WordPress Managed Hosting. Is this a SAAS? 

Probably that SaaS, “Software as a Service” in the title sounds like a buzzword inserted to attract your attention, but …

Not at all! Let me change your mind and help you discover one of the latest advances in hosting services.

We could say with almost absolute certainty that hosting is the oldest business on the Internet, and yet it is also true that it has been one of the last to specialize. However, something has happened in recent years.

Tools such as WordPress have become tools for the masses.

WordPress is managing 39.1% of all Internet websites. And has a market share of 63.8% as a Content Management System. (https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all)

With this WordPress penetration in the market, the creation of sophisticated hosting services exclusively specialized in this tool began to increase rapidly.

We have well-known company samples. The first ones in the US were: WP Engine (with WordPress) and Pantheon (with Drupal) around 2010. Somehow later, in Europe in 2013, they were followed by Paggely, Flywheel, Kinsta, and somehow later Wetopi in 2015, among others.

But, where is the added value of these specialized services? What problems do they solve?

As site managers, we have unconsciously assumed many tasks.

Those of us who work in the world of Web Design, Web Development, Web Maintenance, with the pas of time, we have assumed many System Administrator tasks almost without realizing it.

Are you in front of tasks like these?

• You have a website Demo. You have to deploy a database and a new VirtualHost with an Ftp account in a Test server. Oh, plus, Password protection! The web is a demo and cannot be visible.
• This site goes to production: You have to migrate from a Demo/Staging server to a Production one. Don’t forget to set-up the production domain, request the HTTPS certificate, install the certificate, and rename content URLs.
• Set up and schedule backups: And do it the right way, with the storage in your cloud. You don’t want to store the backup copies in the WordPress server.
• Get rid of lots of WordPress pending updates. You make a clone to test first. No one wants the “Blank Screen of Death” on a production server.
• Check backup engines. From time to time, you have to double-check your backup system. You have to review backups are working, and copies are stored and safe.
• Verify backup copies. You don’t want surprises. That’s why each Monday, you deploy a backup and check everything is ready in case of disaster recovery.
• Get rid of those non-legit requests damaging Page-load times. You add more load to your site by installing a WordPress WAF plugin. You know, WordPress is not designed to be a Firewall, but alternatives are complex.

Probably several of these tasks have been incorporated into your routine. Don’t worry! You are not the only one. It’s common:

What happens is that you not only design or develop websites but also you are a Dev-ops and Sys-admin!

You can get one more week of vacation!

To make it simple! Let’s take one task and count the amount of time we spent!

1h reviewing backups/week * 4 weeks/month * 12 months = 48h !!!!

That’s Six Business Days!!!!!

Automate this routine and you’ll have: One more week of vacation!

And remember all those previous tasks were routines.

If you need more time, WP Managed Hosting is for you!

The key is in the Specialization. Mastering one peace like WordPress allows Managed Hosting to automate routines around your daily tasks as dev-ops and sys-admin.

Solving the complex with single clicks

As a sample with wetopi.com, we solve lots of tasks with single clicks like:

• One-click to start a WordPress server with one click.
• One-click to clone Production to Staging / Testing.
• One-click to move Staging to production.
• One-click to create a cert and serve your site with HTTPS.
• One-click to restore a backup in your Staging server.

“Managed” means tasks we don’t have to do

More interesting are those tasks we don’t even have to do, those tasks behind the “Managed” term:

As a sample with wetopi.com, you get:

• One server per WordPress site. Thanks to the Specialization and automation, it’s affordable to have each WordPress on its server.
• Server maintenance. In shared hosting, updating a server, in many cases, implies migrating your site. The alternative, having a dedicated sys-admin, is something for a few pockets.
• Goodbye to profiling and tuning services. Nothing better than serving thousands of WordPress to understand which configuration is the most optimal. A hosting specialized in a product has the advantage of being able to have all its services well parameterized.
• Traffic filtering to protect your WordPress. One of the most expensive tasks to tackle individually but much more effective when approached globally.
• Hack cleanup. At wetopi, for example, we take care of the security and filtering of the traffic. However, if for any reason we do not do it well, we take responsibility by cleaning up the affected website.
• Specialized support. Being dedicated to a single product allows us to have WordPress Specialized personnel.

Conclusion

We are in a time of change. New services appear everywhere. Almost without realizing it, we have subscriptions to Film, Series, Music, even online parcel services!

Things will change in the Specialized hosting sector. Little by little, we’ll be shedding ungrateful routine tasks in exchange for more competitive subscriptions that will free up our agendas.

Author Bio: Joan Vega

I am just a techie passionate about WordPress. With wetopi.com, a Specialized WordPress hosting, we want to go further to offer professionals and agencies a platform to work efficiently and effectively.

CEO at wetopi.com