No matter how beautifully designed your website, your marketing efforts can derail in an instant due to slow site speeds, poor server configurations, and security breaches. Your WordPress site will only drive conversions and propel your business toward its goals if you optimize and rigorously maintain its underlying structure.
One way to keep your website operating at peak efficiency is to delegate technical maintenance to a web host manager specializing in WordPress. Below, I’ll explain the benefits of managed WordPress hosting, how to analyze the cost-benefits of this service, and questions to ask potential providers. By the end of this post, you’ll have a better idea if managed WordPress is worth it for your business.
What Is Managed WordPress Hosting?
Websites are stored on servers that make your site’s files, images, and content accessible on the internet. Your server and network setup affects how quickly and reliably your site handles user requests. If you have the technical expertise, you can use non-managed hosting to store your site and configure your own setup, or you can opt for managed hosting.
A managed WordPress hosting service oversees the backend of your site, assuming responsibility for:
- Setting up, configuring, and maintaining the server where your website is stored.
- Overseeing WordPress security protocols to protect against malware, hacking, and data breaches.
- Optimizing WordPress speed and performance.
- Updating software to protect against vulnerabilities.
- Backing up and restoring data.
- Providing ongoing technical support.
When you use a managed WordPress host, your site lives in an environment tailored for WordPress. You’ll have immediate access to WordPress software, plugins, updates, and expertise.
Why Managed WordPress Hosting Is Critical
Whether customers are interacting with your brand for the first time or returning to your online store to make further purchases, your website should be responsive, consistent, and secure. Here’s how managed WordPress hosting makes that happen.
1. Enhanced Security Measures
Every website that’s accessible on the internet is open to online threats such as malicious software, hacking, and denial of service attacks. It’s not only large corporations that are targets — according to DataProt, 43% of cyberattacks are against small businesses.
An experienced web host manager safeguards your business and customer data by creating a secure environment for your WordPress site or ecommerce store. These advanced security measures include:
- Firewalls to manage network access.
- Restricted file permissions to prevent hacking and human errors.
- HTTPS protocols and SSL certificates to protect customer data.
- System monitoring for unusual activity.
- Software updates and patch installations to address vulnerabilities.
When you consider the consequences of a network breach — such as financial costs, loss of customer trust, and potential legal ramifications — advanced security protocols are really non-negotiable.
2. Improved Website Performance and Speed
Customers expect a frictionless experience when interacting with your website. Pages should load quickly to prevent bounces, and information should transfer smoothly to mitigate frustration and inspire engagement. Site speed can even influence your search engine rankings and visibility, as Google considers site performance an important part of user experience.
A managed WordPress hosting provider gets your site performing at lightning speed, optimally configuring server architecture and resources. You’ll get fast, stable servers optimized for the platform your site is built on. Experts familiar with WordPress will know how to configure settings appropriately and balance traffic loads. Depending on the needs of your site, they can also set up content delivery networks (CDNs) or cache copies of web pages to serve them more quickly.
3. Automatic Backups and Updates
Most web host managers schedule backups at regular intervals, so you always have a recent version of your website on hand. This ensures you can quickly restore your site in the event of server failures, cyberattacks, or human error, minimizing data loss.
Similarly, managed WordPress hosts can schedule automatic updates of WordPress software, themes, and plugins to make sure your site is always using the latest versions and features. But they won’t leave it at that. A good host will either have a human involved here or AI regression testing to prevent unexpected issues after an update. Learn more about WordPress backups here.
4. Expert Support and Maintenance
One of the biggest benefits of managed WordPress hosting is access to technical expertise. When you rely on your site for brand awareness, lead generation, and sales, you can’t afford any type of service inconvenience or interruption.
Many managed hosting services provide support to help resolve both small issues and unexpected crises, which is critical if you want your site available when customers are looking for it. You’ll have a team of WordPress specialists ready to efficiently diagnose and resolve problems.
5. Scalability and Flexibility
An effective web hosting service offers a scalable environment that can meet the changing needs of your business. For example, you might experience traffic surges because of seasonality, special promotions, or social media campaigns. Your web hosting manager can prevent your site from lagging or crashing by adjusting bandwidth, CPU, RAM, and other resources to handle increased user requests.
Over the long term, as your website or ecommerce store thrives, you may need to expand your infrastructure. It’s impossible to know when you’ll need more resources, so a scalable hosting environment gives you the flexibility to grow as needed. You won’t have to invest in resources you don’t currently need or move your website when you need more storage and processing power. Most web hosting services can also customize software, security measures, and other technologies to support your site’s growth.
