One morning a friend (a dentist) called me. Customers who entered the URL of his website were being redirected to a different website that sold Viagra.
He assumed he’d been hacked but had no idea what to do.
Furthermore, when he contacted his web hosting provider, they offered the disappointing but all too familiar combination of responses:
- There’s no live agent to fix it
- We don’t know how to fix it
You could switch hosting providers to one with comparable prices and features.
However, there’s a better way.
It’s time to think differently about how to choose the best secure hosting for your business.
Let’s start by defining some terms.
What Is Secure Web Hosting?
Secure web hosting is web hosting focused on protecting the website and its users from cyber attacks. It also includes protecting the physical servers.
All sites get targeted, eventually. Sometimes Internet Service Providers (ISP) do, resulting in country-wide outages.
To protect your business, you need to become proactive. If you’re not taking preventative measures, you’ve effectively left your shop’s doors and windows open.
How We Chose Our Competitors
WordPress powers 43% of all websites.
Furthermore, it’s what our client base prefers.
For that reason, we chose to target the top hosting providers recommended by WordPress.
By the end of this post, you’ll understand why and how MGG Digital stands out when compared to all other generic hosting providers (WP Engine, GoDaddy, HostGator, etc.)
Secure Hosting Providers Compared
We admit we’re biased.
However, we created MGG Digital’s hosting packages in large part due to our frustration with cheap and generic hosting providers.
We learned the hard way that you get what you pay for, not necessarily what’s promised.
1. MGG Digital Hosting and Security
MGG Digital launched in 2020. Since then, we’ve specialized in providing small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with fast and secure hosting solutions. The hosting package we offer reflects that.
With generic hosting providers you’ll have to find, install, and manage all the necessary plugins.
We’ve put together a package of plugins and software geared towards SMBs. We install and manage everything for you behind the scenes.
Here’s some of what you can expect:
- Real-time administrative and security monitoring. We know what’s going on with your site at all times and can do full site audits.
- Firewall protection. We use the best in class for WordPress.
- Comprehensive search engine optimization. We handle all of your on-page and technical SEO.
- Backup and restoration. Your site is safe in case of emergencies.
- Secure email. We use your credentials to configure SMTP.
- Google Analytics and Google Search Console. For SEO, monitoring site traffic and user activity.
- Plenty more.
This collection of plugins and software continues to serve us well in optimizing WordPress sites for speed (95+ on Google PageSpeed Insights) and performance.
However, there are more than just plugins that make our service faster and more secure than our competitors.
Support and Performance
We utilize Amazon Web Services (AWS) for speed, security, and performance. It’s widely considered the biggest and best cloud computing in the world.
Here’s the performance data for our clients’ websites:
Google PageSpeed Insights for MasonPC.
Google PageSpeed Insights for Markably.
Additionally, we understand that support doesn’t just mean hardware. We take customer support to another level. You won’t have to worry about dealing with outsourced or underpaid tech support employees.
With MGG Digital, you’ll always talk to a real human who listens and is a core member of our in-house team.
However, to pre-empt potential issues, we include two additional services:
- Monthly Managed WP Updates: You won’t have to worry about auto-updates breaking your site.
- Monthly Website Health Check: Once a month, we audit your entire site to ensure it’s in top operational condition.
Pricing
We don’t pretend to compete on price with generic shared hosting. However, you’ll find our rates are highly competitive for a truly all-in-one web hosting solution.
Our prices for hosting are handled on a client-by-client basis. They generally range between $250 to $350.
Pros and Cons
Excellent customer support, security, and performance come standard with MGG Digital. However, while we consider ourselves an “enterprise solution for small businesses,” we don’t currently have a service tailored for large businesses.
What People Are Saying
We like to brag about our spotless reputation with our clients. However, you can see for yourself here on our homepage.
2. Bluehost Hosting and Security
Bluehost is a prominent website hosting company noted for its integration with WordPress. Today it runs over 2 million websites across the world.
It’s also known for its “one-stop-shop” solutions and low rates.
WP Pro plans provide unlimited website hosting, domains, monthly data transfers, and storage.
Support and Performance
Bluehost boasts load times under two seconds without caching plugins or performance optimization. Additionally, there are third-party tests that confirm this.
Bluehost’s US servers respond to user activity in a fraction of a second.
They also offer 24/7 customer support.
What’s not to like?
The catch is in the support. Bluehost does not guarantee uptime. Also, round-the-clock chat support doesn’t necessarily mean your issue will be solved.
If you’re going with a managed shared hosting plan, Bluehost looks pretty good. However, if you’re looking for virtual hosting for an eCommerce or high-traffic website, think again.
Google PageSpeed Insights for HealthNutNews (hosted on Bluehost).
Pricing
Bluehost offers some of the cheapest web hosting you can find. As a result, they’re a decent fit for something simple like a portfolio site or personal blog.
Pros and Cons
Bluehost is an inexpensive solution and is more or less beginner-friendly.
