In our last blog we talked about what managed hosting is and why it’s so important for your website. In this blog we will talk specifics about what you get when your company has a managed hosting package through Corporate Conversions.
In general, the most obvious benefit of managed hosting is a website that is up to date in all of its software, including its content management system and all additional software. Your website will work smoothly and well or we’ll be there promptly to fix it. We back up our clients’ data daily and weekly so that we can restore any website that unexpectedly crashes or is hacked.
Specifically, this is what managed hosting includes:
Response Time
Corporate Conversions gets an immediate email notification when a client’s website goes down. We take action from there.
SSL
In 2018 we added SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) as part of our managed hosting package. SSL is “a standard security protocol for establishing encrypted links between a web server and a browser in an online communication.” This ensures that the data that is transmitted between the web server and browsers remains encrypted. To know if a website uses SSL, type in the site address in the address bar. When the site loads, check to see if there is a little lock icon next to the address bar. If there is, that is the evidence of a SSL certificate, and it means the website is secure.
Plugin Management
Content management systems post updates of their software so that the websites that use these systems to run can continue trouble free. Most websites that run using a CMS also utilize plugins. Plugins are specific pieces of code that can be added to a CMS to make the website do specific things or run better either on the front or back end. Those plugins get updated on no specific schedule, only when their designers get around to it. Above are some examples of plugins available for WordPress.
What often happens with plugins is that they will experience problems when the CMS is updated. Our job is to make sure the plugins are updated when new updates are issued so that all aspects of your website continue to run well.
Google Search Console Monitoring
We also monitor Google Search Console to make sure all of your sites pages still work and there are no 404s. This tool helps measure search traffic and performance, fix issues and improve your site’s rankings in Google search results.
In addition to all of the above, Corporate Conversions also includes one domain registration with its managed hosting package. We also do small content and photo updates for our clients if they want to change the look or the wording from time to time to keep their website current.
Unfortunately, you cannot just build a website and then walk away from it. The internet is constantly evolving in millions of small ways all the time. Without this kind of attention paid to a website, it will slowly break down over time. It will get slower, pages will fail to load, it will be vulnerable to hacking, and plugins will stop working. Your customers will get frustrated with these problems and click out, and you will lose sales.
What Does a Managed Hosting Package Cost?
Corporate Conversions offers a hosting package to our clients for $300 a year. A managed hosting package costs $900 annually. The $600 difference is what we charge for all of the above services. Essentially it pays for regular monitoring, quick intervention in case of trouble, our professional experience, and your peace of mind.
If you have questions about your website and how it’s working or how fast it’s loading, call Tom at at (616) 426-9303 to discuss what we can do to keep your website operating at full capacity at all times and give you full peace of mind about its health and security.
Uptime Management
To avoid maintenance issues, we monitor what is happening with your website regularly. This way we become aware of any challenges your website may have from heavy traffic at certain times to security threats. We can stop problems from becoming problems if we know what is happening with your site.
