However, WordPress and the open source community have fundamentally changed how websites are hosted and content is managed.

I sat down with Bryan Muthig, founder and CEO of A2 Hosting, and Aaron Campbell, Director of Product, to talk about the impact of open source over the last several decades.

We also talk about how WordPress has been critical to A2 Hosting’s success. It’s why we are committed to supporting WordPress and fostering a robust community for designers, developers, agencies, and businesses.

A2 Hosting’s Commitment to WordPress and Open Source

A2 Hosting has been in business for 21 years – the same amount of time WordPress has been around. From the gaze of a hosting company, we discuss how WordPress has evolved to become the dominant content management system over that time. This has led A2 Hosting to continually prioritize WordPress hosting plans and solutions.

Talking about our commitment to WordPress, Byran said, “WordPress is the dominant CMS in the hosting space and the vast majority of our customers use it. So it’s only natural that A2 Hosting is committed to providing the best WordPress experience possible.”

He continued, “I still go look at support tickets because I want to understand what our customers are feeling. To see the problems that they’re seeing.”

Aaron added, “Focusing on our customers has led us more into the WordPress space. It’s a critical tool to allowing smaller and mid-sized businesses compete on the global scale.”

The Value of Open Source and WordPress

A2 Hosting has a long history of supporting WordPress and open-source technologies. Our team has a deep understanding of how these platforms provide tailored solutions for our customers.

Constant collaboration and innovation have made open source communities like WordPress so valuable. Users can work together to develop solutions and implement changes that anyone can take advantage of.

Within WordPress specifically, community-developed plugins and themes allow you to customize your website quickly and easily.

“It’s that network effect that really helped add value to the WordPress ecosystem,” said Bryan.

Talking about his own experiences, Aaron added, “I saw the community-led effort to grow WordPress early on. I knew this was the right direction and that’s when I went all in on WordPress.”

This collaborative success is why A2 Hosting remains focused on WordPress today. It allows businesses to quickly scale their content and web presence.

Importance of WordPress in Web Hosting

As it’s grown over the last twenty years, WordPress has become a critical tool in website development. It helps small and mid-sized businesses and agencies compete on a bigger scale than they were ever able to before.

According to Bryan, WordPress dramatically changed the landscape of websites and hosting.

“WordPress democratized the web in the sense that anybody could download it for free and set up a website.”

Continuing, he added, “We take it for granted at this point, but it revolutionized the way we build websites.”

Not only has it shortened and simplified the development and launch cycle for new websites, but it also makes managing and maintaining them easier and more efficient.

According to Aaron, WordPress and other open source solutions “have played an important part, not just in the web’s growth, but in the continued health of the web.”

The Ongoing Impact of Open Source and WordPress on A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting remains focused on providing the highest quality website hosting solutions for our customers.

“From a hosting standpoint, we want to provide the fastest servers possible so your visitors get a phenomenal front-end experience,” said Bryan.

While we do offer other hosting options, we are absolutely all in on WordPress. From a variety of WordPress hosting options to our state-of-the-art control panel, TurboHub, we are proud to be a leader in this space.

This also means adapting over time. We will prioritize developing tools that streamline managing multiple WordPress sites for agencies and developers. We are also committed to providing hardware options that allow our customers to thrive in the WordPress and open source communities.

Join Us on YouTube for More Conversations About WordPress, Hosting, and More

Subscribe to the A2 Hosting channel on YouTube as we continue to explore opportunities in website hosting, development, and marketing.

The post All In on WordPress: How Open Source and WordPress Changed Our Lives appeared first on The A2 Posting.

But TurboHub, our exclusive dashboard for WordPress sites, gives you a snapshot of your security status and makes detecting vulnerabilities and updating your protection as easy as one click.

Whether you take care of your own website or are an agency or web developer who manages dozens of sites, TurboHub makes reviewing security status and making the necessary updates a breeze.

Advanced WordPress Security From One Easy-To-Use Dashboard

The TurboHub security tab is the fastest and easiest way to keep your site safe. Whether you manage one website or 1,000, it is vital for monitoring site health and security.

Loaded with features to keep you secure, you can quickly review potential threats in one convenient place. Verify your SSL certificates, make sure malware detection and proactive defenses are enabled, and review potential threats.

Plus, TurboHub recommends actions to eliminate security vulnerabilities. From salt key status to inactive plugins or themes, you can take immediate action directly from the control panel. In most cases, you can enhance your security with one click.

What Is TurboHub?

TurboHub is A2 Hosting’s exclusive control panel for WordPress sites. Designed to make managing and protecting WordPress sites easier, it offers comprehensive metrics about the performance, health, and security of your websites.

Improve your efficiency and workflow by reviewing all of your A2 Hosting WordPress sites in one place. Easily view current performance and security snapshots, review recommendations, and make improvements and updates across all of your sites.

TurboHub Security Features

WordPress site security is one of the core features of the TurboHub control panel. From proactive defense to security best practices, it puts the top security features at your fingertips.

SSL Status & Proactive Defense

When it comes to website security, you need to be proactive. TurboHub’s SSL status and proactive defense indicators ensure your SSL certificate is valid and your malware and proactive security defense are active.

SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is the industry standard in data encryption for information transferred between a web server and a web browser. It protects online transactions and personal information, ensuring data privacy over the Internet.

A valid SSL certificate tells web browsers – and your customers – that your website follows SSL protocols for secure data transfer, keeping them safe.

Malware and proactive security defenses protect your website against malicious attacks that can hijack your website or steal customer data.

Advanced Website Hosting Protection

TurboHub allows you to instantly validate the status of your firewall and DDoS and brute force protection. These ensure you are safe against attacks designed to gain access to your web server.

A firewall is a digital barrier that blocks unauthorized access to your sites from cyber threats. When active, they block malicious traffic based on predefined security rules.

Reinforced Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection prevents malicious attempts to attack your website and take them offline. DDoS attacks use multiple compromised computer systems to slow down or even crash websites, preventing access to legitimate users.

Brute force protection shields against relentless attacks attempting to log into your system. Attackers will systematically try to guess passwords, encryption keys, or other secret information. Brute force attacks are typically automated, allowing them to rapidly test millions of combinations.

A2 Recommended Actions

TurboHub also includes a number of A2 Hosting recommended security actions, like locking editing abilities on plugins and themes or bcrypt password hashing. These recommendations improve your overall website security, lowering the risk that hackers can access your site data.

