a private server, albeit pricier, is well worth the peace of mind.
If you do find a company that offers private web hosting, though, it’s prudent to grill your potential host on their server security strategies before jumping on board.
What Kind of Security Should You Be Looking For?
Good website security offers protection against malicious infiltration, as well as excellent customer service. Review your chosen host’s security tools and see how fast they respond whenever you call or email them.
With that said, here are some specific security offerings that you should expect from your web host.
- Backup/Restore – It’s easier for your web host to regularly back up your site than to perform manual backups yourself.
- SSL Certificate – If your web hosting company offers you a free SSL certificate, it’ll save you around $60 per year.
- Protection Against Malware – Some web hosts will scan your website for malware, but not all hosts do. It’s a good idea to ask about this.
- Server location – US-based servers are safer from physical attacks than servers located in regions with substantial political instability. In extremely rare cases, physical breakdowns to your web host’s company building, environmental impacts, Acts of God, and even war can compromise your web host.
What’s The Most Secure Form Of Web Hosting?
Every type of web hosting has vulnerabilities, but managed hosting is the most secure hosting you’ll find at a reasonable price since you have a team of people whose job it is to manage and monitor the server you are renting.
If you are concerned about adding extra layers of protection to your website, consider asking your web host about routine backups, firewalls, and DDoS protection.
The least secure version of hosting is shared hosting.
2. Reliability
Reliability is very important. You should expect it from your web host.
Think about how you’d feel if you put in a bunch of work to gain traffic to your website only to lose prospects due to latency caused by bad web hosting or some other issue.
Since your site’s performance partly relies on your web host, this is something you as a business owner have to get right.
On this note, beware of those hosting providers that promise all-inclusive packages at extremely low costs.
Performance issues make “Cheap the most expensive.”
3. Infrastructure
Another element of phenomenal web hosting is your infrastructure.
To perform at a high level, you need the best data centers with top technology and stable and fast upstream links. These are the silent yet powerful allies that will help ensure the success of your website.
Additionally, you need top-level software for hosting management, as well as a high-performance web server.
Collectively, these components work to provide a hosting service that offers the gold standard in reliability, speed, and overall performance.
4. Customer Service
Now that we have established the importance of security, reliability, and infrastructure, let’s talk about customer service.
You’re not likely to receive good customer service and fast response times with a cheap web hosting solution.
Moreover, if you choose a low-cost, shared hosting environment, it can be hard to find an expert who truly knows web hosting. You could quite literally end up spending hours on the phone with an inexperienced tech support person and still not get your issue resolved.
In a case like this, it’s possible you could end up spending hundreds of dollars on a developer to solve your issue instead.
Managed Web Services Give You A Dedicated Team
To avoid having to pay someone else to fix your website, you need a skilled and dedicated team on your side.
There are several components that need to be woven together to make a website successful (core updates/theme files/plugin updates, backups, security, etc.).
But all of these elements hinge on a very important key joint. The quality of the people supporting you.
The real advantage of managed web services is that you get a team of dedicated experts who actively manage your website.
Clients Call Us Because We Have Fast Response Times
We receive a lot of calls from clients who are dissatisfied with someone else’s hosting service. Once they talk to us and see how quickly we respond, they often entrust us with the migration of their sites to a private server, with management services for core, theme, and plugin updates.
If they run into an issue, they can call us, and we’ll get it fixed ASAP. They never have to worry about overly long fixes or long wait times on the phone.
The Speed of Customer Support
When the chips are down, it is all about how fast your hosting service responds to your issue and puts your website back up.
If a hosting plan doesn’t offer to get your website back up without charging you extra, we suggest running for the hills. Good hosts have enough knowledgeable representatives to listen to their clients and provide them with prompt and long-term fixes.
How Do You Move Your Website To A Managed Web Host?
Here’s a concise overview of how to move your website to a managed web host:
- Choose a managed hosting provider
- Back up your existing website
- Set up your new hosting account
- Transfer your files and database
- Update DNS settings
- Test your website on the new host
- Cancel your old hosting service
This process can vary depending on your specific situation, but your preferred host should be able to provide this service for you.
If you would like to work with Sage Digital Agency, we handle it for you free of charge!
Ready to Rock the Web? Host with Sage Digital Agency!
Your website is the face of your business online, and certain mistakes, such as slow loading speeds and frequent unavailability, might not be forgiven by your visitors.
To protect yourself from these problems, call us today about your web hosting. We’d love to discuss and see if we’re the perfect hosting solution for your website.
Focus On Your Business, Let Us Handle Your Web Hosting
The best part of managed WordPress web hosting is that it takes a load off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on your business. As a business owner, you have better things to do than wrestle with server issues and other technical hiccups, so you likely need professional support.
At Sage, we get to know your specific WordPress needs and optimize your isolated server environment for your unique themes and plugins. Additionally, we offer a suite of performance enhancements. These include a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and secure server locations aimed at boosting your website’s speed and safety.
Why Work With Sage?
The Benefits of Sage’s Managed Web Hosting include:
- Top performance in speed and deliverability
- One-minute uptime monitoring with high-priority support in the event of website downtime
- A 24/7 support team with fast response times
- Top hardware technology and top software for the best performance
- Protecting your website from fraud, DDoS attacks, malware, and being implicated in spam
- Actively monitoring your website for security threats and other issues
- Having professionals regularly update your website
- Having a reliable team to call (No playing phone tag or waiting hours to speak with a customer service rep)
- Encryption and firewall protection
- Robust backup system, which includes 30 daily, 4 weekly, and 12 monthly backups (Should your website encounter any issues, these backups allow for fast and easy restoration)
- Safe location of hosting servers (We have servers across the United States, including Las Vegas)
- Staging site and a local environment for you to test changes to your website
- 99.99% uptime
Does Sage Digital Agency Have Hidden Fees?
Absolutely not!
At Sage, we are very clear about our pricing from the get-go. When you work with us, you never have to worry about getting blindsided by unexpected charges.
Speaking of hidden charges, one thing you’ll want to watch out for when searching for your preferred web host is setup fees, which can get added on top of your monthly payment.
Another thing you’ll want to watch out for is your use limit. While many web hosts offer “unlimited” web hosting, in reality, every web host has limits, and if you go over yours, you’ll probably end up having to pay a fee.
