Managed WordPress Hosting: Godaddy vs Windows vs Linux

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform out there. It’s free and open source, which makes it incredibly easy to use. What’s more, almost anyone can set up a WordPress blog with only a few clicks. You don’t need any experience to use it!

But setting up a WordPress blog isn’t enough. You also need to consider how you’re going to host it. There are a lot of different hosting options out there, and most of them are pretty pricey. But there’s another option that’s quickly becoming the standard for bloggers: managed wordpress hosting. What is managed wordpress hosting, and which one should you choose? Let’s dive in and learn more!

What Is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Put simply, managed wordpress hosting is when you pay someone else to take care of the technicalities of running your blog. That someone may be a specialist webmaster or tech geek, but usually it’s a company that specializes in providing webhosting for blogs. (Sometimes they also provide DNS management, which I’ll discuss in a bit.)

WordPress itself is a fairly easy platform to use and understand. But once you surpass the basics, things can get pretty complex. The truth is, you don’t need to know much about webhosting to use WordPress, but you do need to know what is and isn’t supported.

Managed wordpress hosting makes all of that worry-free. Your webmaster will take care of the technical aspects of running your blog. So all you have to do is focus on publishing your content!

The Advantages Of Managed WordPress Hosting

There are a lot of advantages to managed wordpress hosting. Here are just a few.

• Reduced Risk Of Downtime: If your blog goes down for some reason, your webmaster will be able to fix it within minutes. And if they can’t fix it, there are experts available to help you. (More on this later.)
• Increased Performance: The person or company hosting your blog will be ensuring that it’s always available to your readers. So not only will it be up when you post, but it will also perform fast as well.
• Privacy: Your blog’s content is private. It will never be shared with anyone. (Although you can enable public reading on your WordPress blog if you want.)
• Security: Your content is protected by SSL encryption. Additionally, you can set up personal passwords for each blog post or page on your WordPress blog. This prevents others from stealing your content if they gain access to your blog.

The Disadvantages Of Managed WordPress Hosting

On the other hand, there are a few disadvantages to managed wordpress hosting. Let’s discuss them.

• Price: Most webhosts for blogs will charge you a pretty penny. With managed wordpress hosting, you’re generally paying for the convenience. (Although, in some cases, you are paying less than you would otherwise because the company or individual offering the hosting is making a profit off of it. So there’s that.)
• Features: Some features are premium features that you would have to pay for. Things like email marketing and membership sites are two examples of this. (These features can be good to have, but they’re not essential.)
• Support: Most webhosting companies or individuals offering managed wordpress hosting are also providing support via email or live chat. But sometimes it’s simply not worth it to have a person on hand to answer your questions. (Things like setting up a WP blog from scratch and fixing broken links are things that you can ask the community for help with. But if you run into a problem with something more advanced, you’re out of luck.)
• Reliability: Managed wordpress hosting is not always the most reliable option out there. There are a few reasons for this. First, the companies that provide these services generally don’t have the same level of control as your average webhost. (They’re reselling a service that someone else built and maintained.) So there are some glitches that you might run into.
• Reduced Control: With a managed wordpress hosting plan, you’re giving up a certain level of control over the content that you create. Although the company or person hosting your blog might have access to your content, it’s still essentially your content. So you might not always like what they have to say about your blog or how they’re presenting it.

The Difference In Quality

Let’s say you’re comparing two companies that both offer managed wordpress hosting. One company’s service is truly amazing, and the pricing is acceptable. But the other company’s service is sub-par, and their pricing is pretty high. What do you get when you compare the two?

You get a higher quality service at the better pricing. Really, it’s as simple as that. So it’s in your best interest to choose a higher-quality service even if it costs you a little more. Of course, it’s totally worth it when you account for the advantages that come with a top-notch service.

The Risk Of Downtime

What happens if you go down for some reason? Your webmaster will be able to fix it within minutes, and everyone will still be able to read your blog posts. But what if they can’t fix it?

In the case of an outage, you’re trusting the expertise of someone else to get your blog up and running again. So there’s a bit of a risk of downtime. But considering that you’re paying for the convenience of having someone else take care of the technicalities of running your blog, this risk is generally acceptable. (Unless, of course, you’re going for a highly-reliable, tier-one hosting service.)

It’s also worth noting that if you’re going for a highly-reliable host, you don’t need to go through this step. They will take care of the technicalities of setting up your blog for you.

GDPR

With GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) looming over the world of internet marketing, it’s important to review your options for hosting your blog. EU citizens have the right to require organizations to disclose how they process any personal data. So if you opt for a free blog host like WordPress.com or GitHub.io, you’re effectively opting in for personal data collection.

For most people, the choice to store personal data will be a conscious one. But for those who are unaware that their decision to use an open source blog framework like WordPress has lifelong consequences, the choice to use a personal data-processing service might not seem obvious. In which case, it’s important to point out that the best option would be to use a managed wordpress hosting service that meets the requirements of GDPR. These services are readily available, and most importantly, ensure that your personal data is protected.

Summary

Overall, managed wordpress hosting is a great choice for bloggers. It’s incredibly convenient, and for those who opt for this type of hosting, it gives them the security and privacy that they need to express their opinions freely.

Even though it might cost a little more than an average web host, it’s well worth it. And considering all of its advantages, it’s easy to understand why so many bloggers are turning to managed wordpress hosting.

The choice between hosting platforms isn’t a trivial one, especially when you’re deciding between a free option and a premium one. But once you’ve decided that you need a blog, the technicalities of selecting the right hosting platform are more than enough to worry about.