It can be easy to focus on your website’s users and front-end design, while overlooking the importance of behind-the-scenes factors such as your web hosting. However, choosing your hosting provider and plan carefully can prevent many problems for your site down the line.
Fortunately for WordPress users, there are several providers that offer dedicated WordPress hosting plans. This type of hosting can help you keep your site running fast at all times, maintain tight security, and even streamline the process of maintaining your site.
In this post, we’ll explain the differences between the most popular types of WordPress web hosting. Then we’ll explore some of the common problems you can avoid by choosing dedicated WordPress hosting in particular. Let’s go!
An Introduction to the Various Types of Web Hosting
When it comes to hosting your website, there are five main options available for WordPress users:
- Shared hosting. On a shared hosting plan, your website is stored on a server with several other sites. This option is typically very cheap, but other sites on the server can negatively impact yours.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting. A VPS is a shared server with a virtually-isolated space for each website it stores. This can minimize some of the issues shared hosting plans have, without requiring a dedicated server.
- Dedicated hosting. A dedicated hosting plan provides an entire physical server just for your website. You won’t need to worry about other websites affecting yours, but the cost can be quite high.
- Cloud hosting. This is a fairly new hosting option, which enables several smaller servers to act like one large one. Cloud hosting is very efficient at handling large traffic spikes, and you pay only for the space you use.
- Managed WordPress hosting. These plans are created specifically with WordPress users in mind. With managed WordPress hosting, your provider will also handle some of the setup and maintenance of your site.
Along with those options, there’s one more possibility to consider. Dedicated WordPress hosting combines the benefits of managed WordPress hosting with those of a dedicated server. It provides a single server that’s only for your site and includes services such as automated updates, regular backups, and WordPress support.
Any host can provide a server for your WordPress website. However, those offering specific WordPress features are best placed to handle the unique needs of your site. Plus, many of these plans include key features and services that you would otherwise need to acquire separately.
5 Common Problems You Can Avoid by Opting for Dedicated WordPress Hosting
Anyone who owns or manages a website knows there are plenty of things that can go wrong. Security issues, slow site speeds, and errors can happen to even the best and most experienced WordPress users.
Below, we’ve outlined a few ways that choosing dedicated WordPress hosting can help prevent and mitigate those problems.
1. Security Threats from Other Sites and Outdated Files
There are many types of managed WordPress hosting, some of which involve shared servers. While this option is usually less expensive than dedicated WordPress hosting, you’re taking a risk by storing your site on a shared server.
As with any shared hosting solution, performance and security issues stemming from other sites on the server can affect your own. With a dedicated server, on the other hand, you have complete control. This eliminates certain problems, such as the spread of malicious files from other sites.
In addition, one of the most convenient services most dedicated WordPress hosting plans include is automated updates. By taking the responsibility for maintaining WordPress core updates off your plate, this type of WordPress hosting can help keep your site secure while you focus on creating content and engaging visitors.
Regularly updating WordPress (as well as your plugins and themes) is a vital security best practice. Letting your host handle updates will help ensure that they’re completed correctly and on a regular schedule.
2. Poor Website Performance
On a shared server, your website has to compete with other sites for space. This naturally slows your site down, as your server is working to accommodate a large number of requests from its users.
This can be more than a mild inconvenience since website performance impacts your conversion and bounce rates. A slow site is rarely a successful site, so opting for a dedicated server is often a wise investment.
Even more importantly, you’re less likely to experience downtime on a dedicated server. There’s always a chance for another site on a shared system to experience a huge traffic spike that overloads the server, and takes your site down with it.
If your website is down, your users can’t access any of its content, nor can your site generate income. Downtime affects both your user experience and your bottom line, so investing in dedicated WordPress hosting to prevent it can be worthwhile.
3. Difficulties Recovering and Restoring Your Site
Every site owner’s worst nightmare is something happening that destroys their website. Whether it’s a full-scale attack or a simple mistake that deletes your database, you don’t want all your hard work to go to waste.
Ideally, you’ll have full site backups saved to handle this problem should it occur. However, restoring your site can still be a time-consuming process. As we mentioned earlier, every second your site is down is one when users can’t access information and your site can’t generate revenue.
Choosing a dedicated WordPress hosting plan that includes automated backups can make this process simpler and faster. Your host can back up your site for you, so this task doesn’t take any time out of your day.
Plus, storing backups with your host provides an additional location where you can keep files in case you need them. Saving backups in several places is smart, since it ensures that you’ll always have access to at least one copy.
Dedicated WordPress hosts that provide this service also sometimes offer one-click restore options, to get your site up and running again quickly in the event of a major issue. Instead of having to manually import your database or upload your WordPress files, you can click on a single button to fix your site.
4. Running Out of Room for Your Site to Grow
Growth is a key goal for most site owners. Hopefully, over time your site will build up a following of loyal users. Whether they’re readers of your blog, customers in your online store, or something else entirely, you’ll always be working to grow the number of people in this group.
Of course, the bigger your site is, the more space you need for its files and data. You’ll also require a server that can handle an increase in traffic, whether that’s a sudden surge or a slow build over time. On a shared server, you’ll run out of room much more quickly than you will on a dedicated one.
WordPress is highly scalable, so combining it with a hosting plan that can keep up is your best chance for smoothly expanding your site. A dedicated WordPress hosting plan built on a scalable infrastructure will help a great deal.
5. Lack of Support for Fixing Errors and Other Issues
Errors can happen on any website. WordPress, in particular, can sometimes run into compatibility issues, primarily because the platform has so many moving parts created by a vast community.
Most hosting providers will offer support of some kind. However, hosts that provide WordPress-specific features and services will be the most qualified to help you if a WordPress error occurs and you can’t fix it on your own.
With a support team that knows WordPress intimately, you can skip through the guesswork and find the solution to your problem faster. That way, you can get your site working for your users again as quickly as possible.
Conclusion
When it comes to your WordPress site, hosting is not a place where you should cut corners. Opting for the right type of hosting can help you avoid some of the most common website problems, saving you time and money in the long run.
In particular, dedicated WordPress hosting can help you prevent:
- Security threats from other sites and outdated files.
- Poor website performance.
- Difficulties recovering and restoring your site.
- Running out of room for your site to grow.
- Lack of support for fixing errors and other issues.
Do you have any other questions about dedicated WordPress hosting? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image credit: Pexels.
Tom Rankin
Tom Rankin is a key member of WordCandy, a musician, photographer, vegan, beard owner, and (very) amateur coder. When he’s not doing any of these things, he’s likely sleeping.
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