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How to Choose a Fully Managed Web Hosting Provider for a Website and Connect Domain with Hosting
The 2023 Complete Beginner's Guide for Businesses and Content Creators
Table of Contents
One of the traditional ways to host a website in the early 1990s and 2000s was to purchase on-premise self-host servers and virtual machines in order to manage online traffic. However, the total cost of ownership to self-host, including the administration and maintenance costs, can get expensive over time. These challenges make self-hosting servers undesirable and impractical for businesses today.
Why Do You Need a Fully Managed Web Hosting Provider?
A fully managed web hosting provider eliminates the hassle of maintaining servers, virtual machines, software updates, patches, and ensuring that the servers always have adequate bandwidth to take in online traffic for a website.
The headaches with upkeeping a server can be eliminated with a managed web hosting provider. Plus, added benefits and features such as up-time guarantee and professional setup or transfer service come with managed hosting.
WPEngine is the Best Fully Managed Web Hosting Provider for WordPress
WPEngine is highly recommended if you choose WordPress as the CMS (Content Management System). Our website, StatusFocus.com, use WPEngine as the fully managed web hosting provider paired with WordPress.
Something to note, WPEngine does not provide domain registration service, so the only downside is that we have to split the domain and hosting providers. We use Google Domains, the overall best domain service provider, as discussed in the previous course on how to register a website domain name.
WPEngine
Best for Web Hosting-
A fully managed web hosting service designed for WordPress.
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More than 1.2 million websites are hosted through WPEngine.
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Peace of mind with tech stacks, server security, updates, or server-side optimizations. WPEngine takes care of them.
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The latest and fastest technology to deliver seamless, high-performance digital experiences.
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WPEngine is constantly investing in rendering the best possible secure environment for all businesses online.
Pros
- 100% focused on WordPress.
- Quality 24/7/365 customer support.
- Automatic WordPress core updates.
- Free CDN (Content Delivery Network.)
- Free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates.
- Integrated web speed performance tools.
- Uptime protection.
- Automated daily backups.
- Development, staging, and production environments.
- Managed core updates and patches.
- Threat detection and blocking
- Disaster recovery.
Cons
- Provide managed web hosting service only.
- Do not provide domain name registration service.
How to Start a Website by Choosing a Fully Managed Web Hosting Service
Starting a website can be very confusing and stressful. We get it. We’ve stumbled a few times back in the days. Having tried several different hosting services in the past and learned our lessons, we have found the overall best managed hosting service for our business needs. Let’s walk through the journey of how to choose the right managed web hosting service.
What is Managed Web Hosting Service?
Business entrepreneurs and content creators often don’t have the time to maintain a server, and they can opt for managed web hosting services instead. It takes the IT work off of your plate so you can focus on upscaling the business and creating content.
Choose a Fully Managed Web Hosting Service that Matches Your Website Needs
Web hosting providers offer different levels of services. Some provide full-service management from around-the-clock customer support to software upgrades. Some let you pick and choose the type of services you need based on a customizable plan. What level of managed web hosting you need depends on how much work you want to do on your end to upkeeping the technical parts of a website.
The more complex a managed web hosting plan becomes, the higher it could cost. However, if you compare the money spent hiring a full-time IT with what you are paying for a managed web hosting, there could be substantial long-term savings.
Top 4 Metrics for Choosing the Right Fully Managed Web Hosting Service
#1. Interface User-Friendliness
Look into the type of control panel the web hosting provider uses. Ensure it is a well-known, universal control panel such as cPanel that is easy to learn, navigate, and comes with quality web hosting support.
#2. Fully Managed Web Hosting Overall Cost
Cost could be a significant concern when you are just starting up. Spend some time comparing different hosting services and find a web hosting provider that fits your budget without skimping on all the bells and whistles. Most hosting providers offer tiered plans suitable for websites at different growth stages.
#3. Available Features and Growth Potentials
It is essential to research the web hosting provider’s full spectrum of services. At different development phases, your business service needs may change. Look into add-on features such as data backup, free CDN (Content Delivery Network), and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security support.
Learn more about SSL Certificate in the next lesson.
#4. Quality of Technical Support
Think about what happens when your website goes down. Is there someone you can talk to 24/7 for technical support questions? Many reliable web hosting services out there offer an around-the-clock support system. Robust customer service is imperative when you are new to starting a website and need a little more hand-holding when it comes to technical issues.
Top 12 Reasons WPEngine is the Best Fully Managed Web Hosting Provider for WordPress
#1. 100% Focused on WordPress
WordPress seamlessly installs and automatically sets up on WPEngine. It is intuitive and user-friendly for both beginners and advanced users.