Common recommendations include:

• Locking the editing for plugins and themes from WP Admin to prevent the misuse of built-in editing capabilities for malicious purposes.
• Deny direct access to configuration files to block bots and web users from directly accessing and potentially exploiting WordPress config files.
• Remove old wp-config.php backups to eliminate unnecessary files with potentially sensitive information.
• Use bcrypt password hashing for a more secure password storing and hashing method.
• Disable XML-RPC services to close a possible entryway a hacker could exploit your site.

You can easily toggle these options on or off from the TurboHub security panel to fit your security needs and keep your website data safe.

Best Security Practices

TurboHub also analyzes your website to ensure you are following the best security practices. You can identify potential vulnerabilities at a glance and take action to secure your sites. Simply review the recommended security updates and follow the instructions to implement these improvements.

When necessary, TurboHub will recommend the following actions:

• Regenerate salt key passwords to protect your account even if your login cookies are compromised.
• Check for and remove insecure SQL backups and files that could be accessed by hackers.
• Reduce potential vulnerabilities and improve site performance by removing unused plugins and unused WordPress themes.

Just follow the steps associated with each best practice to protect your site.

More TurboHub Features Coming Soon

Committed to the fastest and most reliable hosting solutions, A2 Hosting developed TurboHub to streamline WordPress site performance and management.

From personal sites and hobby projects to agencies and developers managing client sites, it offers features that simplest updates and makes everyone a performance and security expert.

But we aren’t done yet. We have an exciting lineup of advancements that will enhance your workflow and your websites.

A2 Intelligent Performance

Optimize your site’s performance with the power of AI. A2 Intelligent Performance monitors critical performance indicators to keep your site performing at its best. Easily review the data and make the most informed decisions about your site’s speed and reliability.

A2 AI Assistant Inside WordPress

Launch new websites quickly and easily with our AI co-pilot. Exclusive to TurboHub, our A2 AI Assistant for WordPress writes content, generates images, and can even design page layouts. Trained on WordPress help documentation, it will answer common questions and help you get the most out of your WordPress site.

Enhanced Staging

Our upcoming enhanced staging feature makes developing, testing, and deploying website updates a snap. This robust tub maximizes compatibility by recording changes on both staging and live sites. And the advanced 2-way sync ensures changes are mirrored in both environments.

Enhance Your Website Security With TurboHub

Enhance site security and improve your site performance with TurboHub for WordPress from A2 Hosting. Quickly review potential security risks and easily make improvements to protect your website. Streamline your WordPress site management today. TurboHub is available on all A2 Hosting WordPress hosting plans.

The post WordPress Security Made Easy With TurboHub appeared first on The A2 Posting.

If you manage multiple sites, you know how much of a hassle it is to keep them up-to-date and secure. A2 Hosting’s new cutting-edge agency management control panel, TurboHub, is here to help!

TurboHub offers robust features that streamline site management for agencies and developers. Not only does it simplify your workflow and client onboarding process, but you can now update all of the sites you manage with just one click.

What Is TurboHub?

TurboHub is our new state-of-the-art control panel for WordPress sites. It not only speeds up site performance but also makes it easy to manage multiple sites from a single screen.

TurboHub is an essential tool for agencies and developers who manage multiple sites. It provides comprehensive metrics about each site’s performance, health, and security.

Plus, you can improve performance and bulk update WordPress plugins on all of your sites with one click. This saves you time while ensuring that your client’s sites are running at peak performance and security.

Features Designed for Agencies and Developers

Designed with agencies and developers in mind, Turbohub eliminates the hassle and headache of managing sites separately. It allows you to track all of your A2 Hosting sites in one place and makes updates and performance checks a breeze.

Improve Your Workflow

TurboHub makes your workflow more efficient. Quickly review all of your A2 Hosting WordPress sites in one easy-to-use control panel. Check site performance and health, then easily roll out updates across all sites. 

Intuitive User Management System

Manage, add, or remove users for all the sites you manage. Set user permissions and control separate access levels for each account you manage.

Streamline Client Onboarding

If your clients also use A2 Hosting, they can easily add you to their accounts with TurboHub. This can dramatically simplify your onboarding and initial site review processes. Have your client add you to their account through the TurboHub user management system.

Bulk Plugin Management

Elevate your plugin update process with TurboHub. Simply review the updates for all your clients or sites from one dashboard. Select all or choose individual updates and deploy them across each site with ease. You can even switch to maintenance mode or hide the site from search engines during the update process.

Site Status at a Glance

Quickly review site status and performance from a single dashboard. Easily check if your sites are online and running and verify SSL, domain, and nameserver status. Plus, you can automate site maintenance across all the sites you manage with just a click.

Optimize Site Performance

Easily implement performance enhancements to speed up sites. TurboHub analyzes each site and recommends improvements to boost performance. Then quickly deploy changes with just one click.

More Powerful TurboHub Features for Agencies

From improving communication between your team to identifying security vulnerabilities, there is so much more to TurboHub. Here are some of the other powerful features we included with agencies and developers in mind:

• Quickly scan for security vulnerabilities.
• Communicate between team members or companies with the site notes feature.
• Automate plugin updates for each site.
• Hide sites from search engines while under construction.
• Place sites in maintenance mode during edits.
• Quickly access all of your WordPress sites from one location.

How Do I Get TurboHub?

TurboHub is available now and is included free with all A2 Hosting WordPress plans. You can access TurboHub and start speeding up your site management through your MyA2 panel.

Ready to experience the benefits of a faster, more efficient WordPress site? Simply choose one of our plans for instant access to TurboHub. It is included with our Managed WordPress, Managed VPS, Managed Dedicated, and Shared plans.

Don’t have an A2 plan? Get started with TurboHub today!

What’s Next for TurboHub?

A2 Hosting has always been committed to the fastest, most reliable website hosting solutions and the best tools available. And these TubroHub features are just the beginning.

Stay tuned for future updates that will speed up your website, keep it more secure, and simplify managing multiple sites at the same time. Here is a quick look at upcoming improvements on the TurboHub roadmap:

A2 Intelligent Performance (Coming July 2024)

Use advanced AI technology to automatically optimize your site’s performance. This upcoming feature monitors load times and other critical performance indicators to ensure your site is always performing at its best. This will help you make informed decisions to continuously improve your site’s speed and reliability.

A2 AI Assistant Inside WordPress

Improve your content with high-quality AI content from inside WordPress. Our exclusive TurboHub AI assistant for WordPress will help speed up creating and launching new sites. Acting as your co-pilot, it will write content, generate images,  and even design page layouts. Plus, it’s trained on WordPress help documentation, so it can answer common questions and help you learn more about the system.

