If you are a WordPress beginner you might be wondering, what is managed WordPress hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a hosting service that manages all the technical aspects of your WordPress site. The goal of managed WordPress hosting is to have WordPress experts support you in the areas you need extra help so you can focus on the parts of your business, blog or project that you know and love. Think of it as your own personal IT department.

Click here to see what sets managed WordPress hosting apart

Some of the services included in managed WordPress hosting are:

• WordPress theme, core, and plugin updates
• Regular site backups
• Fine-tuning site performance and speed
• Scanning for malware and other security issues
• Quickly creating new websites
• Building and managing staging sites
• Website migration

What sets managed WordPress hosting apart from regular hosting?

WordPress is your website host, meaning the server and physical location of your website. While WordPress is responsible for managing the overall maintenance of the server, they do not cover the individual technical needs of your personal WordPress site.

Managed WordPress hosting, on the other hand, means that the host takes care of all your website's technical needs. Keep in mind that not all website hosting is managed hosting, so unless you are paying specifically for a managed WordPress hosting service, it is probably not included.

If you have read about different types of website hosting, you may have come across shared hosting as a lower-cost option. Why go with managed WordPress hosting if it costs more? The short answer is, you get what you pay for.

Shared website hosting features websites on all different platforms, not just WordPress, which means that in order to accommodate everyone, the hosting environment needs to be simplified. This can pose a number of issues from potential security risks to your site running slowly, depending on the other sites sharing your host.

Unlike shared website hosting, managed WordPress hosting is designed to handle WordPress sites specifically, which allows for greater customization and understanding of your exact technical needs.

Do you need managed WordPress hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a great service, but whether or not you need it is dependent on how much traffic your WordPress site gets, how much technical knowledge you have and how much time and money you have at your disposal. If you are a serious techie or on a tight budget, managed WordPress hosting may not be for you.

For owners of small businesses or high traffic blogs looking to expand and lack the time or technical skills to deal with all that comes with running a WordPress website, Managed WordPress hosting is a great resource.

Managed WordPress hosting may be more costly than other options, but if you factor in potential website crashes and security breaches that could affect business, it is a service that pretty much pays for itself. Not to mention the added stress relief of knowing your WordPress site is in good hands.

The pros and cons of managed WordPress hosting

If you are on the fence about whether or not you need managed WordPress hosting, weighing the pros and cons might help you make an informed decision.

Pros

• Increased website security
• Managed WordPress expert support
• Lightning speed
• Free dev tools/staging site
• Automatic updates/backups

Cons

• Price
• Limited to WordPress sites, does not support external non-WordPress code
• Email service and domain names not always included

Advantages of using managed WordPress hosting

Still not sure if managed WordPress hosting is for you? Let's break down some of the services included in managed WordPress hosting to help you make up your mind.

Lightning speed

Managed WordPress hosting servers are built to handle high levels of traffic, meaning as your business grows, it will not be at the cost of your site's speed. So feel free to scale up without worrying about slowing down.

Expert Support

Managed WordPress hosting means having your own team of WordPress experts at your service at all times. Unlike shared hosts, these experts know WordPress front to back and can advise you on all things tech. No longer will you be left wondering how to fix a bug or which plugins to avoid, your personal managed WordPress council has you covered.

Automatic updates and backups

Managed WordPress hosting teams are constantly figuring out how to best optimize your site via proxy content distribution network (CDN) centers and server-level caching, so you don't have to worry about staying on top of the latest plugins for site-level caching. They can also help you remove unnecessary plugins, which means lower security risks.

Managed WordPress hosting should also include automatic backups to ensure your peace of mind every step of the way.

Security

Managed WordPress hosting increases security on your site to the point that a hacking attempt is basically just a waste of time. Managed WordPress hosting provides features including but not limited to active spyware and malware scanning that help boost security specifically in areas of weakness that hackers know to look for on WordPress.

As mentioned above, managed WordPress hosting also ensures that your WordPress core, theme, plugins, etc. are all up to date, which is also extremely important to your site's security. On the off chance that a hacker is somehow able to bypass all of these measures, your managed WordPress hosting team will help you through the recovery process.

Development Tools

Managed WordPress hosting includes tools that help you to best develop your site. These tools may differ depending on your host, but one example of a dev tool is a WordPress staging site which is basically a clone of your website where you can test out different themes and design features before taking them live.

Additional benefits

While we covered some of the top benefits of managed WordPress hosting, you can also look forward to many other perks from tools that help you monitor web traffic and customer behavior, to simple website conversion, among many others. Managed WordPress hosting ultimately allows you to scale your business by providing you the best support and tools to do so.

What is the cost of managed WordPress hosting?

What is managed WordPress hosting going to cost? Managed WordPress hosting does cost more than unmanaged hosting, but the service you receive with managed WordPress hosting is at least equal to that of a system admin or tech support, which you would likely need to hire without WordPress experience.

Service admins, as opposed to managed WordPress hosting experts, generally do not have the same level of experience with WordPress specifically. This means that plugin updates and overall maintenance will still likely be left to you, which takes time and leaves room for error. Even one site crash or security issue could end up costing you more than managed WordPress hosting.

Managed WordPress hosting also ultimately allows you to scale your website by providing you the best support and tools to grow your business in ways that would take much more time and effort on your own. Think of managed WordPress hosting as a shortcut to a successful web presence, which we all know can’t be bad for business.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need advice on the pros and cons of regular vs. managed hosting, you want to know which plugins are critical, or you're finding that your site is slow and you need help troubleshooting. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet?

