Websites are the front door to your online business, brand, or personal presence. They’re how users find you and discover what you do. But launching a website isn’t enough. You also need a reliable dedicated hosting address that keeps your site accessible 24/7 so visitors can find you anytime. Finding the right web host is crucial to your site’s success and uptime. To ensure that your site thrives with an optimal user experience, you need the best fully managed web hosting services provider for your needs.
Choosing the right web host can be challenging with various options available — not to mention varying levels of support and services. This complete guide will help you through what to consider for finding the perfect fit for your needs and decide when it’s time to choose a hosting provider.
A Guide to Fully Managed Web Hosting Services?
Fully managed web hosting services are the highest level of hosting support in which the web host takes care of the entire dedicated server, including hardware and software setup.
These services include acquiring, installing, maintaining, and repairing the dedicated server and keeping it up-to-date with the latest software patches and security improvements.
Fully managed hosting offers a high level of support and typically comes with many perks, such as 24/7 on-call support, a dedicated team to manage your account, and regular data backups.
Is Fully Managed Hosting Right for You?
Fully managed hosting is right for your business if you don’t have the time, skillset, or resources to manage a server on your own. Often, this applies to smaller companies or first-time website owners, who may not be able to set up their servers properly.
Hosting companies can also offer support and additional services that may be outside of a fully managed hosting plan. Managed hosting companies can often provide the help you need, especially if you’re not tech-savvy, more so than a self-managed hosting solution.
Fully managed providers deal with server setup and management, security, uptime, and other essential hosting elements. Doing so allows you to focus on your business and marketing strategy rather than spending time acquiring and managing server setup.
Three Things to Look for in a Web Hosting Provider
Communication
Customer service and communication are primary factors in choosing a web hosting provider. The best hosting providers are transparent about their services and offer responsive and helpful support.
Hosting upfront and transparent providers about what they offer, what you get for your price point, and any potential limitations can help you avoid hidden fees and surprises. Some companies will also provide a free consultation to help you decide if their services are right for you.
Reliability
The following important factor in choosing a web hosting provider is reliability. How often does the server go down? What is the uptime situation? Are there any guarantees or money-back guarantees? What is the average response time when the server has an outage? Hosting is a challenging job.
Servers will sometimes experience downtime, but your provider should do everything in their power to minimize downtime and have a quick response time when an outage occurs. Look for a hosting company that has a track record of good uptime and offers guarantees.
Technology
Technology is the third important factor in choosing a web hosting provider. What kind of server environment does the provider use? What software is running on the server? What type of internet connectivity does the server use? What kind of hardware does the server use?
Two Questions to Ask Before Making a Decision
How long has the company been in business?
You want to ensure the hosting provider has been around long enough to prove their reliability and ability to last in the marketplace.
Hosting is a service that must be maintained and repaired often, so providers have a high turnover rate. Still, you want to look for companies that have been around for at least five years.
How many customers does the company have?
Hosting companies with more customers often have more experience, better technology, and more resources to dedicate to each hosting account.
How many customers a hosting company has and how many accounts are fully managed hosting is an excellent way to determine how much experience and expertise the hosting provider has.
Plan Your Website’s Requirements
The first step to choosing the best hosting company is to evaluate your website’s requirements. These requirements include your site’s traffic volume, how often it gets updated, how big it is in its file size, and how many people visit it at once.
You’ll also want to consider common hosting issues like hardware failures, software bugs, downtime, and potential threats such as DDoS attacks, data theft, and malicious code.
Hosting providers differ in the level of service they offer, their uptime track record, and the cost of their services. When choosing the right hosting for your website, factor in the following elements:
Dedicated Customer Service
Dedicated customer service is an essential thing to consider when looking for a web host. Most hosts offer 24/7 support, but some go above and beyond with phone support, chat support, email support and more.
Some companies offer live chat, remote assistance, and standard ticket-based customer service. Your host should help you with any issues or problems that may arise—from simple questions about how to use their interface to more advanced troubleshooting problems with specific pieces of software on your server.
The best way to find out if a host offers dedicated customer service is by reading reviews from other users. If they’re getting positive feedback about their experience contacting the company, then chances are they will be able to provide excellent assistance.
Backup and Recovery
Backup and recovery are essential topics to understand. If a site goes down, it can significantly impact your business. If you’ve chosen a web host with backup services, they will be responsible for backing up your site. You should make sure that you know how often they are backing up and restoring your website.
You should also confirm that they will restore your site if there is an issue with their hardware or software so that downtime doesn’t happen as often as possible (which would negatively impact your business).
Suppose there are any issues with the managed hosting provider’s hardware or software. In that case, they will notify you immediately. Hence, there isn’t any downtime for the user experience on their end because this could lead to lost revenue for both parties involved (client/web developer).
Ongoing Security Monitoring
Security monitoring is an essential part of keeping your site safe. If you don’t have a team of experts monitoring your site 24/7, then it’s not just a question of whether they will respond to security issues as they arise—it’s also a question of if they will be able to do so at all.
The whole team needs training and experience in this area for a provider to offer ongoing security monitoring.
The hosting provider should also have access to state-of-the-art tools that allow them to detect vulnerabilities in real-time from any device or location (which makes sense when you consider how many people are accessing sites nowadays).
Optimization
A managed hosting provider should be able to optimize your site. They can change settings, add or remove plugins, and even move your site to a different server. All of these changes can help improve performance and search engine rankings.
For optimization to work effectively, you must have a good starting point with your web host.
