Managed website hosting for small business: what it means and what ours includes
Any host can give you a server and a login. Managed hosting adds the person who keeps the software updated, keeps the backups running and picks up the phone when something breaks. This page explains what that covers here. The plans and prices live on one page.
What our hosting includes, on every plan
Google Cloud, Sydney
Your site runs in the Sydney data centre on Google Cloud infrastructure. Quick for every Australian visitor, with your data staying in the country.
Daily backups, kept 30 days
A copy of files and database every day. Roll back to any of the last 30 if an update or an edit goes wrong.
Monthly off-site copy
On the 1st of every month a full copy of every site we host is taken off the server and kept separately. A second system in a second place.
Free SSL
The padlock in the browser, issued and renewed automatically. No annual certificate invoice.
Control panel access
Your own login to manage files, databases and email routing. You are never locked out of your own site.
A person, not a ticket queue
Joel in Adelaide answers support on every plan: by email on Starter, by email and phone on Business and Growth.
What managed hosting is not
It is not a reseller account with a ticket queue and it is not a page builder that owns your site. Your site is a normal WordPress or static site on a normal server, with a control panel login in your name. The management is the work around it: updates done on a schedule, backups checked, a person to contact. On Business and Growth that includes a quarterly health check and a backup taken before every change.
What is not included, on purpose
Email. Web servers are built to serve pages. A mailbox on one is the first thing to cause trouble when it fills up or lands in spam. We point your domain at Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 instead and set it up for you. See domains and email.
Moving in and moving on
Hosting a site we did not build
Fine. WordPress and static sites usually move across without trouble. We look at it first and tell you if anything needs fixing before it moves. The move is included on Business and Growth. It is quoted at $100 an hour inc GST on Starter. See website migration.
WordPress specifically
Same plans, with WordPress updates, staging and backups set up around it. See managed WordPress hosting.
If you stop paying
We tell you before anything is switched off and give you a full copy of the site. Nobody's site is deleted without warning.
Not sure which plan?
Ring and describe the site. Two minutes is usually enough to say which plan fits.