What is FTP?

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a network protocol used to transfer files between computers over the web. Users granted access can receive and transfer files in the FTP server known as the FTP host/site.

FTP provides basic, unencrypted file transfer capabilities to connect users over the internet. Developed in 1971 and thoroughly used throughout the 90s, this file-sharing option is now an archetype of the past, replaced by SFTP and SSH. 

The thing is, FTP wasn’t designed to be secure and has many security vulnerabilities like:

• Packet Sniffing. FTP is plain text which means it’s not encrypted. All transmissions, logins, passwords, and data are readable by anyone on the network. 
• Brute Force Attacks. Because FTP isn’t encrypted, it’s highly susceptible to hackers systematically checking frequently used passwords until the correct password matches.
• Anonymous FTP Vulnerabilities. Anyone can access older or anonymous FTP servers without needing a username or password. 
• Port stealing. Hackers can guess the next open port or use a PORT command to gain access as a go-between.

FTP doesn’t provide any safeguards preventing even the most inexperienced of hackers. Additionally, federally compliant organizations or networks can’t use FTP because of its lack of security. In fact, in 2017, the FBI issued a notice and warning about the potential for data breaches in the healthcare system for organizations using FTP. 

How to Secure Your Data 

Easy, don’t use FTP. Seriously. There are other protocols like SFTP, FTPS, and HTTP. SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is the refreshed, secure version of FTP. 

Other ways to keep your data secure:

• Frequently update your protocols. Attacks over protocols occur when you slack on updating your system.
• Install an SSL (secure socket layer) certificate. SSLs encrypt the data on your website.
• Use 2FA (two-factor authentication). Minimize the chances of hackers breaching your server. 

There’s definitely a time and a place for using FTP. An FTP server allows you to organize your files, provide access to other users to download these files remotely, and also set permissions for what users can and can’t do to your files. If you choose FTP, we recommend having your own private FTP server with a strong password. This way, you can transfer your files easily, but without security concerns.

Despite its security concerns, FTP remains available for file sharing but isn’t recommended for most uses. When using FTP, ensure you’re following every security protocol possible and consider using other alternatives like HTTPS or SFTP. 

The post Is FTP Secure? The Complete Breakdown of FTP Hosting and If It’s Right for You appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Fortunately though, there are plenty of hosts like A2 Hosting that offer free migration assistance. This guide takes you through everything you need to know about website migration – from picking the right host, to actually completing the move. So whether you’re planning your first website migration, or just want to be better prepared for when the time comes, read on!

What is free migration in web hosting?

Web hosting migration is the process of transferring your website from one host to another without negatively affecting search engine rankings or changing your website’s appearance or functionality. 

When migrating a website, you can either do a full migration or a partial migration. In a full migration, you migrate all of your website files, databases, and other content. In a partial migration, you migrate parts of your website (for example, just emails).

A migration does not affect the existing published site. The web host essentially copies your data over to the new server: the information is duplicated, not removed from your existing server. This creates a mirror version of your website. 

To make your site active on the new host, you update the domain’s name servers to point to the new web hosting server. The entire process can take only a few hours to a couple of days, depending on how complicated the migration is. 

Why would you want to migrate your website from one host to another?

There are many reasons you might want to migrate your website to another host, including:

1. You need better performance. Sometimes web hosting providers don’t work out. Your site isn’t performing well and you’ve tested your code for errors, but at the end of the day, you know that the problem is your web host. In this case, you’ll want to consider moving to a host who can provide faster website speeds.
2. You need better support. Have you ever had a time when you’ve called a company’s support team, only to be placed on hold for an hour or transferred multiple times without receiving a solution? We’ve all been there. Some providers have better support than others. At A2 Hosting, we provide 24/7/365 support on live chats, tickets, and phones. Not everyone does that. 
3. You need a less expensive plan. In the web hosting world, it’s industry-standard to purchase a plan at a lower rate. But when the contract expires, the plan price increases. If you need a cheaper plan, switching hosts might be the way to go.

There are, of course, other reasons to move from one web host to another, but these are the most common. 

Whatever your reason, when you’re considering making the switch to a new web host, you definitely want to consider cost. Some web hosting providers charge a fee to migrate your website (typically it’s around $25). 