In terms of cons, they have a few drawbacks. For example, there are no automated backups and no Windows server hosting. You’ll also have to wade through plenty of upselling during sign-up.
On top of that, the support you receive is “hands-off.”
Hackers break it. You fix it.
What People Are Saying
Overall, reviews are positive. However, reviews and Facebook Groups cite reports of ongoing technical difficulties (specifically with cPanel).
3. DreamHost Hosting and Security
DreamHost is a household brand in web hosting, well known for its 97-day money-back guarantee.
Although support is available 24 hours a day, live chat is only available between 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. PST.
Dreamhost is cheap and easy for total beginners committed to managed web hosting plans.
Support and Performance
Unlike Bluehost, DreamHost provides a 100% uptime guarantee. However, server maintenance is not included.
DreamHost hosts all its users’ websites in the United States.
It offers essential light security tools like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates. However, you’ll need additional support if you sell a product or service on your site or expect high traffic that tends to linger (shoppers).
Google PageSpeed Insights for AnimeCons (hosted on DreamHost).
Pricing
DreamHost provides two shared hosting plans.
Both subscriptions include a free SSL certificate, domain privacy, daily backups, and unlimited traffic.
Pros and Cons
DreamHost is a low-cost hosting provider that offers a variety of services.
Remember that not all of their solutions are available on Windows servers.
Additionally, email and malware scanners do not come standard.
What People Are Saying
Some customers claim they rarely have difficulties with their service. When they do, DreamHost’s support responds quickly.
However, others claim that the server goes down frequently and that the 100% uptime guarantee is not, in fact, legitimate.
4. SiteGround Hosting and Security
SiteGround is another very well-known shared hosting company.
Their servers have an average page loading time of 534ms and a 99.99% uptime.
Other notable SiteGround hosting features include integrations with major software like Weebly, WordPress, and Drupal.
Customer assistance is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a Live Chat support option for easy access.
Support and Performance
SiteGround provides a typical 99.9% uptime guarantee.
However, you can expect outages about once a month.
For a personal blog, that would be considered dependable. But not for an eCommerce site.
SiteGround has six server locations across Europe, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore.
Google PageSpeed Insights for SomethingTourquoise (hosted on SiteGround).
Pricing
They provide three shared hosting plans ranging in price from $2.99 to $7.99 per month.
All options include free SSL, CDN, email accounts, WordPress management, and unmetered bandwidth.
Pros and Cons
SiteGround offers tech stacks that are both quick and secure.
On starting plans, storage space is limited. For the lowest pricing, a three-year commitment is required.
What People Are Saying
Customers using basic plans have commended SiteGround’s customer service, claiming near-instantaneous answers.
However, there are reports of people experiencing the “conveyor belt effect” wherein someone is bounced from one support person to the next.
If someone solves your problem quickly the first time, don’t expect to see them the next time.
Hosting Security Features Guide
Here are a few terms to help you shop secure hosting intelligently.
Firewalls
A firewall is a software that filters traffic requests.
The most frequent method of filtering is IP-address blacklists.
SSL Certificates
HTTPS establishes a secure, encrypted communication channel between the user and the website.
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate prevents sensitive information like credit card and social security numbers from being accessible to third-party apps and websites.
In 2018, Google Chrome began labeling sites lacking SSL as “unsafe.” That means it’s not a direct ranking factor but does affect SEO.
DDoS Protection
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is one in which thousands of requests are made to a website simultaneously, overwhelming its ability to process them.
DDoS assaults are often automated and originate from a vast network of (typically compromised) computers.
Domain Name Privacy
When you acquire a domain name, your personal information is made public.
The purpose of domain name privacy is to protect you rather than your server.
This may be a significant concern when customers access sensitive information, depending on the nature of your business.
Spam Filter
Email spam filtering is a secondary layer of security.
Anti-spam protection is the most frequent type of email account security that improves your experience. It also helps filter out malware and cyber attacks.
Why You Should Avoid Auto Updates
Auto updates may cause more problems than they solve.
If you activate them for everything, your plugins and themes will update without your knowledge.
Often these updates break something. They can even take your site down.
MGG Digital takes care of monthly updates for you. As a result, you get the advantage of not spending time updating your site and not worrying about faulty updates that could harm your site.
Virtual AWS Hosting
Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting refers to the eCommerce giant’s hosting services.
Aside from web hosting, some of its most popular offerings include cloud storage and database services.
While it is the world’s most powerful and influential web server hosting, it’s not something a beginner can dive into.
MGG Digital employs DevOps experts to handle all the backend work for you.
The Bottom Line
It’s not fair to compare our SMB-tailored service to generic hosting providers.
It would be like comparing a national fast food chain to your local bistro. The prices, the quality of the product, and the service are on different plains.
If you’re fed up with generic hands-off web hosting, or if you need a more bespoke service, let’s talk.