Click here to see what sets managed WordPress hosting apart

The post Managed WordPress Hosting appeared first on uPress.

WordPress is by far the most popular platform and is constantly growing and developing in response. This means you have a vast array of features available to enhance your site, but so many options can be overwhelming. Luckily, we have used our skills as managed WordPress hosting experts to help you narrow it down and have compiled a list of 10 of our favorite WordPress features to help bring you more business.

To make your WordPress site work harder for you, click here

1. Security compliance

Arguably the most important feature for your WordPress site is security. Customers should trust that while visiting your site, their personal information is secure. Security breaches could mean death to your business.

Part of choosing the right plugins is making sure that they are actively being managed and updated to prevent vulnerabilities. Any plugins offered outside the official WordPress plugin repository should be closely vetted before choosing to add them to your site. However, to the untrained eye, this can be a difficult task.

Our expert opinion as managed WordPress hosts is to stick with the official WordPress plugin repository to avoid any security issues. Anything offered here is a safe bet and removes any worries about security compliance.

To pump up security, even more, you can also download a firewall plugin to help maintain the highest level of security consistently, keeping your user's information safe and sound at all times.

2. Contact forms

Contact forms are extremely important to any online business. This is essentially the first channel of communication between your visitors and you, serving as the best way to receive feedback or questions from potential customers. This way, you are available to your customers without exposing your personal information on your site.

Contact forms can look any number of ways but should not be overly complicated, with limited fields for the user to fill out. Providing a space for users to enter their email addresses is also a great way to generate leads.

Choosing the right contact form plugin is different for everyone. There are many popular plugins for beginners that provide premade contact-form templates. This is the easiest option and gets the job done. If you are a designer and wish to build a contact form from scratch, there are also many plugins that allow you to do so.

3. Email marketing tools

Email marketing, when done right, is a great way to generate sales and build new and existing customer relationships. Customers are more likely to work with businesses that they know and trust, which is why this can be a great feature to increase sales.

WordPress email marketing plugins provide tools to help you build personalized email campaigns, tailored to different customers' interests. There are plugins available that ensure your emails stay within the bounds of anti-spam laws.

Finding the right email marketing tool for you can help push your WordPress business site to the next level by utilizing customer insights with methods proven to be successful.

4. Call to action blocks

Call to action blocks prompt users to take action in real-time while scrolling on your website, making their experience in moving from action A to B as smooth as possible. Good CTA's will use clear wording and design, making it easy for customers to do things like subscribe to emails or be rerouted to your blog.

Whatever the call to action may be, the user is more likely to engage if the option is presented to them with the simple click of a button. Today, CTA's are almost expected and if your WordPress site lacks one, you be losing out on potential customers that need a little extra push.

5. WordPress analytics

In order to improve your business, you will need to have a good understanding of your analytics. Otherwise, you are left clueless as to what is working and what isn't. When it comes to creating effective business strategies, gathering data about how your customers are responding to your products is crucial. Engaging with your customers is a lot easier when you know what generates traffic.

WordPress analytics features allow you to gather a multitude of important business information in one place. Not only are you provided with real-time insights, but many plugins make your analytics easy to understand, allowing you to make the most out of your site.

6. Testimonials and reviews

Another great way to boost sales is by adding either a testimonials or reviews feature to your WordPress website. This not only allows customers an opportunity to leave feedback, which can provide a better understanding of where to improve, but testimonials and reviews also help to build a social presence.

Many potential customers rely on reviews when making decisions about whether or not they find a business trustworthy. Positive testimonials from previous customers can give new customers an idea of what to expect from you. The more good reviews, the better likelihood that a customer will choose you over competitors.

7. Case studies

While at first glance case studies may seem similar to reviews and testimonials, and in a way they are; case studies provide a more detailed and complete account of your business and how it has affected a specific client over time. This often provides a clearer picture of things like your business objectives and how these are translated into the final product than provided by testimonials or reviews.

Many WordPress case study features are able to translate these case studies into quantifiable data that can then be displayed on your site. This data will help potential customers get an idea of what kind of results to expect from your business. Customers are likely to trust the experience of fellow customers and positive results are proven to improve business.

8. SEO plugins

SEO plugins can be a great way to refine your business site on WordPress. There are a number of plugins available, each with unique features from competitor research to keyword title and meta-description optimization. Focusing on SEO is a surefire way to boost your ranking in the search results of potential customers. Generating more traffic to your site is one of the fastest ways to surge sales.

9. eCommerce plugins

WordPress provides you with the basic tools for building your online business, with eCommerce plugins you will find features that can take your site from good to great. Added opportunities for customization will help customers find exactly what they are looking for.

eCommerce plugins also make customer relations a breeze by removing potential payment issues and issuing refunds much more simple. As mentioned previously, the better the user experience, the more the customer is likely to choose your business.

10. Backup plugins

There is nothing more stressful than the thought of having to rebuild your WordPress site after hours of hard work. Your site is an asset to your business and it is important to ensure that it is protected. Backup features remove this fear and make sure that your site is secure, no matter what. Certain plugins perform automatic backups at intervals of your choosing so you will automatically stay up to date with your backups.

Updating your WordPress site is crucial to stay on top of your game, but you can experiment freely with different options and be confident that a recent version of your site is safe in the cloud.

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The post Want More Business? Include These 10 Features in Your WordPress Site appeared first on uPress.