You’ll want to ask any prospective host how much the migration may cost. The best hosts, like A2 Hosting, can do it for free.

The web hosting migration process

At A2 Hosting, we offer free migrations for your entire website. The migrated content includes:

• Website files
• Emails (note that we do not guarantee the entire transfer of mailboxes, as it can be incredibly time-consuming)
• Databases
• cPanel settings for cPanel-based accounts.

A migration takes around 24-48 hours to complete, but the site is not down during the process. Your site stays live on your old server until you choose to point the domain name servers over to the new host. 

If you’re not sure how to migrate your site, here’s an inside look at the migration process:

1. Purchase a web hosting package from our website. If you’re not sure which plan to buy, please consult our guide or contact our sales team here. 
2. Log into the A2 Hosting customer portal.
3. Click Support, and then click Migrations. The My Migrations Tickets page appears.
4. Click Request a Migration.
5. Provide the requested information. If you aren’t sure how to fill out some of the fields, you may need to contact your current hosting provider for this information.
6. Agree to the Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy, and then click Continue to Step 2.
7. In the Choose Service box, select the service to migrate your content. 
8. Click Continue to Step 3.
9. Provide the requested information, and then click Submit Migration Request.
10. We notify you when the migration is complete. The entire process takes around 24-48 hours. 

Important: We highly recommend testing your website on our servers before changing your domain’s name server settings. To do this, you can use the shared URL for your account. The shared URL enables you to view the site without using the account’s domain name. For more information, please see this article.

Wrapping up

We know that moving your website to a different host can be daunting. A2 Hosting is committed to making the process as easy and painless for you as possible, so we have put together this guide on how to migrate your site with us in a few simple steps! Have questions? Contact one of our sales representatives today- they are standing by ready to answer any question or concern you may have about migrating your website to us. With over 20 years of experience in web hosting, our team knows what it takes to make sure all of your files are transferred successfully from one platform onto another with minimal service disruption. If there is anything else we can do for you while helping transition your website to our servers, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Related Articles:

• Migrating an account from another web host
• How to Migrate a WordPress Website to a New Host
• Differences between site migrations and domain transfers
• How to migrate an existing WordPress site to A2 Hosting

The post What Is Free Migration in Hosting? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

However, if you know how to incorporate video into your website, you can use it to maximize engagement and drive conversions. With the right approach, video can act as a powerful Call To Action (CTA).

In this article, we’ll talk about some of the latest video content trends, and then go over three tips to incorporate videos into your website. Let’s get to it!

What the Latest Video Content Trends Are

It’s likely that many of your users spend a significant part of their day watching videos on one platform or another. On average, users consume around 100 minutes of video per day. If you can seize even a fraction of that time through your content, it can help increase conversions.

If the primary goal of your videos is to drive sales or conversions, shorter is usually better. Despite the massive amounts of video content that customers consume, it’s safe to say that attention spans are getting shorter. At the end of 2019, up to 66 percent of video ads were approximately 30 seconds long. Although that might sound short, there’s a lot that you can say about a product or service in half a minute.

Thanks to the rise of social media stories and platforms such as TikTok, users are getting increasingly comfortable with shorter video ads as a part of their online experience. Moreover, there’s massive interest in User-Generated Content (UGC). If you can get consumers to share their experiences with your products or services in video format, that’s a huge marketing win.

There’s also a growing interest in educational videos. If your website focuses on online learning, video is a channel that you can tap into to expand your audience.

3 Tips for Incorporating Video into Your Website

If you’re ready to start incorporating videos into your website, there are several factors that can help you maximize their effectiveness. Let’s look at three tips you can use to make the most of your video strategy.

1. Add an Intro that Highlights Your Brand

If you go to your favorite YouTube channel right now and open a random video, we’re willing to bet it has an intro:

The goal of intros isn’t to pad video length, but to take the opportunity to reinforce brand awareness. An intro can accomplish that in several ways, including:

• Reminding you of the brand’s name
• Showcasing the brand’s logo
• Reinforcing the brand’s style and the type of content it focuses on

In this case, your website or business is the brand. Even if your videos are only 30 seconds long, adding a short intro that includes your name and the site’s logo can only benefit you. This is particularly the case when users end up watching those videos outside of your website.

