Managed Hosting
You’ve Got Better Things To Do.
Managing website updates and dealing with server issues is probably not the best use of your time.
The Biggest “No Brainer” On The Internet
If you’re running a website that isn’t locked into a platform like SquareSpace, then you can’t afford to “set and forget” it. Doing so exponentially increases the chances you’ll get hacked. It also means that you’ll be completely on your own if a plugin update ever breaks your website. Stuff goes wrong on the web pretty often, so wouldn’t it be nice to have some help keeping an eye on your most valuable marketing asset?
We offer ongoing site updates, enhanced security protocols, and dedicated on-call support. No economy website hosting plans offer anything close to our level of service and support. If you want to rest easy knowing that someone who knows what they’re doing has your back when things go wrong with your website — while constantly working to reduce the chances of that ever happening — then we should talk.
There is no one I would rather look to for help. They are true leaders in their field.
Wendy Jackson, Agent — Christina Hammond Realty
Boring Technical Stuff
Most of our clients prefer to focus on their business instead of dealing with the technical headaches of keeping their website up and running. Feel free to join them and leave all of this techno-babble to our team!
Human Webmaster
If something goes wrong, just let us know and we’ll handle it so you won’t have to spend hours on the phone with multiple tech support agents to try and fix it yourself.
Regular Framework Updates
We regularly update your underlying website framework and plugins so you can rest assured that your site is up to date with security and performance improvements.
Hardened Configuration
From tightening user roles to removing access to the files on the server, our team will apply numerous additional settings to help beef up your security.
Performance-Oriented Servers
Our sites are hosted on cloud-based servers, are encrypted with SSL/HTTPS, and are constantly managed and fine-tuned to deliver some of the fastest performance on the web.
Multiple Daily Backups
We automatically backup your website twice a day in the cloud, so if something ever breaks then we are more likely able to quickly get you up and running again.
Uptime Monitoring
We use tools to automatically check your website status every minute and send us an alert if there is a problem. If your site goes down, we’ll be on it.
Enhanced Notifications
We offer Postmark integration to monitor and troubleshoot notification emails, specifically the emails sent from your website’s contact forms.
Domain & DNS Management
Securing your domain is the most important thing you can do, yet it is often neglected. Our plans include annual registration for a single domain.
Content Delivery Network
All of our sites use the Cloudflare CDN for additional protection from bad traffic, improved content delivery speeds, and overall performance benefits.
Enhanced Firewall Settings
We’ll implement a series of additional firewalls to help provider further protection for your Wordpress site as well as the server that’s running it.
Robust Lead Forms
Let us configure Gravity Forms to easily turn more website visitors into new qualified leads. We can also configure smart notification routing for your team.
Website Content Updates
Leave it to us to help handle those team roster, service hours, page copy, or other site changes that come up from time to time.
Managed Hosting Pricing
Our Managed Hosting services may be more than economy website hosting alternatives, since they start at $150/mo. However, the main difference is that with us you’re hiring a real webmaster to manage your site for you. Our team will actually handle keeping things updated on your site, and if/when things go wrong we’ll be the ones coordinating with other vendors to get things fixed.
Find Out How We Can Help You
Our Managed Hosting service is the perfect companion to our custom website setups, but it’s also an excellent solution for a lot of existing Wordpress websites. If you’re tired of worrying about the upkeep of your site, or cleaning up after the damage done by that last intern, drop us a line and see if we can help.
FAQs
General
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Is there a long-term contract?
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Nope. We're month-to-month around here. You can change your service plan at any time before the next invoicing period begins. If we are hosting your website, just please understand that site migration is not usually something that may require at least a two week notice.
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Can we use the Managed Hosting service without a new website setup?
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Performance and security scores tend to be significantly higher with our fine-tuned setups, but if you prefer to keep your current website infrastructure we may be able to provide an ongoing service plan without a new setup. However, our team will still need to install and configure a suite of supporting plugins so there is typically a migration fee even without a setup.
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How is this different from a service like WP Engine or Digital Ocean?
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We love WP Engine, Digital Ocean, and other great hosting companies like them. We’ve even worked with WP Engine directly during our SoundBoard conferences for three separate years now, and they are amazing organizations! We actually utilize those services for many of our clients.
Think of our managed hosting plans as a major additional layer of service and support on top of what they offer. Without our managed service layer, even with a premium hosting service you’d still be on the hook to troubleshoot things that go wrong. You’d also still be responsible for managing and troubleshooting WordPress and plugin updates every month, a vital part of maintaining a secure, headache-free website. With our plan, you get to delegate all of that to us so you can focus on your primary business activities.
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Can I move my website later on?
