If you want to offer hosting services alongside websites and online marketing as an agency, and you’re finding it challenging to choose the right partner, you’re not alone. The range of hosting companies is large and just as diverse. Add to this that your needs and requirements are likely to differ from those of other agencies. Read this blog post to learn about the available solutions, and perhaps my advice will help you make a better choice.
Should you offer hosting yourself or let the client choose?
With new clients, I often see that the hosting for their current website is arranged by the client themselves. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, I recommend handling the hosting for your clients. This way, your client has only one point of contact for the website, and you don’t have to deal with multiple hosting providers.
After all, you are the website professional, and you can deliver the best hosting for a website. Besides the technical advantages, offering hosting can also generate additional revenue.
What should you as an agency owner pay attention to?
As a company, you want to present yourself as professionally as possible, and when delivering a new website, it’s not a bad idea to provide a hosting account as well.
But what if all those technical aspects of hosting are not your thing? The answer is: collaboration. Choose a partner who can handle the technical aspects of a website.
Now, you might be thinking, “Shouldn’t I be worried that such a partner will eventually steal my clients?” That risk exists when you’ve chosen the wrong partner. But it can be different…
What hosting solutions are available?
The large number of web hosting providers can be categorized into the following three groups. There are certainly more, but these are (usually) not relevant for you as an agency owner.
Your collaboration partner for web hosting will be in one of the following groups.
Managed WordPress hosting
You’ll encounter this product name more and more with a large number of hosting companies. When you don’t have to handle updates for your web server yourself, the service is often already managed hosting. Managed WordPress hosting includes additional services such as updates for WordPress websites and a hosting platform optimized for WordPress.
Both the offerings and costs vary here. The most well-known Managed WordPress hosting providers are Kinsta, WP Engine, and Elementor.There may also be companies in your own country that offer a similar service.
Advantages
- Specialized in hosting WordPress websites
- No competition because they don’t build websites
- Fast and high-quality hosting
- No need to configure servers
- The support staff has knowledge of WordPress
Disadvantages
- Sometimes slightly more expensive
- They don’t know your websites and can only provide limited WordPress website support
- Less freedom in the technical setup of websites
- Contact is often limited to live chat and/or email
- With cheaper providers, there’s a risk of “overselling,” where you have to share the available server resources with too many websites.
WordPress website specialist (web developer)
Do you already work with a WordPress developer? If so, it’s likely that web hosting is part of his service. I also provide hosting for my clients. The servers are secured, optimized, and maintained by finalwebsites. Why our own servers and not a reseller hosting account? Simply because it works better.
Advantages
- Specialized in hosting WordPress websites
- Usually knows your clients’ websites
- Direct and personal contact
- No need to configure servers
- Can provide WordPress website support
- You don’t have to solve technical problems with the websites yourself
Disadvantages
- Competition (if no clear agreements are made)
- Sometimes smaller companies
Server or VPS under your own management
If you have sufficient technical (WordPress) knowledge in-house, you can set up a server and host the websites yourself. This way, you’re in control of how it works and you are (almost) not dependent on other parties. Server configuration can be easily managed with a control panel (Plesk, Directadmin, Cleavr, ServerPilot, etc.).
Advantages
- No competition because there’s no middleman
- Extra margin for offering your own hosting
- You control the configuration
Disadvantages
- You have to configure the servers yourself
- You must manage backups and monitoring yourself
- Hosting support is limited to the server and network
My ICT partner also provides web hosting
When it comes to technical issues, agencies tend to consult their ICT partner. I’m not saying that ICT professionals don’t have knowledge of web hosting, but they are usually not WordPress specialists.
Which choice is best for your business?
You could say that hosting is basically not that different. What does differ is the knowledge of WordPress and the additional services provided. It’s up to you to recognize which company can deliver the most complete package for you.
Gepubliceerd in: Tutorials