Depending on which video marketing tools you use, adding intros to your content might be easier than you think. A lot of tools provide you with templates that you can use and edit, as well as the ability to upload your logo and incorporate it into the video.

2. Choose a Performance-Oriented Hosting Provider

If you plan on uploading videos directly to your server, you should use a performance-oriented web host. A lot of websites choose the cheapest hosting provider they can find, which often translates to slow loading times and a frustrating User Experience (UX).

If visitors have to spend minutes waiting for a video to load, and then wait for it to buffer every two seconds, they are much less likely to watch it in full. Even worse, that poor user experience can reflect badly on the rest of your website.

To ensure the best video experience, we recommend avoiding shared web hosting. At the very least, you’ll want to use a Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting plan, which in most cases provides better performance as well as dedicated resources for your website.

3. Create Videos that Target Your Website’s Audience

You probably have a pretty good idea of who your website’s target audience is, such as:

• Where your users are visiting from
• The average age of your audience
• What their interests are and what content they want to see or read about

This information is critical for video creation. You can have an amazing idea for a marketing video, but if it doesn’t speak to your website’s audience, it won’t get the results you want. In other words, the video won’t get you conversions.

When you’re working on video content for your website, it’s important to consider whether it’s something your audience will be interested in. If the video provides or promises solutions and answers to questions they might have, it will likely succeed in its goal.

Conclusion

Knowing what the latest video content trends are is a solid starting point for creating your own media. Your website is the perfect channel to deliver those videos because it already has a built-in audience, some of whom may appreciate a different kind of content.

If you’re not sure how to approach video creation, you can start off on the right foot by keeping the following three tips in mind:

1. Add an intro that highlights your brand.
2. Choose a performance-oriented web hosting provider.
3. Create videos that target your website’s audience.

Do you have any questions about how to incorporate video into your website? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!

Image credit: Pixabay.

The post 3 Tips for Embedding & Adding Video into Your Website appeared first on The A2 Posting.

So, Does Website Migration Affect SEO? 

Any server change carries a slight SEO risk with or without modifications to your website,  but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You see, migrations primarily affect site speed. So if you’re migrating to a host like A2 Hosting, you’ll notice increased site speed. As loading time is a top SEO ranking consideration, this can only help you, not hurt you. Unfortunately, this means the opposite for migrating to a slower host (maybe it’ll make you think again about migrating to a cheaper host?). 

When users experience slow loading times, they’re less likely to revisit your site in the future, especially when more than 50% of visitors abandon a website if a page takes over 2 seconds to load. Since 2010, speed has been a ranking factor for desktop searches on Google. When researching new hosts, look for speed optimizations or determine how the web hosting company optimizes its servers for speed. 

For example, at A2 Hosting, we use only SSD and NVMe storage. “Our speed, your success” is our motto because we believe that speed is the most critical factor in attracting, maintaining, and increasing traffic and conversions. Additionally, our Turbo servers offer Litespeed caching, and specific servers also offer the AMD EPYC processors. When combined, these three elements contribute to lightning-fast speeds.  

Changing web hosting providers can also come with risks, especially if you lose certain functionalities at the new host or move from Apache to Nginx or IIS (Internet Information Services). If you’re wary about changing hosts, talk with someone on our sales team about the process and ensure your server needs match up with what we can offer you. 

Now that we’ve discussed how website migrations affect SEO, let’s review the migration process. Use our SEO checklist to prepare your website for its migration:

