Shared hosting for WordPress: Agency insights

In WordPress hosting, there are two main options: managed and shared hosting. A managed hosting provider takes responsibility for most of your website’s technical parts. Shared hosting is a server where multiple websites share resources. The hosting choice you make for your clients can impact their online presence and your agency’s reputation. Managed hosting better guards a website’s security and supports an efficient user experience, while shared hosting provides lower monthly costs.

At White Label Agency, we have a great deal of experience in advising digital agencies on their hosting options. As the world’s leading provider of WordPress outsourcing services to digital agencies, we maintain a relationship with over 600 agencies. I’d like to share with you some of our tips for selecting a host for your websites.

Managed hosting vs Shared hosting for WordPress

Let’s dig deeper into the differences between managed and shared hosting for WordPress. Shared hosting, as the name suggests, involves multiple websites on a single server. While it’s budget-friendly, resources like storage and processing power are shared. This can lead to slow performance during busy times. If a neighboring site gets a sudden traffic boost, your site may slow down or even go offline.

Bobby, our COO at WLA, highlights a crucial drawback of shared hosting: “You can’t control who shares the server with you. If other sites have issues, it can impact your site’s security.” Shared hosting carries security risks because websites share the same environment. If one site on shared server has problems, it can affect others.

In contrast, managed hosting offers a customized, dedicated environment. Instead of sharing resources, the server is tailored to your site’s needs. Managed hosting usually means faster load times, optimized server settings, and dedicated resources. This keeps your site responsive during peak traffic. Plus, with no unknown neighbors, the risk of problems from other sites is minimal.

What sets managed hosting apart are the extra services. Providers handle tasks like backups, updates, and security checks. Your site stays safe with the latest security patches, and expert support is usually on standby for any issues. This support is especially valuable for complex tech problems or security concerns.

However, managed hosting often costs more than shared hosting. For small, low-traffic sites, shared hosting for WordPress might be cost-effective initially. But as your site grows, managed hosting’s benefits – better performance, robust security, and top-notch support – make the extra cost worthwhile.

Your choice between shared and managed WordPress agency hosting should depend on your site’s needs, growth expectations, and budget. Shared hosting offers affordability but can have limitations. Managed hosting provides a premium experience, fine-tuned for optimal site performance and security.

For more on managed hosting, check out our article: “Managed WordPress hosting: Is it right for you?“

Key takeaways

While deciding on a hosting environment for your clients’ websites pay attention to the following:

• Consider your clients’ long-term goals. If they anticipate rapid growth, a hosting solution that allows for easy scalability, such as cloud hosting, might be a better choice than traditional shared hosting for WordPress.

• Evaluate the quality of customer support and available documentation. A hosting provider with excellent support can save you hours of troubleshooting, especially if you’re managing multiple client websites.

• While managed hosting providers handle many technical aspects, it doesn’t mean you can entirely wash your hands of server management. You’ll still need to monitor performance, keep themes and plugins updated, and optimize your WordPress installation for speed and security.
• 7 tips to speed up WordPress for your clients

• Shared hosting is often frowned upon due to its reputation for poor performance and security.
• 5 WordPress hosting security tips

• Before making a decision, thoroughly understand your clients’ specific requirements. Different clients may have different needs. For example, a small local business website may thrive on shared hosting, while an e-commerce site with heavy traffic might require managed hosting. Tailor your hosting choice to the individual project.

• For managed hosting, insist on staging environments. These allow you to test updates and changes before applying them to the live site. Staging can prevent unexpected issues and downtime.

• Shared hosting for WordPress sometimes suffers from the “noisy neighbor” problem, where one poorly optimized site can affect others on the same server. Look for shared hosting providers that offer resource isolation to mitigate this issue.

Partner with WLA for secure and high-performance hosting

Deciding between managed and shared hosting for your WordPress agency clients is a major decision. It impacts website performance, safety, and client satisfaction, which in turn, reflects on your agency’s reputation. At WLA, we understand how crucial this choice is, and we’re here to assist you every step of the way.

We provide a complete maintenance package to ensure your clients’ websites are hosted on one of the largest and most trusted platforms available. This doesn’t just mean top-notch security; it also means lightning-fast website performance.

As part of our maintenance plan, we conduct daily security scans to spot and address potential threats before they escalate. We also check if any of the sites we host are on blacklists, like Google Safe Browsing and Norton Safe Web. With us, your clients’ websites are in safe hands.

Plus, we host all sites with WP Engine, a hosting provider known for its strong security measures, especially its firewall. You can trust that we keep the sites we host safe from new threats, giving you and your clients peace of mind. Contact us.