#2. Quality 24/7/365 Customer Support
We’ve tested WPEngine’s customer service response rate at various times of the day, including midnight. It is always on-point, responsive, and consistent in the quality of service.
#3. Automatic WordPress Core Updates
WPEngine tests and handles all WordPress updates automatically to ensure websites stay up-to-date.
#4. Free CDN (Content Delivery Network)
WPEngine makes it easy to scale your website with CDN (Content Delivery Network) — just activate it with a single click. CDN allows content to be stored and cached on local servers to speed up the delivery of a webpage to a visitor’s browser. CDN guarantees content availability and loading speed for visitors in different geographic locations.
#5. Free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates
WPEngine offers free SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates to keep your website and online transactions safe. SSL safeguards internet connections to ensure data transactions between different networks are being handled securely.
#6. Integrated Web Speed Performance Tools
Improve the loading speed of your website with integrated performance tools in the WPEngine user dashboard. In real-time, users can see the impact of website speed performance improvement.
#7. Uptime Protection
WPengine ensures your website is consistently up and running with clustered configurations in dedicated environments. It provides a fully managed content delivery network and has proactive, multi-layered security measures in place.
#8. Automated Daily Backups
Automated daily website backup is another one of WPEngine’s essential features. It gives users peace of mind and roll-back options in case website update issues occur.
#9. Development, Staging, and Production Environments
Every WPEngine website comes with three environments – development, staging, and production. The system helps the user set up an efficient development workflow quickly and makes web development-to-production seamless.
#10. Managed Core Updates and Patches
Minor updates on WPEngine are automatically pushed through, while major updates are vetted thoroughly before the system recommends them. This setup allows users to have a certain degree of control and reduces the possibility of errors from backend updates.
#11. Threat Detection and Blocking
Website security is a rising concern for business owners and customers today. WPEngine will dynamically detect and block malicious behaviors with its proprietary security system to protect your website from potential hacks.
#12. Disaster Recovery
The extra layer of website backup through WPEngine’s Disaster Recovery system gives users quick access to recovery assistance. In the unlikely event that your website is compromised, you can bounce back quickly with the help of WPEngine’s expert Disaster Recovery team.
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Set Up Fully Managed Web Hosting and Domain with WPEngine and Google Domains
Once you have selected a trustworthy web hosting service provider, follow the step-by-step instructions below on setting up web hosting with your website domain name. We are using WpEngine Managed Web Hosting and Google Domains as examples.
How to Set Up WPEngine Web Hosting and Google Domains in 3 Steps
Step 1: Choose a WPEngine Fully Managed Web Hosting Plan
Head Over to WPEngine.com. We recommend starting with the basic hosting package, “Startup.”
Step 2: Checkout and Activate Hosting Account
Complete the checkout process to activate your WPEngine hosting account.
Step 3: Point Domain to Hosting Account
Once your account has been created, you will need to point the domain you have purchased to WPEngine’s hosting account.
Login to your WPEngine account and click on your domain name under “Site Name.”
Next, click on “Domains” in the left navigation under “Production.”
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find your CNAME and DNS records. Copy the CNAME record. You will then paste the CNAME record with your Domain Registrar, such as Google Domains.
If you are using Google Domains, which we recommended in the previous lesson, follow these steps below to set up the CNAME. It can take up to 24 hours before the CNAME updates occur and your website goes live.
How to Set Up CNAME in Google Domains
- Sign in to Google Domains.
- Click the domain you want to update.
- Open “Menu.”
- Click the DNS icon.
- Scroll to the “Custom Resource Records” section.
- You can update the data in two ways:
- To edit the data, click “Edit”; this will make all the records in the set editable.
- To add data, click “Edit” and then the icon to add a resource record.
- Click “Save” to complete.
Google Domain
Best for Domain Name-
Reliable domain name registrar powered by Google.
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Provide a range of tools to make life easier: domain sharing, fast multi-domain registration, DNS export, etc.
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Come with Google's reliability, security, and top performance to scale any business online.
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Save time with integrations with other Google tools and trusted partners.
- Choose from more than 300 domain endings. From .com to .photography to .cafe.
- Get 24/7 Google support from real humans.
- Domains start at $9 per year, which is a cost-effective option.
- Include email forwarding, privacy protection, one-click DNSSEC, Google 2-Step Verification, and more.
- Experience speed and security using DNS servers that run on Google’s infrastructure with 24/7 support.
- Provide domain name registrar only.
- Do not include managed web hosting service.
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