• 1. Set up a staging site on your new server. Before canceling your other web hosting plan, compare your existing site’s page load speeds against the new server’s load speeds. Hopefully, the new server improved your site speeds! 
• 2. Pick a slow time. After testing your new site on the server, pick a quiet time to perform the DNS propagation. Your site may be down for up to 24 hours as the DNS propagates around the world, but choose a time when you experience low traffic, so you’re not missing opportunities for leads and conversions. 
• 3. Perform checks on your site. For example, check the organic health of your website. Is there any penalization for spammy backlinks? Are your current backlinks relevant for the content? We recommend tracking your site’s domain authority with Moz Pro. 
• 4. Crawl your site. With Moz Pro or ScreamingFrog, you can crawl your website to receive a full URL and content inventory. Then, you can fix issues while you’re staging your site and map old URLs to new URLs in your 301 redirect map.  
• 5. Update Internal Links. Test your website and update internal links to avoid internal redirects or broken links. ScreamingFrog allows you to find internal links and their attached anchor text and their respective pages.
• 6. Create a custom 404 page. When visitors experience a broken page, engage them with a custom 404 page. It should direct them to your homepage or additional pages on your website. Otherwise, a blank 404 page frustrates users and makes them want to close the browser tab altogether and find a site that works. 
• 7. Update your Robots.txt file. The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which pages the crawler can or can’t request from your site. It lives at www.yoursite.com/robots.txt. 
• 8. Test your website on mobile. Is your site responsive or rendering correctly on a mobile device? Google offers a Mobile-Friendly Test tool to determine if Google views your site as mobile-friendly. 
• 9. Measure your performance post-launch. Once you’ve ensured your site launches appropriately, there are no broken pages or backlinks, your site is mobile-friendly, and you’ve updated your robots.txt file, analyze your performance after you launch your website. Check your ranking performance, organic traffic users/sessions, check for site crawl issues, and monitor your backlink profile. Track any 404 page traffic in your Google Analytics post-launch to catch and add any redirects to your 301 redirect file. 

SEO doesn’t need to be significant when migrating your website concern. With a few preparations, you can efficiently execute a website migration plan without worrying about lowering your website’s ranking. 

Related articles:

• How to Migrate a WordPress Website to a New Host
• Tips for Migrating to Joomla 4
• How to Switch Your Domain Name Without Damaging Your Site’s SEO
• A Total Beginner’s Guide to Website Hosting
• Who Has the Fastest Web Hosting? Matching Your Need for Speed

The post Does Website Migration Affect SEO? The Definitive Website Migration SEO Checklist. appeared first on The A2 Posting.

What is a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)? 

A Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is a domain name consisting of three parts: the hostname, the domain name, and the top-level domain. The hostname is the specific computer or device on the network that you want to use the FQDN for. The domain name is the section of the FQDN that uniquely identifies your network. The top-level domain is the highest level of classification for domains and is assigned by ICANN. For example, when you type “www.google.com” into your web browser, “www” is the hostname, “google” is the domain name, and “.com” is the top-level domain. 

Different computer types use different terminology for FQDNs like network names or full computer names. 

Why should I use an FQDN? 

FQDNs indicate unique addresses on the internet. If you don’t have an FQDN, you don’t have an accessible website. They’re required for installing SSL certificates, imperative to the security of your website. 

Apart from having an accessible website, FQDNs are also useful to have a discoverable computer on an internet network, like when you need to access a computer remotely. This is common in an office to track a computer’s activity. 

Also, FQDNs help you access domain services like FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and email. For example, if you want to connect your domain name’s email to an email app on your phone like Gmail or Apple Mail, you need to know the FQDN for the mail server, which is typically something like “mail.yourdomainname.com.” 

Here is an example of an FQDN:

1. www.a2hosting.com
2. mail.a2hosting.com
3. ftp.a2hosting.com

How to find your FQDN

If you’re not sure how to find your FQDN, please review the following links: 

Find your FQDN for Windows OS (operating systems).

Find your FQDN for macOS.

When you generate a domain name, it should contain three parts. The first part is the hostname which identifies the specific computer or device on your network that will be using this FQDN. The second part of an FQDN is the domain name and it uniquely identifies your company’s network. Finally, there is the top-level domain (TLD) which classifies domains as either generic or country-code TLDs such as .com for commercial purposes. If you need help viewing any of these components within your own FQDN contact our support team today!  

Related Articles:

• How to manage cPanel Mail Exchanger (MX) records
• How to use the DNS Zone Editor in cPanel
• How to verify site ownership with Google
• How to determine your account’s server name

The post What Is a Fully Qualified Domain Name? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

So, What is URL Masking? 

Masking a URL means disguising its true destination, making it harder for someone to track where you are going. This can be an important tool for privacy and security, but there are also some potential downsides to consider. Developers mask URLs to obscure the true destination of a link. In order to understand URL masking, it’s important to understand what URL redirects are. 

