“Managed WordPress host” or “Managed Hosting: are buzzwords that gets thrown around a lot. But there’s not a single definition everyone agrees on.

What is a managed host?

One thing that always comes up when we talk abut managed hosting is the benefit of managed hosting. But it’s clear, different hosting companies (and their clients) use the term differently:

  • For some companies, being a managed host means providing self-service tools for their clients that don’t require the help of a support team.
  • For others, it means performing WordPress core and plugin updates automatically on behalf of their clients.
  • And for still others, it means help troubleshooting issues that happen on WordPress in addition to those directly impacting the server.

What Canopytech Resources Ltd offers WordPress bloggers and businesses

Since the definition isn’t clear, we don’t lean too heavily on this phrasing ourselves. Instead, we prefer to focus on our role as a hosting partner for professional WordPress users. To us, that means:

  • Our hosting stack is built with WordPress in mind, to maximize performance and strengthen security for our clients’ sites.
  • Our support team has expertise to handle not just server issues but WordPress issues that arise from plugins and themes as well.
  • We come alongside our clients as individuals to help them troubleshoot problems or think through problems and solutions. If something is outside of our expertise (as with SEO or advanced site speed cleanup), we help them find someone who can help them.
  • Our cloud servers are easily scalable to accommodate bursts of traffic and viral posts. And we never throttle our clients’ traffic.
  • We do everything we can to never leave our clients holding the bag when things go wrong.

What about automatic updates?

You may have noticed that automatic updates is missing from this list. The one thing we don’t do is automatically update WordPress core, themes, or plugins for our clients. Here’s why:

We encourage our clients to keep WordPress core and plugins updated. Out-of-date code can contain known security issues that pose an easy target for attackers. But unattended updates can also cause unforeseen issues or change critical functionality without warning. WordPress has a built-in automatic update forminor updates, which will make sure you have the latest security and bugfix updates in core. We recommend you manage major WordPress and plugin updates yourself so you can quickly identify potential issues.

And of course, we’re always available to help with tricky updates or to roll back changes that do cause problems.

If you’re looking for a managed host that considers themselves your partner, we’d love to chat. We help with all the technical bits and bobs so you can focus on content creation and running your business. Contact us to learn more