Enhanced Staging

The enhanced staging feature streamlines developing, testing, and deploying website updates. This robust staging tool records changes to both staging and live sites for maximum compatibility. The 2-way sync ensures only the changes are pushed live without overwriting your data.

Get Started With TurboHub Today

TurboHub is the ultimate solution for managing multiple WordPress sites, especially for agencies and developers. With its robust features and seamless integration, TurboHub simplifies workflow, enhances site performance, and ensures site security. Get started with TurboHub today and experience the future of WordPress site management.

The post Simplifying WordPress Site Management for Agencies with TurboHub appeared first on The A2 Posting.

From improved server performance to advanced security protection, we have made significant updates to our dedicated hosting plans. Whether you’re a new customer who requires top-tier hosting or an existing client ready to upgrade, we have the latest and greatest in hosting technology for you.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting is a premium hosting solution where an entire server is allocated to a single client. It is ideal for businesses that need more horsepower, and require high levels of security, consistent uptime, and the ability to handle large volumes of traffic.

With dedicated hosting you get:

• Complete Control Over Your Exclusive Server
• High powered server
• Highest Level of Security and Protection
• Priority Support from our Guru Crew Support Team

Changes in our Dedicated Hosting Lineup

The hosting industry is always evolving, with new technological advancements constantly emerging. As a leader in the hosting space, A2 Hosting is committed to providing our customers with the best possible service. All of our dedicated hosting plans now include the latest and most powerful hardware available on the market.

By updating our dedicated hosting plans and their servers, we ensure that your websites and applications run smoother and faster than ever before. These hardware upgrades are designed to support the most resource-intensive tasks, providing you with a significant performance boost and the ability to handle even the most demanding workloads.

Improved Performance

The new dedicated servers will use new and improved hardware, including the latest high-speed RAM, high-performance SSD storage, and faster processor speeds.

• High-speed DDR5 RAM: Not all RAM is created equal. We have the latest and fastest in our servers. 
• High-performance NVMe storage: These drives offer the fastest access to your data.
• More powerful CPUs:  Our new CPUs have extremely high clock speed, which means every process runs faster – the MOST performant way to serve your website. Warp 1 and 2 plans utilize high-powered Ryzen 5 processors and Warp 3 uses the top-of-the-line EPYC processor.

New Dedicated Hosting Plans Offered

Enhanced Security Features

Server security is critical. We are enhancing our built-in security features with more frequent checks and new outgoing email scans to keep our customers safer.

• Daily Malware Scanning: Warp 2 and Warp 3 Plans will now include an upgraded feature for daily malware scanning instead of the weekly scanning originally included. Warp 1 will still include the weekly scanning option. 
• Outgoing Email Scanning: We have added outgoing email scanning to every dedicated plan. This will protect your server’s email sending reputation to ensure consistent and reliable delivery of emails.

TurboHub Availability

TurboHub, our new control panel for WordPress sites, is now offered on all new dedicated plans. TurboHub improves site performance and streamlines managing your WordPress sites.

TurboHub features include:

• Site Performance Optimizations
• Single-Click Multi-Site Management
• Site Health Monitoring
• Security Vulnerability Scanning

Phase out of Unmanaged Plans

At A2 Hosting, our goal is always the best customer experience possible. However, many customers found our unmanaged hosting plans frustrating. As such, we are phasing out our unmanaged dedicated server plans.

By focusing on managed servers, we can offer a hassle-free hosting experience with top-notch support and expert management. Managed Hosting plans give customers a worry-free experience with unparalleled performance and reliability.

This change only applies to plans moving forward. It does not impact existing customers with unmanaged dedicated hosting plans. If you want to move to a managed dedicated plan, contact your sales representative to learn about our hosting options.

Managed vs unmanaged servers explained

Turbo on All Plans

Previously only available on our highest-tier plans, all our Dedicated plans now include our high-speed Turbo Server technology! 

Turbo plans are built for speed and feature a superior software stack, upgraded server hardware, advanced caching software, optimized configurations, and a variety of performance add-ons combined to give you one of the fastest web hosting experiences out there. 

Get Started with A2’s All-New Dedicated Hosting Plans

Our dedicated hosting service at A2 Hosting has undergone a significant transformation to provide you with the highest level of performance, security, and convenience. With upgraded hardware, enhanced security features, and the inclusion of TurboHub along with the added Turbo Server technology across all plans, we are committed to delivering a superior hosting experience that meets the evolving needs of our customers.

The new plans are now live on our website. New customers can purchase by contacting our sales team through email, chat, or ticket support. Current customers can reach out to sales to see how they can upgrade their plan to the new servers.

Get started with dedicated hosting today and experience the A2 difference—faster, safer, and more reliable than ever before.

The post Exciting Updates to Our Dedicated Hosting Service appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Our Commitment to WordPress: We’re All In

“We grew up with WordPress,” said Bryan Muthig, CEO/Founder of A2 Hosting. “Everything we’re doing as a company is focused on WordPress, leveraging our 21 years of experience and expertise. From product development and support to hiring, training, and marketing, every aspect of our business is designed to enhance the WordPress experience.”

Those efforts are focused on our key customers, or customer partners: WordPress agencies and web professionals who build, launch, and maintain WordPress projects for their clients.

Introducing Our New Community Growth Team

We’re excited to announce the formation of our new Community Growth Team, a testament to our commitment to supporting our key customer partners. This team is led by veteran WordPress community leaders Cory Miller, as Chief Evangelist, and Katie Richards, as our Community Growth Project Manager.

“The closer we stay to our customers, the better it’s going to be for everyone. If our customers win, we win. It always starts with our customers — it always has and it always will,” said Bryan Muthig. “This team led by exceptional WordPress veterans, Cory and Katie, is another step in showing our deep commitment to WordPress and our customers.”

Cory Miller

Cory brings a wealth of experience and a passion for WordPress and WP businesses, since 2006. As a veteran entrepreneur, his leadership, vision, and values will drive our efforts to connect with and support our customer partners as well as tell their stories and ours.

“I’ve known Cory for a long time and seen what he’s accomplished in WordPress, first building some of the first commercial products for WordPress at iThemes, then growing community at Post Status, it’s always his passion for people, especially entrepreneurs and business owners, that resonates most with me,” said A2’s COO Paul Carter. “And as we were looking to expand our commitment in the WordPress community and specifically to WordPress agencies and web professionals, there was no one better to lead our efforts.”

