Is Managed Web Hosting Right for You?
We’re not all gifted with digital know-how. While your business may need a good website, one of the major factors that can put you off is the technical knowledge required. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Outsourcing has grown for many aspects of IT in recent times, not least because it has fast become the most cost effective way for many businesses to operate. The web hosting industry is no different.
Lack of skill or knowledge, or even time, can be all the more frustrating if you want to run something like an ecommerce site that can involve a complex structure on line with the inclusion of checkouts as well as making sure your products are ordered properly. If you can’t figure out your VPS from your shared hosting or your PHP from your Apache, then it might be better to opt for a managed web hosting service such as eHost who offer outstanding shared hosting deals at the moment. If your site is beginning to get popular and you haven’t got the staff onsite to deal with this, getting a third party to deal with it for you can also be the perfect solution.
So what is managed web hosting? Basically it means that the company that runs the hosting service takes over the general operation so that you don’t have to worry about it. It can work whether you have a shared hosting service, VPS, cloud or dedicated.
Who is it for?
- If you don’t have the technical acumen to set up your site and develop it the way you would like.
- If you don’t have the time to run your website and need someone to do it for you.
If either of the above applies to you then managed web hosting should be the best solution. This can involve the service providing everything from the trouble shooting of problems, setting up software and keeping it updated, setting up the control panel and making sure security is audited and upgraded when needed. It takes a lot of the pressure off maintaining your site and leaves the nitty gritty to professionals who know what they are doing.
The Benefits of Managed Web Hosting
Of course, managed web hosting is going to cost you more but it is probably going to be a lot less than getting in a new member of staff in-house to handle it all for you. Professional IT staff are certainly a cost that small businesses in particular need to consider carefully. There’s not only the issue of paying National Insurance contributions and coping with any possible sickness and absence, there’s also the issue of skill level. With managed web hosting you get access to a wide range of experience and a skill set that can deal with most problems that arise all at a fraction of the cost.
Managed web hosts usually come with 24/7 support so if there is a problem you aren’t left waiting for a solution for too long. It’s become one of the key improvement areas in hosting services in recent times and choosing the right one for your needs – a company with good reviews and a strong track record – is as vital as in any other part of business.