Website hosting is an essential part of having an online presence for your business, and it is something we get asked about quite a bit. Although some Content Management Systems (CMS), like Squarespace, Webflow, Wix, etc., provide hosting as part of your monthly subscription. Others, like WordPress (WP), do not. However, many WP users find this a pro, as your hosting can affect your site’s security, speed, and availability. Therefore, this article will focus on the best website hosting for WordPress websites.
What is Website Hosting?
Namecheap, a domain and hosting provider, defines it as “…the process of renting or buying space to house a website on the World Wide Web.” Essentially, you rent space on the hosting company’s server for all your website files and content.
If you are actively looking for a hosting company for your practice, this is the place to be!
We have curated a well-researched list of the top 3 hosting companies for therapy businesses, along with the plans they offer.
1. Flywheel
Our number one recommendation for your WordPress website hosting is Flywheel. It offers a range of pricing options, which depend on your needs. Since most therapy practices often only have one website, the “tiny” or “starter” packs are great options. Pricing starts at just $13/ month, but can increase based on your website’s traffic or the number of sites you need. Most clinics with one website are probably fine with the Tiny plan.
Customer service for Flywheel is available 24/7, which can provide a lot of peace of mind, knowing someone is there if there is ever an issue. In fact, one of the reasons Flywheel is our number one choice is because of their fantastic service. They are always friendly and go the extra mile in providing support.
In addition to their quality service, sites hosted with them offer excellent performance times, nightly backups, and built-in security. While other hosting companies may offer some of these services, they do not provide all of them. And they top all this off with free SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates, migration, auto-heal technology for a broken website, and your site’s cache.
The annual subscription provides a slight discount if you are searching for the best pricing. In addition, you do have the option to demo the service before committing to the yearly program.
Two points worth noting. The first is that they do not manage emails. However, one can easily use Google Workspace to overcome this drawback. Secondly, they do not provide domain management. This is relatively common with many high-quality hosting providers, as having your hosting and domain in one place can be a security risk for your website. We recommend using Google to manage and buy new the domain for your practice.
2. Cloudways
Our second recommendation for hosting is Cloudways. The company offers a commitment-free approach, where you pay monthly and can opt-out anytime.
The most basic plan for this service is priced at $13/ month. The next tier in pricing lands around $26/ month. The only difference is that the latter plan includes the feature of object cache pro.
The pricing stays the same throughout. The unique feature of these plans is that they include 24/7 real-time monitoring and a 24/7 expert support team.
The Cloudflare CDN is a complimentary add-on in every plan, even the most basic one. In addition, Cloudways offers unlimited app installation, SSL certificates, and free migration.
Regular security patches and automated backups are available for your website. These are included in the price of hosting and have no additional charges.
Cloudways doesn’t handle emails either. However, an add-on integrated with their hosting through Domain Email Hosting by Rackspace is only one $1/month per email account. Or, we suggest Google Workspace for a full email service option.
Like Flywheel, they do not manage domains. Hence your domain will have to be managed elsewhere. Again, Google can be used for this purpose.
3. SiteGround GrowBig Plan
Our final recommendation is Siteground. This service provides an introductory price of $2.99 per month, billed annually, for its basic single-site plan. This is the plan that is recommended for start-ups and new ventures. The monthly price will increase after the first year. This is a way to get new business in the front door, so beware that the price will significantly increase upon completion of your initial contract.
A personal workaround to avoiding these higher rates is simply switching the hosting company after a year.
The features of all plans include free SSL and website migration. Complimentary daily backups and free Cloudflare CDN is also included in the plan.
An accessible support team is available at any hour of the day with all the SiteGround GrowBig plans.
Unlike the companies mentioned above, this company provides email with no additional charge, and the first year of your domain is free.
It’s a great option if you need a good hosting service at an affordable budget.
Hosting to Avoid
We would be remiss if we did not at least brush on companies we strongly urge you to avoid. The list is long, so we won’t be able to name them all here, but suffice it to say that you should avoid the company if you have never heard of it. We may need another blog post to adequately address this. Just a few dishonorable mentions are GoDaddy and HostGater. The reasons vary slightly for both of these, but our real grievances are based on a lack of training in their customer service department, the overall speed that your site loads, and your site periodically going down.
Conclusion
Web hosting is a must-have for all businesses. However, before choosing a web host provider, it is essential to understand the pros and cons of each of these different companies.
Also, ensure that you have accurately assessed your website’s hosting needs because the type of plan you choose and how much you spend on a hosting service ultimately depends on your business needs.
Disclosure: Just to be clear, some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links.’ This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I don’t plug products that I don’t believe in, so know that recommendations are given purely on merit and not financial gain.