Katie Richards

Katie Richards, our Community Growth Project Manager, has successfully overseen WordPress community initiatives and shown strong project management abilities across numerous projects and companies in the WordPress space. Her expertise in community engagement, organization, and leadership will be crucial in building strong, lasting relationships with our agency partners and web professionals.

“From her work at Post Status to her community efforts helping organize WordCamp Grand Rapids to WordPress US, I’ve seen Katie be an absolute force in the WordPress community. And I’m ecstatic to have her join us here at A2,” said Aaron Campbell, A2’s Director of Product and veteran WordPress contributor. “What resonates most to me is how she does her work. It’s human-focused and thus purposeful and impactful.”

The Work of Our A2 Community Growth Team: It’s About Our Agency Partners

Our Community Growth Team’s mission is simple yet impactful: Show up as your agency’s essential partner in your business and work.

Your success is our success.

This team will do that by focusing on three key areas:

• Connection — As your partner, champion and advocate, we will be building deeper, more supportive relationships with WordPress agencies and web professionals.
• Community — Building mutually beneficial experiences for our customer-partners, both online and in-person, through WordCamps and our own events.
• Content — Creating impactful WordPress agency content and resources to support our partners in their work as well as sharing our news and initiatives for them.

Moving Forward Together

Our new Community Growth Team is a significant step forward in our commitment to WordPress and our customer partners. We believe that by fostering connection, community, and content, we can create a supportive ecosystem that benefits everyone involved.

Thank you for being a part of the A2 Hosting family. Together, we can build a brighter future for WordPress and achieve great things.

Stay tuned for more updates and initiatives from our new A2 Community Growth Team. We look forward to working closely with you and supporting your success every step of the way.

The post Announcing A2 Hosting’s New Community Growth Team: Another Step Forward in Our WordPress Commitment appeared first on The A2 Posting.

As hosting experts, we’ve created this guide just for you. Join us as we explore email hosting options and discuss key factors for your business’s success. Let’s make the right choice together!

How email hosting facilitates operations for small businesses

Email hosting is a specialized hosting service that operates email servers, offering a premium alternative to the basic email services provided by free email providers like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Outlook.com. 

Unlike free or cheap email hosting for small businesses that are supported by advertising and offer limited customization, paid email hosting services are often used by businesses that require more control, customization, and professionalism in their email services.

For example, if you wanted to have a custom domain name like name@yourcompany.com rather than a generic one – for example, yourname@gmail.com, you need email hosting. 

The adoption of custom domain names through email hosting gives you a sense of professionalism and credibility in small business communications. This simple yet effective feature can improve your professional image, instilling trust in clients and partners. Other ways email hosting can improve small business operations include:

• Improved collaboration and communication: Improving teamwork and communication in small businesses is easier with email hosting, which consolidates all communication on one platform, promoting collaboration and preventing important messages from being missed. Email services might also include features that facilitate collaboration, such as A2’s shareable calendars or universal contact lists.
• Efficiency: An often-overlooked aspect is the efficiency gained through features like ample storage capacity. As your business grows, you’ll expect a larger influx of emails coming in from clients or partners, and you need a hosting solution that can deal with this influx effortlessly!
• Security: High-quality hosting services usually come with encryption, spam protection, and privacy policies, which help small businesses withstand potential security breaches. This added layer of security is essential for keeping sensitive business information safe and maintaining client trust.
• Reliability: Email hosting ensures high uptime, providing consistent access to communication tools. This reliability is important for maintaining client communication and protecting your business’ reputation.
• Automation and integration: Email hosts, equipped with automated features and integration capabilities, elevate productivity by streamlining workflows. For instance, small businesses can automate routine tasks such as automatic contact importing from other email services. Integration capabilities allow connection with other tools and platforms, such as project management software or customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enabling efficient data sharing and collaboration across various applications.

The difference between free and affordable email hosting

As a small business or new entrepreneur, any expense can be intimidating, and understandably, you may lean toward using free email hosting. However, free email services may not be the best decision for several reasons.

Free email services, commonly provided by giants like Google and Yahoo, initially lure businesses with an appealing price tag – or lack thereof! However, the apparent cost-saving advantages of free email services come with inherent limitations. 

While there’s no upfront cost, businesses compromise on data security and face potential risks associated with using generic domains. These limitations include very limited storage capacity, which can quickly become problematic, and the perception by many users that a business using a generic domain is suspicious.

On the other hand, choosing affordable, paid business email hosting presents many advantages tailored to small businesses. 

• The use of custom domains imparts a professional look, creating trust signals among clients and partners. 
• With substantially greater storage space, businesses can manage larger volumes of emails efficiently, which is a must with large email marketing campaigns. 
• Advanced security features, including encryption and robust spam filters, fortify the business against cyber threats. 

Small businesses also benefit from business-specific features like calendar sharing and resource scheduling, which boost overall productivity. Plus, having dedicated customer support ensures quick problem-solving, giving small businesses a reliable lifeline!

Free email hosting may seem appealing, but small businesses should opt for affordable, paid options. Investing in these options brings benefits such as a more professional image, improved security, and a range of features that make business operations more efficient.

Understanding types of email hosting

Shared email hosting

A2 Hosting is an example of a web hosting provider that offers shared email hosting. This service allows businesses to share server resources with other users, reducing expenses. 

The main benefit of this is its simplicity, as the service provider takes care of setup, maintenance, and server management. By choosing shared email hosting, your business can benefit from secure and cost-effective email hosting with high uptime without worrying about technical maintenance as you would with self-hosting!

Third-party email hosting

Third-party email hosting involves outsourcing services to specialized providers like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. These services extend beyond basic email features, offering organizational tools and managing server-related aspects. While providing a suite of services, third-party hosting can become cost-prohibitive for smaller businesses. 

It is also worth mentioning that these providers may implement price hikes, as seen in Google Workspace’s 20% increase in February 2024, including for existing customers. The advantages include advanced features and tools, but businesses must carefully weigh the costs associated with these expansive services.

Self-hosted email hosting

Self-hosted email hosting is when a business manages its own email servers. This model offers a high degree of control and customization, along with potential long-term cost savings. 

However, it’s an option that requires expert technical knowledge, dedicated maintenance resources, and a strong commitment to security and uptime. While self-hosting provides complete control, businesses need to assess whether they are actually capable of taking on this.

