Hosting, Maintenance & Support – What do you actually need?

Are you a DIYer? Rather have someone else handle it? Do you enjoy technology and getting your hands dirty? Prefer to leave it to the pros? Need support while you experiment?

One of the big distinctions to be made is understanding the difference between hosting, maintenance and support. Here’s a simple breakdown; hosting is real estate, maintenance is cutting the grass, and support is fixing a broken pipe.

Hosting

Every website will need to be hosted somewhere – it’s really not much more than space on a server – available to the public for visitors to view your files. Some hosts are better than others; faster, better security, more options, cost efficient… it depends on what you need.  Budget hosts can get you by for a short time, but if you expect a decent amount of traffic or just want to ensure your visitors get a fast high quality experience – a higher-end host will generally be worth the money you spend.  Higher-end hosts tend to offer dedicated servers (only your website is hosted on the server – instead of having dozens or even hundreds of websites on the server – each of which can have a negative effect on your business), higher-end hosts offer better security features (often-times they offer free SSL certificates, monitor their networks better, provide better support, and are aware of malware attacks before you see them), higher-end hosts offer better hardware which results is faster load times giving your visitors an overall better experience.

Maintenance

Every website needs to be maintained, particularly if you use a CMS. As new security vulnerabilities are exposed, updating your software is crucial to ensure your website stays safe and secure.  Updating content on your site shows customers you are keeping up with the maintenance, staying modern, and providing the most up-to-date information for you industry.  Blog posts, new photos, industry news – all can add to a sense that you are staying on top of your industry and providing new and relevant content (and increase your SERP ranking).  As new browsers enter the market and older browser are updated, keeping your websites code up to standards is important for the experience of your visitor.

Support

When something goes wrong, it’s great to have someone on your side to handle the unexpected. Malware attacks, DDoS attacks, updates gone awry – having a solid support team, that understands the technology can get you back up and running in no time.  Sometimes it’s as simple as a forgotten password, or a new page not loading properly – regardless of the issue, it’s important to have someone that handle issues when the need arises.

So what do you need?

If you’re a DIYer with minimal activity on your site, a simple shared hosting platform might work well for you – and it’ll keep costs down. For a more hands-off approach keeping a professional on retainer for monthly changes could be beneficial and give you peace of mind that your site will continue to operate properly.  In the end, you need to evaluate what you need and what makes you comfortable.  Spending the minimal amount monthly on a hosting platform could cost you in a la carte updates and maintenance. But spending too much on maintenance and support that is rarely required could have the opposite effect.

If you need to evaluate your current hosting, maintenance and support needs, please reach out to us for a free, no obligation consultation – optimizing your dollars spent can ensure a solid ROI on your website investment.