Managing something usually has the context of getting greater productivity out of whatever it is. So if it’s always a plus, does that apply to managed web hosting the same way? The appeal is easy to see, and if you don’t know what managed hosting is it’s where the web hosting provider manages the system for you. As you’d expect, that means additional cost for the client but many businesses and ventures will come to see that as money well spent. This is particularly true if time and manpower aren’t resources you have in abundance and you need to focus more on content rather than workings of the site.
Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any other quality Canadian web hosting provider in that what we do makes us fairly knowledgeable on matter like this one. While we think managed web hosting is great for some people, we also feel that with a little bit of self-initiative paired with ease of use offered by cPanel standard with our web hosting packages that you can be fairly productive on your own. That likely won’t be true for those operating larger e-commerce websites but for anyone that’s – for example – selling their pottery online or something similar you’d be surprised how proactive you can be.
So that’s what we’re going to do with our entry this week, look at what’s good about managed web hosting and also looking at what’s not so good about it.
Pros of Managed Hosting
Being successful and / or profitable with website can take up a lot of time and effort, and primarily for content updates, design tweaks, and digital marketing activity. When you add ongoing technical maintenance on top of that, it can be overwhelming for some and especially if you’re the type who’s a webmaster in title while not being particularly web savvy in the first place. Everyone needs to start somewhere though.
The advantage of managed hosting is how it lets you focus on the specifics of your business without additional worries of any sort related to site performance or security. E-commerce merchants will always need speedy loading times but often won’t have the time, ability, or inclination to see to ensuring that on their own. Managed hosting is also called fully-serviced hosting and for anyone who’s not inclined or capable of doing the mechanic’s work for website performance it may well be worth what you will pay additionally each month.
Either way, it is true that you need to factor in the value of your time. Many of us don’t have much of it that isn’t spoken for when it comes to our livelihoods, so if that’s you and much of that livelihood is facilitated by a website(s) then managed hosting may be the right fit for you.
Cons of Managed Hosting
Oppositely, if have solid IT skills and see the value in having more immediate and hands-on control over your website then managed hosting may be something you don’t really need or want. Many people don’t want to relinquish control over the fundamentals, and there is some merit to that as while most web hosting providers run reputable operations there is always the chance of a bad actor doing harm.
(Yes, we can assure you that would never happen here)
As you might guess, this is in fact the most common reason people go with manual hosting. Let’s also consider a scenario where you want to make an immediate change but there’s a delay in response from your hosting company and a window of opportunity is lost. Another instance might be wanting to use a particular CMS but not having the needed support for it. Others will not want to have the chance of being in a situation where there’s no choice but to outsource important tasks due to time constraints or anything similar that’s putting you in a pinch.
Keep in mind two other concerns related to managed hosting. The first is cost, and for anyone who thinks changes to their initial setup are very unlikely it doesn’t make sense to continue pay additional for site management through managed hosting. Plus, the greater control that comes with manual hosting allows you to switch to a new host with minimal hassle or anything else if terms or prices change.
The last thing we’ll mention here today is one more advantage of good managed hosting, and specifically with the fact that you’ll have more immediate defensive responses if your site is attacked or a server fails. If you have any interest in migrating your website to a better Canadian web hosting provider then we’d be very happy to hear from you.