Email hosting features to supercharge your business

You’ve likely been using email for your business for a while now. Perhaps you’ve found yourself using your personal account for work or dealing with reliability issues from your current provider. But don’t worry – there’s a better way forward with A2 Hosting. With us, you can have features like:

Custom domains for brand authenticity

Using personal email addresses for business purposes or relying on free email services with generic domains can compromise the professional image of your brand. The implementation of a custom domain not only imparts a sense of professionalism but also boosts brand integrity, fostering trust and recognition among customers!

Along with aesthetic enhancements, custom domains play an important role in improving email deliverability, diminishing the likelihood of messages being diverted to spam folders – particularly amidst high email volumes. A2 Hosting amplifies this advantage by offering the capacity to dispatch up to 1000 emails daily, ensuring reliable delivery!

Added security

Protecting your business from cyber threats is essential. With the rise of phishing attempts, malware attachments, and unauthorized access, the risks are huge. Protecting your business against potential breaches is a necessity.

Imagine the consequences of a data breach: sensitive customer information compromised, financial loss, and damage to your reputation. As a small business owner, the implications can be particularly dire. That’s why investing in efficient email security measures is essential to fortify your defenses and keep your business safe!

A reliable email host should offer high-quality security features such as data encryption, malware scanners, and effective spam filters.

Increased inbox storage

Free email services often come with limitations on storage, risking important emails not getting through. A2 Hosting offers up to 30GB per account, ensuring ample space for your communication needs.

Along with this, A2 Hosting protects your emails by keeping copies across multiple availability zones, providing peace of mind for compliance with record-keeping requirements.

High number of email accounts

Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or leading a growing team, having dedicated email addresses for different functions is essential. A2 Hosting allows you to set up unlimited email addresses, ensuring scalability as your business expands.

Uptime reliability

Businesses cannot afford interruptions in email communication. A2 Hosting guarantees email uptime by implementing n+3 redundancy on each component and service across multiple data centers, providing a strong infrastructure for uninterrupted operations.

Support

Email is the lifeblood of business communication, making reliable support crucial. A2 Hosting’s Guru Crew support operates 24/7, 365 days a year, ensuring assistance whenever you need it!

SSL, POP3, and IMAP support

Benefit from a secure and versatile email experience with A2 Hosting’s advanced features. Our implementation of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) ensures that your data transfers remain encrypted, providing a secure environment for your communications. The support for both POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) enhances the flexibility of accessing your emails from various devices.

Here’s how it works: POP3 allows you to download your emails to a single device, providing offline access, while IMAP synchronizes your emails across multiple devices, keeping them updated in real time. 

This means that whether you’re at your desk, on the go with your smartphone, or using a tablet, your email experience remains seamless and consistent. A2 Hosting’s email hosting is designed to adapt to your dynamic needs, ensuring that you can access your emails effortlessly from any device at any time.

Calendar functionality

To improve productivity, A2 Hosting’s email calendar is a great feature for scheduling and planning. It serves as a personal organizer and a collaborative tool that can be shared with team members. Oh, and it is compatible with popular email platforms! 

Configurable mobile and desktop apps

The ability to check emails on the go is essential, which is why A2 Hosting provides configurable mobile and desktop apps that allow remote workers and traveling professionals to manage emails efficiently.

Comparing the top email hosting providers for small businesses

Choosing the right email hosting provider is an important decision for small businesses, influencing communication efficiency, security, and overall operational success. But which should you choose? Let’s take a look.

A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting is an excellent option for small businesses looking for affordable and feature-packed email hosting. Powered by leading email service Titan, A2 Hosting’s email service offers strong features and excellent server power and support. These features include:

• Custom domain name: Show your professionalism with a personalized domain that reflects your brand identity.
• 99.9% uptime guarantee: Count on A2 Hosting’s reliable servers to keep your emails accessible around the clock, ensuring uninterrupted communication with your clients and team members.
• Multi-account access: Say goodbye to the hassle of juggling multiple email accounts. With A2 Hosting, managing all your email accounts is easy! This will modernize your workflow and boost productivity.
• Configurable webmail and mobile app: Whether you’re at your desk or on the move, you can access your emails from anywhere. With configurable webmail and a user-friendly mobile app, staying connected has never been easier.
• Email migration with IMAP support: Transition to A2 Hosting without losing your precious emails. Our IMAP support ensures that your emails, contacts, and folders are migrated so you can hit the ground running with minimal disruption.
• Shareable contacts: Adopt collaboration and update communication with shareable contact lists. With A2 Hosting, your team can easily access and update contact information, ensuring everyone stays on the same page.
• Undo and fix emails: Have you ever hit send and immediately regretted it? With A2 Hosting, you have the power to undo and fix sent emails, giving you greater control over your communication.
• 24/7 Guru Crew support: Need a hand? Our dedicated Guru Crew is here for you 24/7, ready to assist with any email-related issues or queries you may have, ensuring peace of mind and uninterrupted productivity.
• High inbox storage: Never worry about running out of space again. With generous inbox storage capacity, you can store all your essential emails without constraints, keeping your inbox organized and clutter-free.
• Calendar integration: Stay on top of your schedule with integrated calendar features. With A2 Hosting, you can manage appointments, meetings, and deadlines, ensuring you never miss a thing!
• Support for SSL, POP3, and IMAP: A2 Hosting supports SSL encryption, POP3, and IMAP protocols, ensuring flexible and secure email access and protecting sensitive information.
• Filtering: With A2 Hosting, you can easily manage and prioritize incoming emails, ensuring that you stay focused on what matters most.

Google Workspace

Google Workspace homepage

Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, provides email hosting and offers a variety of collaborative tools like Google Docs, Sheets, and Meet. It’s a go-to choice for many businesses, big and small. But here’s the catch: while Google Workspace offers fantastic features, it comes at a cost.

So, let’s break it down. Google Workspace isn’t a free service; it’s a paid subscription that grants access to various tools and services. With your subscription, you get professional email hosting through Gmail, along with an array of productivity tools to update your workflow.

Google Workspace could be tempting to small businesses, but as we’ve mentioned, it has a history of implementing price hikes. This could result in small businesses needing to raise their email budget regularly, which is not ideal.

Rackspace

Rackspace homepage

Rackspace is known for its scalable hosting, tailored to meet the needs of all businesses. It also provides reliable email hosting.

Rackspace’s email hosting service typically includes features such as customizable email addresses, spam and virus protection, and ample storage space. It also often provides advanced security measures and round-the-clock support to ensure uninterrupted email communication for its clients.