URL redirections send a domain to an alternative URL. The HTTP protocol categorizes the URL redirects. 

There are three major types of URL redirects:

• 301 (permanent) 
• 302 (found/moved temporarily)
• URL frame (masked)

301 redirects are used when the destination URL of any website’s page changes. It’s commonly used when a website needs to be migrated to a new domain. 

302 redirects direct traffic to a new URL for a brief period. This is common for A/B testing. 

When migrating your website to a new domain name, the new domain doesn’t have a search engine optimization (SEO) authority. However, a 301 permanent redirect eventually gives 90% of the old website’s authority to the new domain. 

Google, a search engine, must verify the new website, which can cause a delay as it ranks the new domain. Some developers use 302 redirects for migration to avoid Google’s aging delay, but the 301 redirect is the proper method to use in this instance. 

Both 301 and 302 redirects display the new destination URL in the address bar in URL masking. Masked redirects allow you to use content from another domain while maintaining the address bar’s original name. 

This way, you use your homepage as the URL for every page of your website. Masked redirects are also called URL cloaking or domain masking. 

In other words, the mask refers to how the URL displays in the address bar. So your user thinks they’re on one domain when, in fact, they’re on another. 

When to Mask URLs

There are specific instances when website owners might want to mask links, including: 

• Masking affiliate links: Some users prefer to link cloaking to hide their affiliate links so that users won’t see they’re making money off of a purchase.
• Link shortening: long links aren’t visually appealing. Some users choose to shorten their links instead of changing their domain names.
• Hiding free web hosting URLs: Some users use free subdomains provided by their host, like store.a2hosting.com. So, you can use domain masking to make it appear as though the website has its domain. 
• Tracking: Some link tracking software use URL masking to hide tracking tags in the original URL. 

If you are looking for a way to improve your website’s security, or if you are trying to keep your website visitors from seeing where your website is hosted, domain masking may be the solution for you. Our support team would be happy to help set up domain masking for your website. Contact us today and let us know how to help make sure your website is as secure as possible.

Related Articles:

• How to set up URL frame forwarding
• How to rewrite URLs in Apache with the mod_rewrite module
• How to configure redirects in cPanel
• What Is A Parked Domain (And How to Use It)

The post What Is URL Masking? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

What if we told you that WooCommerce can do all that for you? With the free and open-source plugin, maintaining your website instantly becomes so much easier.

Keep reading to find out exactly what WooCommerce is and how it can help your WordPress website.

What Is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an e-Commerce plugin used by over 3 million online stores. It was developed to be used as an extension to WordPress, which is why it integrates perfectly into any WordPress site. A simple but powerful platform chock full of features, it is a fantastic solution for anyone looking to sell their products online.

We highly recommend that you use WooCommerce as an extension for your shop, as it contains everything that you need for your business to run smoothly.

What Are the Benefits of WooCommerce?

WooCommerce exists to make managing your online shop simpler. It is incredibly user-friendly and offers dozens of helpful features right at your fingertips. If you’re about to open your own online shop or just want to upgrade an existing site, we’re certain that you’ll find all of the features of WooCommerce to be extremely helpful.

Customization Options

You can make changes to your store page any time you like with no additional costs, thanks to WooCommerce. You can either customize everything yourself or choose from a wide array of stylish, functional themes.

Built-In Analytics

Even if you have no experience in tracking implementation, WooCommerce comes with a built-in data analysis tool that will give you more insight into your growing business.

Integrated Payment Gateways

An efficient payment process is essential for any store. With WooCommerce, you can give your customers the option to choose from several platforms, such as Stripe, PayPal, debit or credit cards, bank transfer, or even cash on delivery.

Various Shipping Options

WooCommerce allows you to provide any variety of shipping options for your customers’ orders, like a pickup from nearby stores, local delivery, or international shipping. You can even restrict shipping options as you see fit.

Automatic Tax Calculation

WooCommerce makes it easy for anyone to calculate taxes for their online shops. All you need to do is configure the settings to automatically compute taxes on every order.

Order and Inventory Management

The built-in inventory management system of WooCommerce allows shop owners to handle and track everything in their supply. Plus, you can oversee the entire order process, from tracking orders to shipping them out.

