If you’re planning to launch a WordPress website for yourself or your business, you have two options. You could go with WordPress.com, which is WP’s fully hosted solution. Or, like many business owners, you could choose the self-hosted version, WordPress.org. But, as the name suggests, you’ll need to find your own WordPress hosting provider.
Technically, you can use any host. But that doesn’t mean you should. Managed WordPress hosting specifically focuses on WordPress sites, optimised to boost performance and security in the WP environment.
Unfortunately, there’s no industry standard for WordPress hosting, so your mileage may vary depending on the hosting tool you use. But the good news is that you can increase your chance of finding the right solution for you.
Keep your eyes peeled for the Four S’s that are essential in WordPress hosting…
Speed
Speed is everything. There are already enough things that can slow a site down – such as improper caching and buggy plugins – so don’t let your host be one of them. Look for a host optimised for speed.
Security
The security measures taken by your host could make or break your site. Quite literally! Look for a hosting service that’s committed to using best practices to create a safe, hacker-free environment.
Scalability
The fact that a hosting tool will support your site now doesn’t always mean it will in the future. If you’re planning to grow (or even if you’re not), knowing that you can upgrade your hosting gives peace of mind.
Support
A good host can make things easy. But things won’t always go to plan. To ensure optimal uptime, choose a host that offers round-the-clock, WordPress-specific support.
It might seem like the stars need to align perfectly to find WordPress tools that tick all four boxes. But the good news is that there are actually a number of great hosting options. We even use them ourselves!
Flywheel
Flywheel is amazing for scalability. It offers four different plans, supporting everything from 5000 monthly-visit websites, right through to sites that see traffic levels hit more than 400,000 per month. There’s also the option to create a custom-built plan if the off-the-rack solutions don’t meet your needs. Flywheel is 100% optimised for WordPress, and offers 24-hour support from their ‘happiness engineers’.
WP Engine
WP Engine is another great choice for scalability, with three plans plus a custom-built option. But the highlight of WP Engine is that it offers a pretty extensive developer platform for site building, if that’s something that’s of interest to you. All the developer tools are WP specific. They include things like built-in site admin tools, plugins to install, and integrated local environments for design and testing.
SiteGround
SiteGround isn’t 100% WP focused – it offers small and medium web hosting, too. But it’s WP functionality is impressive. This is ideal for smaller WordPress sites, with the top-level plan supporting up to 100,000 monthly visits. The great thing about SiteGround is that it’s firmly rooted in speed and security, both at server and application level. It can be used for new launches and WP migrations.
These are tools that we’ve tried and tested, and that we’re proud to use ourselves as part of our very own WordPress hosting and maintenance service. At WPMaintain, we believe that using the right tools is crucial for success.