For smaller businesses or those with more modest email hosting needs, Rackspace’s cost factor and comprehensive feature set may be less appealing than other options tailored specifically to their requirements. Therefore, it’s important to carefully evaluate your business’s needs and budget before choosing Rackspace or any other email hosting provider.

Neo

Neo homepage

Neo prioritizes simple email services, making it an ideal choice for small businesses looking for hassle-free email hosting solutions. Its user-friendly interface ensures ease of use, allowing businesses to manage their email accounts efficiently.

However, while Neo is great at simplicity, it may lack some of the more advanced features offered by its competitors. For instance, compared to other providers, Neo may not offer as robust integration options with third-party applications or advanced security features like encryption for sensitive emails. Businesses requiring complex email automation or extensive customization capabilities might find Neo’s feature set somewhat limited.

Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail homepage

Zoho Mail integrates email hosting with a suite of powerful collaboration tools, making it a compelling choice for businesses looking for comprehensive solutions. Beyond just email, Zoho Mail offers a range of collaborative features designed to enhance productivity and streamline communication.

Among these tools are Zoho Docs, which provides document creation, editing, and sharing capabilities similar to Google Docs. Zoho Mail also includes Zoho Calendar for scheduling and organizing events, as well as Zoho Meeting for conducting virtual meetings and webinars. What makes Zoho Mail truly comprehensive is its ability to centralize essential business functions within a single platform. With integrated email, document management, scheduling, and meeting capabilities, Zoho Mail lets businesses collaborate more efficiently and effectively.

However, like Google Workspace, the pricing structure of Zoho Mail may present challenges for smaller budgets – despite them having a free trial. While it offers a lot of features, businesses with limited financial resources may find it difficult to justify the cost compared to more budget-friendly alternatives. 

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 homepage

Microsoft 365, a household name, provides much more than just email hosting. With a suite of applications, it’s a go-to choice for businesses deeply integrated into Microsoft’s ecosystem.

At the core of Microsoft 365 is its email hosting service, powered by Outlook. Beyond email, businesses benefit from a wide range of productivity tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams, facilitating collaboration and productivity across teams and departments.

What sets Microsoft 365 apart is its integration with other Microsoft services and applications, creating a unified and cohesive work environment. From document editing and sharing to video conferencing and project management, Microsoft 365 offers a complete solution for businesses looking to streamline their operations.

However, while Microsoft 365 is undeniably powerful, its pricing may pose challenges for smaller enterprises with tighter budgets. Microsoft also works very closely with its own systems, so if you aren’t familiar with them, this may be a learning curve for you.

Upgrade your business email hosting with A2 Hosting

Upgrade your business communication by using professional email hosting for small businesses. Trust us, it’s a game-changer you won’t regret spending some of your budget on.

With A2 Hosting, you’ll have access to a wide array of features, fail-safe reliability, and 24/7 support, all at an affordable rate that won’t break the bank –if you ask us, it’s a no-brainer.

See, it’s not just about emails anymore; it’s about unlocking your business’s full potential through communication. And with A2 Hosting, you’re getting a partner to help you along the way. Upgrade to A2 Hosting’s email hosting service now to make the right decision for your business!

The post Unlocking the Power of Effective Business Email Hosting for 2024 appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Our Legacy of Speed and Performance

At A2 Hosting, we have built a strong reputation in the web hosting industry as leaders in speed and performance. Our commitment to providing the fastest, most reliable hosting solutions has always been our top priority. And that is why we developed TurboHub. It not only helps speed up site performance, but it also streamlines managing your WordPress sites.

What is TurboHub?

TurboHub is our state-of-the-art WordPress control panel that makes WordPress sites faster than ever! It’s an essential tool that allows individual site owners to improve performance, site health, and security. And the multi-site dashboard simplifies the workflow for agencies and developers. From a single control panel, you can monitor and maintain all of your sites, creating a seamless and more efficient WordPress experience.

Features of TurboHub

Site Performance Optimizations

TurboHub’s comprehensive metrics help you gain in-depth insights into your site’s performance. It highlights top recommendations and allows for one-click changes to boost performance.

Single-Click Multi-Site Management

Managing multiple WordPress sites has never been easier. With TurboHub, you can see all your sites from a single location, making updates and performance checks a breeze. This is particularly valuable for agencies and developers handling numerous client sites.

Site Health Monitoring

Keep your websites in peak condition with our site health monitoring tool! This is perfect for agencies and site owners with multiple websites and gives you an at-a-glance view of a site’s status to help you maintain smooth and secure operations effortlessly. Monitoring and maintaining multiple sites has never been easier!

Security Vulnerability

Through our partnership with Patchstack, we also alert you to high-priority plugin vulnerabilities so your site is never at risk. With the ability to see site risk at a glance, it helps you keep everything running smoothly and securely.

Other features to enhance your WordPress experience:

• Quick access to all of your WordPress sites.
• Grant access to users managing your account or request access to sites you manage for others.
• Automate plugin updates for each site.
• Site notes to enable easy communication between team members or companies.
• Quick access to databases, files, and email.
• Status information that lets you know your sites are online and running, including SSL, domain, and nameserver status.
• Ability to hide sites from search engines while under construction.
• Ability to place sites in maintenance mode during edits.

How Do I Get TurboHub?

TurboHub is now available free for all WordPress sites on our Managed WordPress, Managed VPS, and Shared plans. By choosing one of our plans, you instantly gain access to TurboHub and can start experiencing the benefits of a faster, more efficient WordPress site. TurboHub can be conveniently accessed through your MyA2 panel.

Don’t have an A2 plan, take advantage of our low prices and get started with TurboHub today!

Stay Tuned for More

TurboHub is constantly growing and evolving. We have an exciting roadmap ahead of us with many new features and improvements planned! At A2 we are dedicated to providing our users with the best tools available, and we encourage you to stay tuned for future updates on how TurboHub can help speed up and secure your website.

What’s Next for TurboHub?

A few items on our TurboHub roadmap that will help us achieve our goal of providing WordPress professionals with fast setup, fast websites, and fast support:

• A2 Intelligent Performance – Leverages advanced AI technology to automatically optimize your site’s performance. Easily monitor load times, uptime, and other critical performance indicators to ensure your site is always performing at its best. This will help you make informed decisions to continuously improve your site’s speed and reliability.
• A2 AI assistant inside WordPress – Helps you write content, generate images, and answer common WordPress questions.
• Enhanced Staging – Records changes to staging or live sites and lets them be pushed live or pulled back to staging.

