Website Hosting
We host every website we build. There are many good reasons for this. First, it’s easier to fix a site when we are hosting it. For whatever reason, websites can break. The 3 main reasons a site could break – the server, the theme or a plugin. If we host the site, the time to repair drops dramatically. Here is a little info about our hosting options.
Tier 1 Hosting Facility: each and every site is hosted at a tier 1 facility. We use multiple locations for security and safety reasons. Hosting facilities provide extra layers of security on both the servers, operating systems, and websites. Our Linux servers are state of the art and constantly updated and improved for speed and security.
Technology: All of our sites, including e-commerce sites are built on the WordPress backend. WordPress is the worlds largest and most popular website platform. It’s open source but requires maintenance. The WordPress platform is automatically updated several times per year. Once in awhile these updates can break your site which is why we prefer to host your site.
WordPress, WooCommerce, Themes, and Plugins: WordPress is a software backend that includes Themes (controls the look and feel of the site), WooCommerce (how we manage all of your stone colors), Plugins (software that runs different features on your site). All of these components need to be updated, backed up and managed. We guarantee 99% uptime but only if we host it. We used to let our clients host their own sites but a clear lack of understanding what it takes to manage a server and website with the vast number of hackers, viruses and software vulnerabilities make it’s impossible to manage.
Security: In addition to securing our servers from hackers, viruses, DDOS attacks, we also secure each and every website using software designed to keep bad things from happening. Securing a website is a lot hard than you would think. Companies like GoDaddy won’t be able to help you when the site goes down or needs to be repaired or updated. They can host your site but can’t fix or enhance anything. That’s what we do and it’s included in our service.
Speed: We are constantly trying to speed up the websites. It’s a known fact that Google scores your website for speed. The faster it loads, the higher the score. Our job is to make sure your customers have a good experience searching your site. It’s included in our hosting fees.
Back-Ups: We back up your website daily to make sure that if there are any problems we can restore your website quickly. This is also included in your hosting fees.
Repairs: small repairs and edits are not included but we generally don’t charge for those. If want to add, upgrade, or enhance your site, we can do that for you for a minimal charge. Our designers are charged out at $50 per hour.
Pricing: Most of our sites are hosted at $39.95 per month. Some of our larger sites will be more and require a custom quote.