Managed Hosting – why is it important?
Today Web Anatomy SEO will be looking at what managed hosting is, the benefits of it and why it is important for your business to succeed.
What is Managed Hosting?
Managed Hosting is when an organization leases an entire server for their website and it is fully monitored by a team of website hosting administrators. Managed Hosting is ideal for organizations that wish to maximize their website’s reliability, performance and uptime. This type of hosting is recommended for high-end, complex websites with numerous functions and links. It is also recommended for those who do not have the time to manually check their websites daily or have the expertise to fix basic errors, as technology progresses unfortunately so does the number of errors that can occur.
What are the benefits of Managed Hosting?
Dedicated Hosting Server
With Managed Hosting comes your own Dedicated Hosting Server. This means your website is the only website housed on that server and does not share space or resources with another. This generally results in a faster loading time as the server’s bandwidth is only being utilized by your website. If you wish your organization can add another website to your server if your organization has multiple websites.
Fixed Costs
With Managed Hosting your costs are fixed yearly and do not change over the course of the year. Many hosting companies have a range of packages and services they offer, these prices do not change for the course of the year, allowing your organization to effectively plan for this in your budget. Shared Hosting or Unmanaged Hosting may have a set rate for hosting but without support included in the package if your website goes down you will have to pay per hour of an IT or Technicians time. Whereas with Managed Hosting your packages include IT and Technical support, so you do not have to pay extra for technical support.
Server Monitoring and Protection
Hosting companies are experienced with servers and are able to develop security measures against hacking or downtime. If something goes wrong having experts on your side will minimize your downtime and your website will be a priority. If you are on a shared hosting package your website is one of many needing assistance and may be offline for hours while the other websites are being restored. Hosting companies also have back-ups of your data and website so that if the server or website is damaged beyond repair the back-up can be used to create your website on another server, reducing down-time further.
24/7 Monitoring
Hosting companies manually check websites and servers daily to ensure that everything is running smoothly. However if you have not chosen a managed package then your website will not be checked unless you do it yourself. Yes shared hosting companies do monitor their servers but not frequently and they do not check each website on the server for errors. Simple updates can cause errors or changes on a website and if no one opens the website to check it these errors will go unnoticed for days at a time.
Increased Reliability and Trustworthiness
As a result of less downtime and errors your website will be more reliable. Increased reliability leads to an increase in trust for your website, from both clients and search engines. Search engines do not want to send users to broken/unreliable websites but a website that is always online and with little to no errors will automatically rank higher than those who are not. Reliability also increases your authority online meaning search engines are more likely to show your website above others as it provides a positive user experience.
Improved SEO scores
Reliability and Trustworthiness are factors search engines consider when determining where to place your website on search results. These factors also increase your reputation online and further cement your image as being a credible website. Improved search engine optimization scores will improve your visibility online and help generate new sale leads for your business, so managed hosting also helps your business succeed financially.
Faster Load Speeds
Managed hosting is placed onto dedicated servers which results in faster loading speeds and a higher level of responsiveness from the website. Website visitors will not wait longer than 3 seconds for a website to load. If your website takes longer to load you are losing 40% of your target audience before they have even seen your product or service. Think about the last time you waited longer than 3 seconds for a website to load, what was your initial impression of that company?
Experienced Technical and Customer Support
Included in managed hosting packages is technical and customer support. If your website goes down there is an experienced staff member already working on it before you are even aware there is a problem, oftentimes you will not be aware of the errors that occurred on your website because they would have been rectified almost immediately. You also do not have to pay for technical support or hire your own IT staff member as it is included in your package. Saving you on added expenses.
Automated Backups, Savings and Storage
Managed Hosting comes with automated back-ups and cloud storage which protects you from hacks or malfunctions. Shared and Unmanaged Hosting also allows for backups but you have to either do it yourself or call in and ask for it to be done, which can be an extra cost. With managed hosting it will be done, weekly or monthly depending on your package and the complexity of your website. Managed Hosting is highly recommended for complex websites like e-commerce sites or websites with multiple features like videos, blogs and carousels as these are all common features that can malfunction after updates or new applications are installed.
Why is Managed Hosting Important for success?
In the digital age where everyone is either shopping online or conducting research online, your website is now your strongest advocate for your organization. A recent study showed 81% of consumers conduct research online before making a purchase and over 75% of consumers shop online at least once a month. Your website needs to be fully functional and online at all times to ensure your organization can keep up with its competitors and stay successful.
Web Anatomy SEO’s Managed Hosting Packages:
Web Anatomy SEO offers 3 different hosting packages to suit your needs and budget restrictions. Our packages include the following; free ssl, 40GB storage, unmetered traffic, weekly backups, unlimited bandwidth, managed WordPress sites, dedicated servers, unlimited email accounts as well as free domain registration and management. For more information visit our website: https://webanatomyseo.com/hosting/