Get started with an A2 Hosting plan today and get access to this new amazing tool and enhance your WordPress experience!

The post Introducing TurboHub – Transform Your WordPress Experience appeared first on The A2 Posting.

So, you’re eager to start offering reseller hosting services to your clients, but you’re caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, you want to minimize your expenses, but on the other hand, you really don’t want to compromise on quality. 

The good news is that high-quality, affordable reseller web hosting is well within your reach. In this guide, we’ll show you how to spot the signs of the best reseller hosting options so you can make an informed decision that aligns with your clients’ needs and your financial goals. 

Plus, we’ll highlight some of the key benefits of A2’s reseller hosting packages to help you manage and run your hosting company hassle-free. Let’s dive in! 

Exploring the Benefits of Affordable Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting is more than just a great tool for diversifying your income – it can also serve as a profitable business model for freelancers and web design agencies. 

If you’re a web designer or developer who doesn’t offer reseller hosting, you might encounter a situation where a client has paid for hosting but needs you to build the site from scratch. Alternatively, you might recommend a host to a client but have no involvement in its operations, leaving the client to manage any technical issues with the hosting provider. 

However, by offering hosting alongside your web development and design services, you provide several benefits. Clients won’t need to search for a hosting provider, saving them time and hassle. You can also ensure a high-quality infrastructure for their website, and you’ll be the go-to person for both design and hosting queries. 

If you’re planning to start your own hosting company, reseller hosting can be a cost-effective entry point to entrepreneurship. While you will be the point of contact between the client and hosting provider if technical issues arise, the hosting provider can take care of technical aspects, such as server maintenance and cloud configurations, for you. 

With a white-label hosting service like A2, you gain access to a robust infrastructure, complete with an intuitive user interface, email services powered by Titan, pre-installed WordPress for quick deployments, and 24/7 in-house technical support. All of these features are ideal for building a hosting solution that’s perfectly tailored to your clients’ needs. 

A2 Hosting homepage

Does High-Quality, Affordable Reseller Web Hosting Exist?

It’s a common misconception that if reseller hosting is cheap, it must be subpar or low-quality. In reality, high-quality reseller web hosting that is affordable exists. You need to stick to high-quality hosting for your clients because if you build a website for them and they have a poor hosting experience, they’ll leave. 

With reseller hosting, your goal is to find the sweet spot where profit meets performance. This balance is crucial because you can offer your clients a valuable service that ensures their website is fast and secure and maintains high uptime. 

In most cases, you can deliver a high-quality hosting experience unless your clients have very specific needs. Take, for example, an online store that’s gearing up for Black Friday. It’ll likely experience a spike in traffic and may require higher-tier hosting. However, while some clients might need the high-end specs of a premium hosting solution, most will be satisfied with affordable hosting plans that are well-equipped with essential features. 

Now, let’s talk about how reseller web hosting providers manage to offer high-quality hosting packages at affordable prices. 

Understanding what you’re paying for is key. Typically, reseller packages operate on shared hosting plans, where your clients share servers and resources with other users. But this doesn’t mean the hosting is low-quality; it’s just a smart way for companies to reduce costs since resources are shared. 

If you opt for VPS reseller hosting, which comes with dedicated resources, you can expect to pay premium prices because it’s well-suited for sites that receive high traffic volumes. 

As Aaron Campbell, Director of Product at A2 Hosting says, “When considering the choice between VPS reseller packages and shared hosting, resellers should primarily evaluate their clients’ needs for scalability, control, and resource allocation. VPS reseller hosting is particularly advantageous for those who anticipate a need for increased resource control, enhanced security, and scalability to accommodate growing traffic or more demanding applications. This option allows resellers to provide a more tailored and robust hosting environment, which is crucial for clients with specific performance and security requirements. On the other hand, shared hosting is more suitable for resellers whose clients have smaller, less resource-intensive websites and are looking for a cost-effective solution. Ultimately, the decision should align with the business goals, technical requirements, and budget constraints of the reseller’s client base.”

What to Look for in Solid but Affordable Reseller Hosting

Finding the right balance between cost and quality is undoubtedly key, but here are some must-have features you’ll want to look for in a reseller hosting package:  

WHM and cPanel

The WebHost Manager (WHM) is essential for efficiently managing multiple cPanel accounts. With WHM, resellers can create, modify, and administer individual hosting accounts, ensuring optimal resource allocation and robust security measures. 

Meanwhile, cPanel provides an intuitive interface for end-users, simplifying tasks such as setting up email accounts, managing domains, and installing essential applications like WordPress. For resellers, this means fewer support calls and more time focusing on business growth.

WHMCS and Blesta

Billing and support automation tools like Web Host Manager Complete Solution (WHMCS) and Blesta play a crucial role in helping you manage your reseller hosting business efficiently. 

These platforms automate billing processes, from invoicing to payment tracking, allowing you to manage subscriptions without any hassles. They also offer robust support systems and automate ticketing and customer communication to improve client assistance. 

eNom Domain Reseller Account

Want to offer domains alongside your hosting services? An eNom Domain Reseller Account is your best bet. It lets you buy domain names at discounted rates and sell them to your clients, which can be a great way to boost revenue. 

Ample Client Accounts

A robust reseller package should ideally offer ample client accounts. This will allow you to cater to different markets and offer customized hosting solutions to your clients. With enough client accounts, you’ll have the flexibility to seize growth opportunities and stand out in a competitive market. 

A2 Hosting’s Affordable Reseller Hosting Plans

A2 Hosting reseller hosting page 

As hosting experts, we get how important it is to find the best reseller hosting provider. If you’ve ever held yourself back from starting your own hosting business due to high costs, lack of scalability, low uptime guarantees, or unsatisfactory customer support, you can trust us when we say that we’ve got you covered on all counts.

Let’s dive right into the standout features of our plans so you can see for yourself.

Kickstart Vs. Launch Vs. Grow Vs. Scale

At A2, we offer four reseller hosting plans: Kickstart, Launch, Grow, and Scale. Each plan comes with its own set of perks, including free Blesta or WHMCS, free SSL certificates, cPanel/WHM access, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and 24/7/365 in-house Guru Crew support. Here’s how they stack up: 

Choosing the Right Reseller Hosting Plan

The plan you choose can make or break your reseller hosting experience. You have to find one that suits your budget, aligns with your business goals, meets your clients’ needs, and sets you up for long-term success. Let’s break it down to make your decision easier.

