Secure Hosting

Video Transcript

You can have all the security features in place for your WordPress site. But if they are all on an infected server in your web hosting account, then your site can still get infected. When looking for a hosting service, you want the fastest, most secure and you want it to be affordable.

Now, that’s a heck of a balancing act whenever you’re just starting out and on a shoestring budget. So you have to shop around, ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes, the least expensive option is going to be what’s called the shared hosting at around a few bucks a month, then something like a larger shared hosting called a reseller account, then VPS or virtual private servers, then you have what’s called dedicated servers, which can cost you hundreds per month.

And there are even different variations of each of these. Now you will see some that are unmanaged, they’ll be much less costly, but you’re going to be required to take care of the setting up with the server and keeping it updated and secure. So if you are some kind of a computer engineer, or you know a lot about the special workings of a computer server, not just you can turn your own personal computer on and off, but a computer server, then you’ll be able to save some money, but you’re going to have to stay on top of this as well as your website business.

I should also mention that if you only plan on running WordPress sites, and not other programs, nor HTML sites, then you might look into the hosting services that cater strictly to hosting and managing WordPress sites. Like for example, WP Engine, you can find them at WP Engine COMM And while they are not the least expensive, they do, like I said cater strictly to WordPress hosting. So definitely something you might want to check out if that’s what you’re looking to do is strictly WordPress sites. Now as far as just starting out whether you are going to be on a shared hosting service like many others do, or you can’t afford the managed dedicated hosting service, there are at least a couple of questions that you should be asking the hosting company before you purchase an account from them. Like for example, how often do they run malware scans on their servers? And not just individual accounts, but on the actual servers that those accounts reside? And do they run the most current versions of PHP and MySQL?

Do they do backups of your account? And if so, how often? And is it free? Or how much extra does it cost? You might also ask about other security measures that they have in place for their servers like firewalls to isolate your account from others? And do they have any detection system in place to see if intruders are broken in. And this isn’t just for the Uber expensive, dedicated servers I’m talking about. These questions should also be asked if you’ll be going into the least expensive shared hosting service as well. And there are plenty of other questions to ask in general, like how many domains Can you have on their account? How many email accounts can you have bandwidth limitations and so on. Not most of these are spelled out in the hosting companies website, but just make sure that you’re aware of it.
And remember, it’s up to you to do your due diligence before you put your online reputation and business in the hands of a hosting company that you know little or nothing about and a couple of other ideas. Check out forums and Facebook groups and ask about personal experiences that those members have had with hosting services. And something to be aware of. Be sure to avoid fake review sites whose opinions are based on the amount of money that they receive from hosting services that advertise on their site, or that pay them commissions and also know that many reputable hosting services do offer a 30 day or so money back guarantee.

So if once you’re into the service, you’re finding out that it’s really not what you thought it was or what they told you is going to be Be sure and get your money back and just chalk that one up as an experience. Now that’s going to bring us to the end of this video on working with and looking for a secure hosting service. Thanks for watching and you have a great day.