What Does Your Hosting Include and What Does it Cost?


Standard hosting packages that come with very low-cost subscriptions from hosting service providers such as GoDaddy, HostGator, Bluehost, and many others are completely different from the services we provide.

Standard Managed Hosting – Cost

Our managed hosting charge for most WordPress sites is just $47 a month. Clients that pay annually upfront, get a one-month discount, so you only pay for 11 months.

This rate applies to most straightforward websites that have a limited number of static pages. Usually, this means less than 50 pages. If you have a larger website and or one with an e-commerce store, rates may vary based on the scale and complexity of the site.

See below a list of what is included with hosting.

If you have other sites that use a different back-end (CMS) to WordPress, we can still probably host it however we would need to look at the site first, so we know what we are dealing with before we could commit.

Migration and Initial Security Set-up

You may also have an initial (one-off) cost which can range wildly depending on the size and complexity of the site. This is for the process of migrating your site from wherever it is now, to our managed hosting platform. Clients on marketing plans usually have this cost covered within the plan.

This charge includes resetting up the site and checking every aspect of the site to make sure it is consistent with the original version of the site. In addition, it covers the initial security setup, plug-in review, setting up the off-site backup system, and adding or checking Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA). We also look closely at what GA & GSC are telling us about your site and if there are problems, we will either go ahead and fix them or make recommendations as to possible changes that might improve the performance of your website. If you have more than one website, discounts may apply.

Our Standard Managed Hosting Charges Include the Following

Maintaining the site

  • Keeping the site consistent with changes in the way sites need to present, such as mobile optimization
  • WordPress updates
  • Plugin updates
  • Advanced security
  • Spam protection
  • Offsite backups (and restore if needed)…
    • This means that if your website was to get hacked or encounter some other major problem, we can restore it quickly without incurring any additional charges
    • Offsite back-ups
      • When we run back-ups, we save the backup to a separate location away from the server where the site is hosted. This is because it is not uncommon that when a site is hacked the backup on the same server can also be infected.
      • Sometimes the entire server including the backup of your site can go down. By saving copies of your site to a completely different location we increase the likelihood that we can get the site back-up quickly and reliably regardless of the reason for the outage.
  • Monitoring the site for problems
    • Note, even the most stable site, with zero changes or content added to it, can experience problems over time
      • This is because while the site may not change, many changes occur within the software environment that it sits in
      • For example, server software gets upgraded, the browsers that are used to view your site, change
      • Another example is that while it is important to keep the WordPress updated on your site. If you do, there is a risk that one or more plugins also installed on your site, may not function properly with this new version of WordPress
        • This is one of the most common conditions that cause problems with websites
        • When you have a managed hosting plan, all you need do is ask your assigned developer to implement updates on your site and check for compatibly problems
        • This will usually be done within the hosting plan, without any extra charges

Minor edit requests are included i.e.

  • Address or phone number changes, text corrections, that kind of thing
  • If you want a simple navigational change or have a form go to a different email address, we also take care of that at no extra charge
    • This applies provided that you know exactly what you want, can communicate it clearly to the developer and the developer can take care of it with just a few minutes of work
    • If you need help to figure out what you want, the best way to do something, or the change you want will require a significant amount of development time, extra charges may apply

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Advanced Managed Hosting

Clients on marketing plans with us receive more advanced hosting services as part of their hosting plan. This includes many proprietary technical enhancements and performance-boosting techniques that help to cause the site to be more competitive and help it to outrank its competition.

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DIY Enthusiasts and Self Hosting

Standard hosting packages that come with very low-cost subscriptions from hosting service providers such as GoDaddy, HostGator, Bluehost, and many others are completely different from the services we provide as described above.

When we provide ‘managed hosting‘ you get an assigned web developer who will take responsibility for the site. This means that if there is a problem, they will fix it for you. In most cases, there will be no extra charges for this process. We will keep the site up to date with the latest technology, security tools, and security methodologies. We will back up the site regularly and restore the site if needed, without you incurring any additional charges.

When you ‘self-host’ using a personal plan with providers like the examples mentioned above, this means you are placing your site in a non-secure, non-commercial grade environment and also taking responsibility for managing your own website. Should a problem occur, you will need to work with the support department at the hosting provider yourself.

For personal blogs and most non-commercial sites, this can be a great way to minimize costs.

However, we recommend that if you have a website that you depend on for income or one that is critical to your business, you consider a ‘managed hosting’ service.

  • It is very common that a company starts out with a ‘self-hosted’ solution, then when something goes wrong with the site
    • They do not realize this for an extended period of time – they only find out when a potential customer informs them
    • They wrestle with the support department of their hosting provider
    • They learn that they have to find a web developer to fix the problem, incur extra unexpected charges along with all the delays associated with working through the above process
  • At best, this can result in opportunities lost, at worst, there will be extra charges and loss of income

Be smart, if your business depends on the continuous availability and smooth function of your website, make sure you have a ‘managed hosting‘ solution

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What About SSL?

We can also implement SSL for you. The cost of that service is $285 annually.

Nowadays SSL is a necessity for all professional business websites.

When SSL is implemented on your website, this means all traffic between your site and a user accessing it, is encrypted.

All the URLs change from Http:// to Https://. Most browsers will also highlight the fact that your site is ‘considered secure‘.

Google has also indicated that its ranking algorithm advantages sites with SSL

What we do

We get and install the SSL certificate, use one that we are familiar with, get good support for ‘Comodo‘ test and fix the site as needed.

We also add the appropriate trust badge (and enhance it) to the homepage (this helps with conversions). We also make sure the canonical tagging (HTTP v HTTPS URLs) is set up optimally for SEO.

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Learn More About Implemented an SSL Certificate on Your Website

What a lot of people do not realize is that when you install an SSL certificate it can often break pages and functions on a website. Forms suddenly stop working, images don’t load, PHP functions become erratic.

For further insights into SSL implementation challenges, you may find these articles helpful

 

What Happens If I Decide That I Want a Different Web Developer to Host My Website?

If we currently host your website and you decide to work with a different web developer, we will provide you with a full backup of your website.