If you run a business, finding solid hosting for your website is crucial. Your site isn’t just an online brochure for your company—it’s one of the main ways potential clients are able to find and engage with you. That means it’s vital to ensure your website runs optimally with little to no downtime. Good hosting supports your website in the same way that a solid foundation supports the structure of your home; and just as a poor foundation creates major issues in your home, inadequate hosting can throw a wrench into your website, causing big problems.
When it comes to website hosting, as with anything, you have options. Choosing the right type of hosting for your site requires some research, but it’s worth the effort. One of the big choices you have is between managed and unmanaged hosting—but what does that mean? Let’s take a look at the differences so you can choose the right option for your website.
What is Unmanaged Hosting?
In general, a hosting plan is made up of several different components, including the server hardware, operating system, and various kinds of software (depending on your plan). With an unmanaged hosting plan, that’s where it ends.
Unmanaged hosting offers no (or very few) additional services. With this type of hosting, you could get just a server with an operating system installed, leaving you to install any needed software on your own (even down to base system software). The hosting company itself doesn’t provide any services or take on any management tasks on your server. Anything you want to do, you’ll need to do yourself via the command line.
Running a website with unmanaged hosting is like building a house from the ground up—it’s great because you can build everything the way you want it, but if you don’t know what you’re doing you won’t get very far. The main reasons you would choose unmanaged hosting are:
- Your application requires you to be able to work at the server level
- You want to tinker with or learn about server management
- And yes, unmanaged hosting is cheaper than hosting that comes with more services
So if you have the skills and knowhow to work at this level and want to save some money, unmanaged hosting could be for you. But unmanaged hosting plans are definitely for the tech-savvy—unless you know what you’re doing, opting for a managed hosting plan will be a better fit.
What is Managed Hosting?
In addition to the basic server hardware, operating system, and software, managed hosting plans come with a number of additional benefits or services. The exact services you get will differ from company to company (or even from plan to plan), but some of the most commonly included services are:
- Automated backups
- Performance monitoring
- Automatic software updates
- Security, malware scanning and removal
- An easy-to-navigate hosting control panel
- SSH (Secure Shell) access
- Support service
- Additional on-demand services
Rather than having to implement these features yourself, the host takes care of it all for you. This type of hosting is simpler to use because you don’t need as much technical knowledge. It also saves you a lot of time that you can then spend on serving your customers and building your business.
What PageCrafter Can Do For You
PageCrafter offers managed WordPress hosting. This means that our managed hosting services are specifically geared toward WordPress sites. This allows us to fine tune everything—from hardware to software and beyond—to the way WordPress sites run. This makes us faster, more reliable, and more secure than a generic hosting company. It also means we’re able to offer a wider range of management services at a significantly lower price than a generic hosting company can. If you have a WordPress site, this is the ideal website hosting experience.
At PageCrafter we offer fully managed hosting services. We will:
- Manage all aspects of your site and deal with any issues that arise. You never have to worry about anything.
- Monitor your website and be alerted immediately if it goes down or something is wrong so we can fix the problem.
- Provide daily automated off-site back-ups of your website
- Migrate your website from your current hosting provider for FREE
- Handle everything you need to keep your WordPress site sailing smoothly.
In addition, we are a small business, so if you do have problems or concerns you can speak to an actual person right here in Minnesota who can expertly address the issue you are experiencing.
In a nutshell, PageCrafter offers superior quality hosting services at a reasonable price, resulting in a faster and more reliable website for your customers. Whether you are ready to make the switch now or have questions, contact us here or give us a call at 952-457-4746. We look forward to helping you out!