Suppose you’re using an unmanaged hosting plan (where the provider does not give you access). In that case, it may be for them to do much with the site once they have optimized it as much as they can—other than moving it over to another plan where more advanced features are available (which will likely require more money).
Malware Detection and Removal
Malware detection and removal is a crucial part of the managed hosting service, as it can help you avoid a malware infection on your site.
Malware is any program or virus that can harm your site. Attachments can be spread malware by email attached to an email, links in emails, or even through websites (such as advertisements). Some malware may not affect your site; others may cause issues for search engines trying to index it and visitors visiting it.
Hosts need security tools that detect and remove such attacks from their customers’ sites because they could eventually lead to worse problems if left unchecked (e.g., hacked accounts).
24/7 Server Monitoring
Server monitoring is a service provided by the managed hosting provider. It’s an excellent way to ensure that your site is always up and running, and it will also avoid the abuse of your resources.
Monitoring can be helpful if someone other than yourself is using the server for their purposes without permission (i.e., illegally uploading pirated content).
You can expect 24/7 monitoring services with most managed WordPress hosting plans, but it’s still important to check with each provider before signing up for their services, just in case.
Client Communication
The best fully managed hosting providers are usually more expensive than other types of web hosting, but they’re worth it.
They offer many more services than just storing your website on their servers and letting you know it’s up and running. They also manage all of the technical aspects of running your site, including security updates, backups, server maintenance tasks and more, so you don’t have to worry about them.
Proactive communication is critical.
Additionally, the best fully managed web hosting companies will proactively communicate with you about any issues or changes needed on your site. This communication can happen via email, phone or even in person if you’re working with a local company.
This level of support and communication from your web host is essential, as it will reassure you that someone is there to help if something goes wrong.
Flexibility for Your Needs
Flexibility is a central selling point if you’re looking for a web hosting provider that will cater to your needs.
Flexibility refers to your control over your account and your site’s features. For instance, you can choose the storage space and bandwidth you need with a managed or fully managed hosting provider.
You can also get additional help with security and updates when needed. With these providers, you’ll also have access to 24/7 customer support in case something goes wrong with your website or any part of it (including plugins).
Consider other options when necessary.
If flexibility is important to you but managing everything on your own is not feasible because of time constraints or lack of technical knowledge (or both), consider using an automated cPanel tool like Fantastico De Luxe from HostGator or Softaculous from SiteGround instead.
These tools allow users who aren’t familiar with coding languages such as PHP or MySQL—the programming languages used by managed WordPress hosting —to manage their WordPress site without needing technical assistance from their host provider’s staff.
Expertise in Your Niche
If you’re unsure about what your business website needs, its uses, or what the site consists of, don’t worry. That’s why most managed hosting providers offer a free consultation.
During the consultation process, they’ll ask you questions about the purpose of your site and how you expect people to use it. They’ll also want to know if there are any specific elements on which you’d like them to focus their attention (e.g., security).
After this initial discussion, they should provide a clear picture of the services offered and any additional fees associated with them (if there are any). You may even receive an estimate of how much traffic could impact your monthly bill—which is excellent information if you plan to have many visitors come through each month.
Server Setup Assistance
The managed hosting provider can provide server setup assistance. Providers usually have an in-house team of experts who can help you with server setup, configuration and installation software on your dedicated server.
They help you avoid any technical problems that might arise during the setup phase so that you can get your business online quickly and easily. This support is beneficial if you have no experience managing servers or installing software.
If this is the case, ask your managed web hosting company what kind of support they provide for their customers regarding setup assistance before making a purchase decision.
This move will determine whether or not they are suitable for you as a customer based on how much experience they have within this area (the more years under their belt, the better).
Server Monitoring Assistance
Server monitoring refers to the process of checking the health of your server. Monitoring can be done by you or by the managed hosting company. The most basic form of server monitoring is to check the server logs and ensure everything is working as it should be.
Additional server features
The next level up in this regard would be using a third-party software tool to monitor your server for you, alerting you when there are problems. This feature means that if something on your site goes wrong, then another person will contact you about it instead of having to spend time manually checking for issues with your site or server.
Security Configuration Assistance
Configuring a website security policy is known as “security configuration.” When choosing a web host, it’s essential to ask whether the company offers this service. The benefits of using your managed web hosting for security configuration include:
Control over all aspects of your website’s security.
You can choose precisely what and how much protection you want on your site, rather than having someone else make this decision for you.
Financial flexibility
Lower costs if you don’t need help with other services or support during the process—and if something goes wrong, customer service will probably be faster and more friendly when dealing with something they’ve done many times before.
Confirming Your Decision: Is This the Best Managed Hosting for You?
If you’re not tech-savvy and want to focus on your business, this is the right managed hosting. Managed web hosting providers take care of all the technical aspects of setting up and maintaining a website.
What your service provider expects from you
All they need from you is your website content, along with any specific requirements that your sites might require, such as patches or updates. Instead of worrying about what software needs installing or how to make changes to the site’s code, the managed web hosting provider will take care of all these things.
It also means that if there are any issues with their managed hosting service or someone from their team needs access to your account. They can make changes themselves (for example, when making upgrades).
At least one person from their team will contact you in advance rather than just showing up unannounced on your doorstep demanding access.
The Right Hosting Services Provider Can Help Your Business’s Online Operations.
Finding the right managed hosting provider is an important task, but it isn’t one you can rush. Take your time to research what each managed hosting company offers and find out which one best fits your needs.
Once you’ve found the right managed hosting provider, you can rest easy knowing that your site is in trustworthy hands and will continue to be accessible 24/7. Choosing the best-managed web hosting provider is crucial to your site’s success and uptime.