All these amazing WooCommerce advantages will pair perfectly when used with a Managed WordPress platform, which is another worthwhile investment for any WordPress user.

What Is Managed WordPress?

Managed WordPress is a hosting platform that is fully streamlined and optimized for easy creation and management of your website. As its name implies, the web host manages your WordPress for you, taking over all the server responsibilities.

Our platform, A2 Hosting, revolves around making your site run as fast and secure as possible. We will handle all the administrative tasks, from installing WordPress, to security checks and updates, and even caching your web page. If you have any questions you can speak with our sales team for more information on our new and improved Managed WordPress plans!

WooCommerce is an incredibly powerful tool for WordPress users. When paired with our efficient Managed WordPress platform, managing your online shop will be fast and hassle-free. For an optimized eCommerce shop, get started on managed WordPress today with A2 Hosting!

The post What Is WooCommerce? Explaining the Features and Benefits appeared first on The A2 Posting.

What does it mean to “optimize” your website?

Optimizing your website is the process of using tools, strategies, experiments, and analyses to improve your website’s performance with the end goal to drive more traffic to your website, increase conversions, and grow revenue. 

You may have heard of SEO or search engine optimization. SEO is only one aspect of optimization (albeit the most critical). 

Optimization combines a variety of dimensions for optimal website performance like

• SEO
• Your website’s content and landing pages
• Analytics
• UX (frontend)
• Web development (backend)

What is A2 Optimized?

A2 Optimized is a WordPress optimizer. It combines various ideal WordPress configurations to enhance website performance and increase security.

Performance-enhancing

A2’s motto is “our speed, your success” and A2 Optimized is no exception. Our plugin enhances speed with:

• Page caching – storing copies of your web pages in a temporary storage location for quicker access.
• Object caching – storing database query results in a temporary storage location for quicker access.
• Minifying (minimizing code) for HTML, CSS, and Javascript) in your web pages and script files.
• GZip data compression – takes chunks of data and makes it smaller.

Secure

Secondly, A2 Optimized is secure by:

• Denying direct access to configuration files.
• Preventing bots from submitting to comment forms.
• Cutting off the file editor in wp-admin.
• Preventing plugins and themes from wp-admin tampering.
• Disabling other bot-targeted services like XML-RPC.

A2 Optimized configures difficult settings so you don’t have to. If you’re not technically savvy, installing the W3 Total Cache plugin may prove challenging. But when Memcached is enabled for WordPress, A2 Optimized automatically installs the plugin for you. 

A2 Optimized combines the best caching features and enhanced security configurations making it the ideal WordPress plugin. And an extra bonus, it’s free and just as easy to install as it is to uninstall, so give it a try today to see if it’s right for you! 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is A2 Optimized free?

Yes, it is! 

Can I use A2 Optimized with any host?

Absolutely! A2 Optimized works with any WordPress-supporting host. However, A2 Hosting provides some of the fastest servers in the business, and also includes additional tools to speed up your site on our servers. 

Will A2 Optimized make all of my sites faster? That’s a guarantee?

A2 Optimized does speed up sites the majority of the time, but not all plugins and themes are created equal. 

If your site is slower after enabling caching in A2 Optimized, ensure you’re using the best plugins for your website by speaking with a developer.

Can I use A2 Optimized with WordFence?

A2 Optimized is compatible with the majority of features in WordFence, but we recommend disabling caching and logging in WordFence. Otherwise, if page caching in A2 Optimized is enabled, some WordFence features may not respond.

Related Links:

• Everything You Need to Know About the WordPress 5.7 Esperanza Update
• An Introduction to WordPress Toolkit Deluxe
• How to Install a WordPress Theme on Your Website
• WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com | What’s The Difference?

The post What is A2 Optimized (and how does it help your WordPress site)? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

This year, our new WordPress plans are getting a makeover with new features to boost it above and beyond our other Shared Hosting packages. Keep reading to learn what sets them apart. 

What’s the difference between Managed WordPress vs Shared Web Hosting?

To boil it down, Managed WordPress plans offer services and performance tweaks specific to WordPress whereas Shared Web Hosting plans are generalist plans that host anything from WordPress to Drupal. But Shared Web Hosting and Managed WordPress hosting are more similar than they are different. 

