Hosting and Domains
Our themes require that you have WordPress installed and running on a web hosting account. We recommend you use a host trusted by WordPress that has quality products and services. Many users ask us who we recommend, and we think Bluehost is one of the best solutions.
- What is WordPress hosting, and why do you need it
First, let's look at hosting in general terms. Hosting is the physical attribute of the website. It's where all the data from your site is stored. There are many hosting services, and not all will assure the best performance for a WordPress website. While most of them claim that they support WordPress-based sites, choosing a hosting company specializing in WordPress is a better idea. (There's a detailed comparison of the best and most popular choices further in the post.)
- The importance of good hosting
At first, choosing a hosting service might not seem that important, but it has a massive impact on how your website will run. There are also so many hosting services, all seemingly offering the same solution, but you'll see that that's not the case.
So with that in mind, let's look into what hosting can influence and the types of hostings.
- What can hosting influence
As I mentioned, hosting is like the foundation of the website that holds everything else in place and order. Hosting can affect the most critical elements of your website. It doesn't matter how beautiful, original and well-written your website is if it takes forever to load. Research states that 40% of people will abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Security - Many things can make your WordPress website vulnerable, and a good hosting service can help eliminate that to a minimum. And most importantly, take the security measures out of your hands.
For example, the Sucuri Hacked Website Report shows that 36.7% of hacked WordPress sites had an outdated version of WordPress installed. Some hosting providers offer automatic WordPress updates, so it will ensure that your installation is always up to date.
Performance - While many things can worsen the performance of your site, hosting is what really “sets the tone”. The top performance issues are closely related to your hosting service and its handling.
For example, your site's performance can suffer because of server performance and location, significant traffic, outdated plugins in WordPress and many more reasons. Luckily, most of these issues can be skipped with a hosting plan that fits your website. Hosting providers allow choosing a server location and the aforementioned automatic updates and scaling options if you deal with significant traffic.
- How to choose a WordPress hosting
Now that we've looked into the types, it's time to figure out which one is the best fit. There are some important parameters to keep in mind, so you wouldn't fall for any marketing tricks, especially if you don't know much about the technical stuff. The first step is to evaluate your website and then choose a hosting type.
- Important parameters
These are the general parameters to look at when considering any hosting service. While some features might be more critical than others depending on your site, you must know what the hosting provider you choose is capable of and why these features are crucial.
I already touched on some of these, but let's look closely.
Speed
Page speed is when the page's content is downloaded and displayed to the visitor. Too much data backs up the importance of load time as small as possible, as almost half of people visiting a website will abandon it if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
There are online tools to check the speed of a page, like this tool from Uptrends, for example.
Backups
A backup is a copy of your website that you can use to restore in case of data loss or damage.
Generally, it's a good idea to keep backups automated; luckily, hosting providers usually offer precisely that. Although there are great 3rd party options, like BlogVault, for example.
Security
Security is a very broad term, but in terms of hosting, it's essential to look at features like daily backups, malware scanning and removal, automatic updates, and many more. The more your hosting provider takes care of the security, the less you have to worry about it.
SSL
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a security measure that ensures that the connection to the website you're visiting is secure and that any data (ex. passwords and credit card info) you entered is encrypted. You can recognize sites with an SSL certificate by looking at the URL. The URL will start with https:// not http://. The extra “s” (and a locked padlock symbol) indicate a secure connection.
Caching
Caching stores data of a website temporarily so that when you revisit it, the website doesn't have to download the data stored in the cache. It is used to improve the performance of a site.
Support
This is a more obvious parameter but not less important. If anything goes wrong, you have some questions, you need help - there must be professionals who can help. Most providers offer 24/7 support, but some are known for fast and reliable support. So if you're a beginner, fast and approachable support is critical.
UpTime
Uptime is a way to measure the time when the hosting system is working uninterrupted. This is a very important factor to look at because you want your website to run all the time smoothly. Uptime is measured in percentages and is contrasted with downtime. If you see “99.9%” uptime, it means correlates to 8 hours 45 minutes 36 seconds yearly.
Hosting uptime statistics
Note: You can use this tool to calculate the downtime.
Average Site traffic
Site traffic is the number of visitors your website gets. This is something that hosting providers will usually note - how much traffic each plan can take.
- Summary
Choosing one hosting service doesn't mean you must stick with it forever. Technologies change, websites change, and the demands change, so you can undoubtedly change WordPress hosting if needed.
You now know to make a fact-based decision and make your website as best as possible.
And, if you want WordPress hosting with Visual Composer Website Builder pre-installed, it is worth checking out our hosting section.
P.S. Some of the references may contain an affiliate link. Still, it does not affect our review or pricing in any way.
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Our support covers getting set up with the theme, theme-related questions, and bugs or issues when using the theme. Customization can be any work you need to be done to the theme that is not covered by the scope of our support. In most cases, this is anything that falls outside of the options the theme offers. While we occasionally take on custom projects, we are busy working on new themes. The good news is that you will find plenty of quality developers and designers on the new Envato website - Envato Studio.
Sources:
https://visualcomposer.com/blog/your-ultimate-guide-to-wordpress-hosting-all-you-should-know/
https://elementor.com/blog/wordpress-hosting-elementor/