You have no doubt heard of WordPress, and perhaps you have already chosen WordPress to create your future website. But all the hosts are far from being worth. I’ll help you see more clearly and find the best WordPress host.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is software that allows you to create sites. This is called a CMS (Content Management System). The interest of a CMS is to be able to create an online site, without any particular technical knowledge.
WordPress is by far the most popular CMS in the world: it is estimated that around 1 in 4 sites in the world runs on WordPress.
Basically, WordPress was designed to create blogs. But very quickly, the software was very successful and many users started using it for other types of sites.
Why has WordPress been so phenomenal?
- WordPress is open source software: it is free and the source codes of the software are public, which facilitates the sharing of knowledge and the development of additional extensions by anyone who wishes.
- WordPress is modular: it was designed from the start from a small kernel, to be extensible by adding plugins and themes.
- And above all, it has a huge hyperactive user community: there is a plugin or a theme for almost any need. You will have no trouble finding help.
Choosing WordPress to create your site is therefore often a very wise choice and allows you to obtain a fast and satisfactory result with a minimum of effort. Now that you’ve decided to use WordPress, you need a web host.
WordPress hosting
What is WordPress hosting first? It is quite simply a web hosting on which it is possible and optimal to host your site built with WordPress. In other words, a WordPress hosting must meet the software prerequisites (PHP language, MySQL database) which are the case for all paying hosts.
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
A little precision is necessary to understand well. WordPress is developed by a company called Automattic. This company regularly publishes new versions of the software on the wordpress.org community site. It is on this site that you can download WordPress and install it with your favourite host. Or it can usually do it for you by providing an automatic installation tool. We are talking about self-hosted WordPress because you are free to choose the host. But this company manages a second commercial site: wordpress.com. On this site, Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, markets managed WordPress hosting offers, the content of which we will detail below.
Linux hosting vs Windows hosting
For a blog or a WordPress site, it is better to choose Linux hosting. Please note that there is no correlation between the operating system of your computer and that of the webserver. So you can perfectly be on Windows and have your WordPress site on Linux hosting.
Besides, it is better to avoid Windows because Windows hosting is more complex to administer and often requires adaptations that require advanced computer knowledge. In addition, they are more expensive.
Criteria for choosing your WordPress host
Classic criteria for choosing a host:
- Performance: WordPress is software that can quickly prove to be very resource-intensive (PHP and databases) as you add themes and plugins. It is essential to choose a WordPress host that offers very good performance.
- Support: with WordPress as with any software, you can easily find yourself confronted with unexpected and complex situations, especially if you are not a computer scientist. It is essential that the WordPress host provides responsive and efficient support.
- Features: you should always be attentive to the features offered by your host, and in particular to the quality of its administration interface.
- Price: of course the price remains an important criterion, but I recommend that you do not make it the most important. Earning 1 or 2 euros per month is not necessarily significant and could prove to be an awkward economy if the host often breaks down or if your website slows down constantly.
WordPress hosting specific criteria:
Automatic installation: many hosts offer the automatic installation of WordPress in one click from the client interface. This is very practical because it saves you from downloading WordPress, and then transferring it by FTP to your web hosting. If you have to do it several times, you will really appreciate the automatic installation tools like Installatron or Softaculous, often made available by the host.
WordPress updates: some hosts go further and offer, always in one click from the administration interface, to update WordPress and its essential components (themes and extensions). You can sometimes even automate these updates.
WordPress backups: some tools also allow you to regularly back up your WordPress (files and databases). This allows you to have a complete archive that you can easily restore if necessary (total crash of the site, hacking, etc.).
Managed WordPress hosting (or “Managed WordPress”)
Some web hosts go even further by offering managed WordPress hosting offers. What does it mean?
Managed WordPress offers are web hosting offers specially designed for WordPress. Unlike conventional shared hosting, you are not free to host the applications of your choice. You generally do not have FTP access or SSH access. The host limits you to the administration (“back office”) of WordPress and to the specific tools that it makes available to you.
Benefits of managed WordPress hosting
You don’t have to worry about setting up web hosting. You only focus on using WordPress.
The hosting platform is optimized for WordPress, the host has made in principle the most relevant choices. This normally results in higher performance than traditional web hosting.
Disadvantages of managed WordPress hosting
If you need to install something other than WordPress on your hosting, this will not be possible.
You are limited to the functionalities, extensions and plugins authorized by the host. It’s a shame since the whole point of WordPress lies in the almost unlimited choice of extensions.
Managed WordPress hosting offers are generally more expensive.
Best WordPress Host
Logon to DMtwebhosting.com for best WordPress packages.
About the author
DMTwebhosting.com’s Editorial Team prides itself on bringing you the latest web hosting news and the best web hosting articles!
You could also link to the news and articles sections:
http://www.DMTwebhosting.com/blog