You see, both plans are managed and come with 24/7/365 support on phones, tickets, and LiveChats and both plans are on shared servers. 

To summarize, 

• Shared Web Hosting plans share resources with other sites on the same server.
• Managed WordPress plans offer additional WordPress-specific services and tweaks to performance in a shared environment.

Why Use Managed WordPress Plans?

Managed WordPress Hosting offers WordPress-specific services, performance optimizations, customizations, and other valuable add-ons and performance tweaks including:

• Jetpack: Jetpack is an all-in-one WordPress plugin. Even the free version of Jetpack is powerful. They have 1-click site speed optimizations to increase your SEO, brute force protection by blocking unwanted login attempts from malicious botnets, and automated spam filtering. 
• Less users per server.
• Faster plans (with 4x more physical memory than our Shared Hosting packages)
• A2 Optimized and LSCache settings to speed up your website. 
• WordPress Toolkit for easier site management.

Why Use Shared Hosting Plans?

Shared Web Hosting is an affordable option to hosting your website. It’s especially beneficial for new or lower traffic websites. With a typical shared hosting plan, to keep the costs low you’re sharing the server with other users. This means if something happens to one site on the server, your site may be affected. Luckily here at A2 Hosting, we don’t overload our servers with thousands of users on one server. This mitigates that risk. 

The Pros and Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

Pros of Managed WordPress Hosting

• Server architecture finely tuned specifically for WordPress 
• Auto-testing any new updates to find potential issues before the updates go live.
• Automatic updates for WordPress. 
• Built-in server-level caching
• Free Jetpack license for your primary domain
• Site staging 
• cPanel
• LsCache, one of the fastest caching agents on the market
• A great in-between plan if you aren’t ready to upgrade to a VPS yet

Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

• Managed WordPress plans are inherently more expensive due to more features
• Stricter limits/caps on resource usage
• Limited to hosting only WordPress sites 

The Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting

With everything, there’s a pros and cons list. Here are a few for Shared hosting:

Pros of Shared Hosting

• Less expensive way to host WordPress
• The ability to host unlimited websites
• Still has significant performance perks like our Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans
• Easy to seamlessly upgrade within the Shared ecosystem
• Site staging
• cPanel

Cons of Shared Hosting

• Can be slower than their Managed WordPress counterparts 
• Jetpack isn’t included
• Lack other performance-tweaking WordPress customizations

Which plan is better for WordPress?

There isn’t a single answer for this question. Only you know what’s best for your website and your needs. The best way to decide is to analyze what you need. Which plans will help you get to where you need?

To help you decide, consider the following:

• Are you going to host websites other than WordPress? If so, the decision is easy–stick with Shared Web Hosting packages. 

• Do you need all of the WordPress-specific customizations or is your site simple enough to get by on a Shared Web Hosting plan?

• What is your budget? Shared hosting plans are less expensive, but Managed WordPress plans have additional power and features that may be worth the investment. If the features sound nice enough to pay a little extra every month, consider it.
• Do you need automatic updates? WordPress updates automatically on our plans. Installing the latest versions of software means your site is as secure as possible. If you don’t need automatic updates, Shared hosting packages may be the better choice.
• How much traffic do you have? If your website is small and discreet, starting out on a Shared server is probably the best option, at least for a while. You can always upgrade to a Managed WordPress plan at any time. Smaller is always better to start. Then, scale up your needs as your business grows.

Also, consider this: the Managed WordPress plans are the best in-between plan if you need more resources than a Shared hosting package, but less than a VPS. If you’re unsure, as always, contact our sales team today to find out which plan is best for your needs. 

Whatever plan you decide is best for you, it’s a personal decision and we support you either way.

Related Articles: 

• How to Find the Right WordPress Plan (and Why It Should Be with A2 Hosting)
• How to Get Started with WordPress
• How to Install WordPress on Managed WordPress Hosting
• A Complete Guide on Navigating Your WordPress Dashboard
• How to Become an Expert WordPress Site Owner (3 Key Tips)

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Ann Arbor, MI—January 17, 2022—A2 Hosting, a provider of high-speed web hosting solutions, announced the availability of its new and improved portfolio of Managed WordPress plans. Modernizing its prior WordPress offerings, the new plans run on the company’s high-performing Turbo servers and introduce advanced features and tools—innovations that collectively increase website speed and security as well as ease of management for customers. The plans are available in four distinct packages to support various business requirements from single or multiple website deployments to basic corporate or eCommerce site configurations. 

