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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">One thing that's not being
discussed specifically so far is managed WordPress hosting.
WordPress is a complex script running a lot of complex scripts
(plugins) and is susceptible to malware so it needs needs to be
updated at least every few months and it needs fast, secure
hosting which is set up specifically for WordPress to perform well
and be secure. This can include: <br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">A faster webserver
than regular Apache, such as LiteSpeed or nginx, that is
"tuned" for best WordPress performance.<br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Fast SSD drives
rather than regular hard drives. <br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Server-level caching
and the ability to easily add your site to a content delivery
network (CDN) for increased speed and to lower your server
load. <br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">DDoS protection
which keeps a network attack from bringing down your site. <br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Daily offsite
backups. <br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Regular malware
scans.</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Free SSL
certificates.<br>
</font></li>
</ul>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">There are two tiers of
managed WordPress hosting. <br>
<br>
One is regular shared hosting that is optimized for WordPress, of
which SiteGround, FastComet, Bluehost, GoDaddy and others are
examples. Usually they are normal web hosting companies that offer
specific plans for WordPress.<br>
<br>
Then there are so called VIP companies that are more in the range
of an IT team for your site and, of course, cost more than normal
hosting. These include WP Engine, Kinsta, Flywheel, and us
(Itabix) that go above just hosting and essentially partner with
you to make sure your website is live and optimized. They
typically include a staging site, assist in site setup and
security hardening, and will usually migrate your site from
another hosting provider at no charge, and generally take over the
tasks of managing a WordPress website to a lesser or greater
degree.<br>
<br>
One way to tell the difference is if you run into problems. The
regular hosts will offer advice and fix issues with their service
and may or may not pull a backup if you get into trouble, but they
won't step in and work on your WordPress site if it has issues -
you are responsible for it. If you get hacked, they will typically
give you a deadline to get it fixed or they will shut you off. If
it breaks, beyond restoring a backup you are on your own.<br>
<br>
A VIP hosting company should step in and help you get your site up
and running again. They will handle updates to your site, and fix
it if something goes wrong. They are WordPress experts that you
can call on if you have a problem or a question.<br>
<br>
As far as updating your site, our experience is that WordPress
updates fail about 1 in every 40 times - obviously more complex
sites with lots of plugins fail more often. They are also more
likely to fail if it's been a long time since the last update. A
VIP hosting company takes measures to avoid that - either the
ability to quickly pull a backup if it fails and/or by testing
updates on a staging site first.<br>
<br>
We recommend staging site updates to anyone managing their own WP
installation. You make a copy of the site and update there first,
then if it tests well you update the main site. If you're hosted
by a company using cPanel, it includes the ability to clone your
site to a staging site, otherwise there are plugins like
Duplicator that will make it relatively easy to make a copy of
your site. Typically you install it in a subdirectory like
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.yoursite.com/wp-staging">www.yoursite.com/wp-staging</a>, we prefer to create a subdomain that
points to a directory outside of the main site's directory so that
it's completely separate and isn't vulnerable to hacking if the
main site is hacked.<br>
<br>
I'd welcome any additions or other opinions.<br>
<br>
Sam<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/24/2021 4:00 PM, RA Cohen via
Hidden-discuss wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:7298c7be-bb29-a5a2-17ae-c033eb3e9a15@net-vantage.com">
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charset=windows-1252">
<p>Try fastcomet.com</p>
<p>Not the cheapest around, but I've had very good experience with
them with a highly-themed and plugged-in WordPress site.</p>
<p>-Roy</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Roy A Cohen CEO
413-223-9007 opt 1
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