I started hosting WordPress websites in October of 2015. By the end of the year, I was managing 10 sites + still manage 9 of those 10 to this day… along with 72 more. Most site owners know that they need hosting (if you didn’t, now you do), but many don’t know what defines good WordPress hosting or what it actually protects you from.
The annoying answer is that it depends. Yet there are some things that almost every WordPress site owner should look for in a good host.
Where the details get nuanced depends on the type of site you have. An e-commerce site handling a dozen orders a day needs more server resources than a 5-page website with no blog or functionality other than a single contact form.
Let’s start with what defines good WordPress hosting for the majority:
- They care about security
- They provide ongoing support
- Growth is their goal
Good WordPress Hosting Cares About Security
This may sound obvious, but unfortunately, it’s not. Our Site Care Club members get the following security measures in their plan — not as an add-on, extra fee or optional service. Because it matters + keeps our clients’ businesses safe.
- SSL (the s in https that prevents sensitive data from being viewable)
- scheduled updates (outdated plugins + themes can be invitations for hackers)
- weekly security patches (every week, I personally update sites with pending security patches… even if it’s not the scheduled update day)
- daily malware scans (bad things can happen, even when you’re proactive, so we’re going to prioritize catching it quickly if it does)
- daily backups (so you never lose more than 24 hours of stuff in the off chance someone attacks your site)
Since 2015, 2 of our hosted sites have been hacked. Both were repaired for free as part of our hack-free guarantee. Both sites were targeted through plugins with security risks, which led to my weekly update process.
Without these security measures in place, I know that many more of our clients would have to deal with hackers because it’s the reality of being online. We do what we can to keep sites online + out of harm’s way.
Ongoing Support
Your required level of support may be different than the next solopreneur’s, but we can all agree that we need some form of help. Whether it’s email, live chat, or phone call, you deserve to have a place to go when you have a question.
Our Site Care Club members get the following layers of support:
- 24/7 support from the team watching the servers
- support from a WordPress developer with over 20 years of WP experience who actually knows what their site is supposed to look like (psst, that’s me)
- additional support from our Client Care Manager, Heather (who is a real human), who will make sure your questions get answered
- 3 or more development hours to use per calendar year to make site improvements
You might need routine calls, scheduled content changes, frequent speed testing, etc. Decide what makes you feel like your site is {handled} + go from there.
Growth is the Goal
This may feel like an optional element of good WordPress hosting, but if you’re not set up for success, what’s the point?
We do not take client sites down if they get too large or get “too many” site visits.
If it’s a one-off thing from some press or virality, we celebrate it. If it’s a steady build + stays put, we discuss the best plan forward to support your increased growth. Other hosts will take your site down in these pivotal moments until you pay up. That’s not any form of site care that we know.
You also have a team dedicated to learning the latest. Are you interested in showing up on AI search engines? We’re always looking at site structure, schema + content signals that they favor. And if you want to keep your content away from ChatGPT, we can help with that too. We don’t just want your site to stay online + safe, we want it to work for your business.
If you’re ready for good WordPress hosting + ready to hand your website to-do list over to someone excited to tackle it, sign up for Site Care Club! We only have space for 2 new clients + won’t have more until 2027.