6. Improved SEO Performance
Search engine algorithms take user experience into account when ranking web pages. A lot of factors come into play when assessing page experience, including site security, loading times, and uptime, which can make managed WordPress hosting worth it. Here are a few ways in which managed WordPress hosting can improve your SEO:
- Security: Your WordPress hosting manager can ensure your site has HTTPS security with valid SSL/TLS certificates to protect user privacy and data. This boosts SEO performance as Google prefers to index pages that employ HTTPS.
- Page Speed: Google also uses page speed as a ranking factor for mobile and desktop users. Optimizing server performance helps to process requests faster, as server hardware, location, bandwidth, caching, and traffic management all affect how quickly a web page loads for users.
- Accessibility: To rank well, your site needs to be accessible. It needs to be mobile-responsive and user-friendly so visitors can easily navigate the site and find the information they want.
7. Enhanced User Experience
Visitors to your site have a purpose, whether they want to find information, explore your offerings, or complete a transaction. Your site should help them accomplish their tasks with ease and deliver a satisfying experience.
Managed web hosting services can optimize the server, implement caching techniques, and manage resources to prevent slowdowns and crashes. This helps ensure swift, responsive, and consistent experiences, reducing bounce rates and encouraging users to browse your site — and improving your Core Web Vitals.
- Pages that respond quickly enable users to retrieve information and accomplish tasks easily.
- Fast-loading content encourages customers to engage with rich content, such as images and videos, and further discover your site.
- Reliable uptime ensures the site is accessible on demand, building trust and customer satisfaction.
8. Regular Performance Monitoring
A managed web hosting environment provides real-time monitoring to ensure your website is always humming along efficiently. This prevents sluggish performance or unexpected crashes and allows a quick response when issues arise. Common monitoring services include the following:
- Checking CPU, memory, and storage to avoid overloading the server
- Tracking changes in traffic to allocate resources effectively
- Performing speed tests to identify lag time or slow page load times
- Confirming the site is accessible to reduce downtime
- Identifying database or server errors to prevent service interruption
- Scanning for and removing malware
Is Managed WordPress Hosting Worth It?
Now that I’ve covered the benefits of managed WordPress hosting, the burning question is whether these advantages translate into real value for your business. Managed hosting costs more than non-managed hosting, so you should do a cost-benefit analysis based on your budget and business requirements.
Non-managed hosting provides only the basic server and network infrastructure. While this results in a lower monthly fee, you require in-house resources and expertise to configure, optimize, and maintain your site. A do-it-yourself approach may be a cost-effective choice if your business has a simple website or a small budget.
If you have a large website or ecommerce store, or rely on a digital presence for revenue and growth, managed WordPress hosting may be worth it. When your provider fully handles server setup, management, and troubleshooting, you free up the time of your in-house IT personnel, server administrator, and technical support staff. Depending on your organizational structure, you can save on salaries or reallocate resources to other projects.
There are also intangibles to think about when deciding if you need managed WordPress hosting. With technical expertise and around-the-clock monitoring, the investment can pay off in the long term. You’ll benefit from a secure, stable website that improves user engagement, customer experience, and conversions.
How To Choose the Right Managed WordPress Hosting Provider
While I’ve outlined the general services you can expect from a managed WordPress host, each provider offers a different level of service and pricing. As part of your research, check company reviews and testimonials to see how satisfied customers are. Below are some questions to ask as you compare and weigh your options.
Reliability
- What is your average uptime?
- How do you handle traffic spikes?
- Are resources automatically scaled to handle demand?
- Do you provide built-in caching, content delivery networks (CDNs), and other optimization features?
Backups
- How often do you perform backups?
- How long do you keep backup copies?
- How simple is it to restore previous versions of the site?
Security
- What security measures are in place (i.e., firewalls, malware scanning)?
- Are SSL certificates available and included in the pricing?
Technical Support
- How do I contact technical support (phone, chat, email)?
- What hours is your support team available?
- How knowledgeable is the team in providing WordPress troubleshooting?
Scalability
- What are the limits of my plan?
- What happens if our site exceeds plan limits?
- Can I easily upgrade or downgrade my plan as needed?
Migration
- Is there support for migrating our website to your service?
- How long will migration take?
- What downtime can we expect during migration?
Other Considerations
- Do you offer staging environments for testing?
- Is the control panel easy to use?
- What does the monthly plan include?
- What services are optional or cost extra?
- Do you provide additional services such as website design or search engine optimization?
Victorious: Your WordPress Managed Hosting Solution
A robust technical infrastructure fuels every high-performing website. When you work with an experienced, WordPress-managed web host, you can focus on growing your business while leaving the details of building and optimizing your server and network to experts. At Victorious, our WordPress managed hosting solutions scale seamlessly with your company. We also provide SEO and content services to ensure a streamlined and unified approach to your marketing. Contact us today for a free consultation.