“Last year, 70 percent of businesses chose to invest more in their digital presence. In parallel, over 60 percent of websites currently use WordPress as their content management system,” said Bryan Muthig, CEO, A2 Hosting. “We have a highly regarded track record of staying in step with our customers’ wants and needs which is why we released an extensive WordPress survey. The results guided us in creating our new Managed WordPress solutions that maximize, secure, and simplify the use of WordPress.” 

Run, Jump, Fly, Sell

As stated above, A2 Hosting’s WordPress experts developed the four different levels of WordPress plans based on feedback from current and prospective customers. All plans include cPanel’s WordPress Toolkit for easy site management. The tiers are defined as: 

• Run: The first tier plan is for WordPress beginners and hobbyists to quickly and easily get sites up and running. Run best fits the needs of users who are beginning on WordPress and need a strong foundation optimized with security and features that can be built on.
• Jump: The second tier plan is designed for professionals whose businesses need more resources and/or have up to five websites to host. Jump includes extras like Jetpack’s Daily Backup License and 250 GB of NVMe performance storage.
• Fly: The third tier plan is designed for experienced web professionals and developers who host a number of sites for themselves and their customers. Fly provides users with unlimited websites, unlimited NVMe storage, and free daily malware scans with Jetpack’s Security Daily License. 
• Sell: This tier is specifically crafted for eCommerce professionals, with WooCommerce pre-installed and optimized. Sell is also bundled with a premium RapidSSL certificate and a site seal to demonstrate enhanced security to customers. This plan is ideal for buying and selling using WordPress.

Advanced Plan Features and Benefits

The new Managed WordPress plans are supported 24/7/365 by A2 Hosting’s in-house Guru Crew. This team provides hands-on assistance with server and plan maintenance. The plans take a focused approach to help users increase their success rates with the popular CMS: 

•  Security Enhancements

Also included is extensive security, including features like a web application firewall, real-time antivirus protection, a network firewall, and patch management that detect, fix, and protect these hosting plans. The Fly and Sell plans also include Jetpack Daily Secure that addresses specific WordPress vulnerabilities through malware scans, brute force protection, automated spam filtering, and more to remove the guesswork from deploying the most secure website possible today. 

• Speed Optimization

The plans are hosted on A2 Hosting’s Turbo servers. The servers’ integrated NVMe storage, advanced LiteSpeed caching, and A2 Optimized plugin (which uses Memcached and TurboCache to accelerate website performance) to increase server speeds up to 20x faster than stock installation with 204% of standard disk performance.

• Managed Server Benefits

All plans come with complete server management. This includes features like 24/7 server maintenance, security, resource upgrades, malware scanning, and more. 

• WordPress-Specific Site Management Tools  

The plans also include newly introduced tools designed to aid and automate the speed and security of WordPress websites. The tools offer daily back-ups and malware scans, site speed scores, 1-click optimizations, optimized CSS, and other features. They are also bundled with cPanel’s Deluxe WordPress Toolkit, which helps users easily manage, update, back up, clone, stage, and secure WordPress websites.  

A2 Hosting’s New Managed WordPress plans are currently discounted, ranging in price from $11.99 to $41.99 per month.  

About A2 Hosting

Recently awarded Leader in Web Hosting for Summer 2021 by G2 and Best Cheap Dedicated Web Hosting by Digital.com, A2 Hosting, Inc. is a high-performance hosting services provider located in Ann Arbor, MI. The company delivers ultra-reliable solutions and 24/7/365 US-based support from its Guru Crew team. Since 2003, A2 Hosting has offered innovative, affordable, and developer-friendly hosting for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as web development agencies worldwide. Customers seeking the fastest hosting options in the industry can host websites of any size on A2’s Turbo Performance server platform featuring page load speeds up to 20X faster compared to competing solutions. To learn more, visit https://www.a2hosting.com.

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Press Contact:

Heather Ailara

211 Communications

+1.973.567.6040

heather@211comms.com

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