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If you decide to cancel your managed hosting service, we have an export process where we can remove our management tools and convert your website into a transferrable WordPress setup. If you ordered a new GlideStep website setup instead of migrating an existing WordPress site, you will lose some of the performance and security features during a later export effort. You may also need to purchase your own licenses for some third party plugins to keep certain functionalities operational. However, the front-end of your website should remain mostly unaffected during the transfer process.
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I can just install my own plugins, right?
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Unfortunately, except for some rare situations, while we are actively managing your website you will not be able to manage plugins yourself. If you need a particular plugin, just ask and we'll explore the possibility of adding it to the ecosystem. There are a lot of bloated and even dangerous plugins out there, so we cannot promise that it will be possible to add any plugin you request for security, performance, and technical reasons.
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Can users register like on a WordPress site?
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For security purposes, we disable user registration on our platform. If you require user registrations, or if you need your own admin users, just contact us and we'll explore some custom options.
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Can visitors comment on my site content?
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For security purposes, we do not allow comment functionalities.
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What if we already have a website?
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If you already have a site built on the WordPress platform, then we can most likely work with what you've got! We will need to review your current setup and possibly install some supporting tools. This initial intake effort will require a one-time migration fee, which will depend upon the scope of your current site. Of course, if you're looking for a faster site or a general design refresh, a new GlideStep website setup might be a good move regardless.
Accounts & Billing
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Can we pay for Managed Hosting with a credit card?
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Yes! If you prefer to pay by check we also offer quarterly, biannual, and annual invoicing. Payments for hosting will be charged at the beginning of each service period.
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What is your refund policy?
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We'll always work to earn your business, and will work with you if you ever decide it's not working out. But please understand that we do not offer refunds.
Scope
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What happens if we need extra help during a service period?
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If extra work would be needed beyond the scope of your service plan, we will either provide you with an estimate for the extra work order or help coordinate with a third party vendor of your choice. You will always be given advance notice of any out-of-scope work requests. We don’t believe in surprise invoices.
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What happens if my website gets hacked?
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It depends. Restoring hacked websites is a job that can vary significantly in terms of scope, and it really depends upon the nature of the attack. In our experience, in most cases these issues can be resolved by reverting to a recent backup, changing passwords, and running a few scans to ensure things are back up and running and the initial exploit has been remediated. Depending upon the severity of the attack and the resources of your attacker, however, restoration and protection may require further work.
Technical
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What sort of hosting capacity does this plan come with?
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We have allocated the following capacities for each service level. If your website is very highly visited, we may need to setup you up on a custom server plan. But in over 15 years of service, we’ve very rarely run into a case where a client needed more than our capacity.
LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 Site Visits 25,000 100,000 400,000 Local Storage 10 GB 20 GB 30 GB Monthly Bandwidth 50 GB 200 GB 400 GB -
Will my team have admin users in WordPress or SFTP access to the server?
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While this is possible upon demand, we strongly encourage clients to limit the amount of admin users or SFTP access that is granted, since every instance of these creates new potential security vulnerabilities. We will consult with you during your setup in order to come up with a server setup and access protocol that best protects your site while still serving your team’s needs.
Expectations
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Will this make my website #1 in Google?
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There are no magic bullets or sure-things when it comes to marketing. Please understand that there are myriad ever-changing factors that determine search marketing performance, and specific rankings are never guaranteed. Our team will constantly strive to maximize your ROI and ensure that our efforts as well as any results we are seeing are clearly communicated to you on a regular basis.
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Will this make my website faster?
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In the majority of cases, yes. Compared to most economy hosting services, our servers tend to load sites a bit more quickly, which search engines like Google care a great deal about. However, this will depend on the specific nature of your site setup and the combination of plugins that your site is running, especially if you require additional plugins or tracking scripts on your site over time. If your site is already implementing performance boost and upgrades of its own, you might be off to a strong start already! Of course, if you choose a new GlideStep website setup option, then it will almost certainly be faster than your current website.
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Will this service ensure that my website will never go down or break?
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Unfortunately, no. While our hosting services will significantly improve your chances of surviving many automated attacks, there are no guarantees in our world of increasingly complicated cyber attacks and threats. Even without hackers, sites regularly break because of various plugin updates or user error.
The core value of our managed plans is that you’ll have someone in your corner ready to help you troubleshoot and get things back up and running as quickly as possible when something goes wrong.
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Can you help ANY business get to the top of search rankings?
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Remember, search engines are inherently competitive. Even if you're doing everything right your competition might also be stepping up their game. Just like staying on top in your industry in the real world, it takes work to do the same in the virtual world and there are unfortunately no guarantees. Anyone that tells you otherwise is either out to take you for a ride, or is into some dark magic that will be the end of us all.