If you’re a smaller agency or startup, sticking to your budget might be your biggest concern. In this case, our Kickstart plan could be the perfect fit, as it offers a balanced combination of storage and transfer limits at an affordable price. 

On the other hand, if you’re a growing agency or have a larger client base, you might find that our advanced plans, like Launch, Grow, or Scale, are better for your needs. These plans come with additional storage, high transfer limits, and value-added features like a free WHMCS license. 

A2’s Reseller Turbo Plans: Unparalleled Performance at a Reasonable Cost

A2 Hosting Turbo web hosting page

If speed and superior performance are your top priorities, you’ll love our Turbo Reseller Hosting plans. These plans offer the same reseller hosting options but with a turbocharged boost, thanks to our LiteSpeed web server, which provides lightning-fast page load performance. 

Significantly better website speed means better SEO rankings, lower bounce rates, and higher conversion rates. Despite its advanced features and benefits, our Turbo plans remain cost-effective, so you can get exceptional performance without breaking the bank. 

When to Opt for Turbo Reseller Hosting

Turbo is the way to go if your clients have intense performance requirements. For example, high-traffic websites can benefit immensely from Turbo’s speed enhancements. Additionally, clients who want to improve their SEO rankings and user interaction metrics may also find our Turbo Reseller Hosting plans highly valuable. 

Before making the switch, consider your current or prospective client base to see if they would significantly benefit from Turbo plans’ enriched performance. Look for signs such as high traffic volumes, slow website loading times, or SEO performance gaps. 

 A2’s VPS Reseller Hosting: When Your Clients Need More Resources

When your clients’ needs extend beyond shared resources, it’s time to consider A2 Hosting’s VPS Reseller Hosting. Unlike traditional reseller hosting, where resources are shared among many users, VPS Reseller Hosting gives each client dedicated resources, including CPU, RAM, and storage. This ensures consistent performance and avoids any downtime that could be caused by resource sharing. 

Although VPS Hosting costs more than shared hosting, the higher price tag can be worth it for clients with websites that require enhanced performance, reliability, and guaranteed uptimes. The extra cost is a reflection of the improved infrastructure and resources each client gets, giving them a stronger hosting solution.

Plus, A2’s VPS plans include Turbo features, making websites even faster. With Turbo-enabled VPS hosting, clients get speedier websites, which means happier visitors and better search engine rankings.

 Why A2’s Reseller Hosting Offers the Most Value

We’re serious about offering blazing-fast speed, affordability, ironclad security, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7/365 in-house technical support, and a comprehensive suite of additional features. Just take a look at how we compare against other reseller hosting providers: 

Start Your Reseller Journey With A2 Hosting Today

Providing high-quality reseller hosting services to your clients doesn’t require a hefty investment. Affordable reseller web hosting is not only possible but it’s also packed with all the essential qualities and features your clients deserve. 

A common misconception is that lower prices mean compromising on quality. But our plans are proof that you can blend competitive pricing with premium features and exceptional performance. 

With A2 Hosting, you can access a wide range of hosting plans tailored to various needs. This includes shared and VPS options, both of which are enhanced with Turbo capabilities to deliver super-fast site speeds. Get started with A2’s reseller hosting now to start making money as a reseller!  

The post Affordable Reseller Web Hosting appeared first on The A2 Posting.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of building a WordPress site in three easy steps, so you can share your ideas with the world.

Step 1: Choose a Hosting Plan and Domain Name

The foundation of any successful website is a reliable hosting plan and a memorable domain name. Here’s how to get started:

Selecting a Hosting Plan:

Research Hosting Providers: There are numerous hosting providers available, each offering different plans with various features. All hosting providers are not the same so make sure to do your research to find the best fit for you. Hosting companies should be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Speed and performance
• Ability and track record to keep your site secure.
• Scalability to grow with you as needed
• Cost effective

WordPress is the most extensible and widely used platform on the web, so it’s important to choose a hosting partner for your WordPress site that knows what they’re doing. Both A2 Hosting and WordPress were established 20 years ago and from our inception, our focus has remained the same: providing our customers with the ultimate hosting experience. Renowned for our speed and reliability, we offer plans to fit various budgets and the flexibility to scale as your website grows. By choosing A2 Hosting, you ensure you have reliable and fast hosting to set your website up for success. Don’t just take our word for it– check out what other customers have said on TrustPilot and see why our customers choose us!

Choose a Plan: Hosting plans typically come in different tiers, catering to various levels of website traffic and requirements. If you’re just starting, a shared hosting plan is usually sufficient. As your website grows, you can upgrade to more robust options.

At A2 Hosting, we have plans for all different levels and budgets: from shared, to VPS, to Dedicated Servers. For super easy setup, choose Managed WordPress hosting. These plans are geared towards WordPress users and offer fast and easy setup for WordPress sites.

Register a Domain Name:

• Brainstorm Domain Names: Your domain name is your online identity – make sure to choose one that reflects your website. The best domain names are memorable and would be relevant to your website content.
• Check Domain Availability: Use a domain search tool to ensure that your desired domain name is available. If your first choice is taken, get creative with variations or consider using different domain extensions (.com, .net, .org, etc.).
• Complete the Registration: Once you’ve found an available domain name, complete the registration process.

By the end of this step, you’ll have secured a hosting plan and a unique domain name which will lay the groundwork for building your WordPress site.

Step 2: Building Your WordPress Website

Install WordPress and Create Site:

Before you start building your site you will first need to install WordPress. If you have selected a plan like our Managed WordPress hosting plan, the installation is done for you. Otherwise follow the instructions here to get started.

In addition to installing WordPress, If you want to take the hassle out of setting up a new site, all our managed plans come with a quick site launcher preinstalled. It will guide you through building and launching your site and allow you to get started in minutes! Choose the type of site you want to build, its goals, your design preferences and the pages you want to build. You can even choose from thousands of responsive WordPress templates right in the launcher.

Choosing a Theme: 

Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to the ‘Appearance’ tab and select ‘Themes’ Here, you can browse through a variety of free and premium themes. Make sure to choose a theme that aligns with the purpose, style, and functionality of your website. Once you’ve found the perfect theme, click the “Install” button, followed by the “Activate” button. Your website will now have a new look based on the selected theme.

Select and Install WordPress Plugins:

WordPress plugins are like apps for your website and can add extra features and functionality to your site. To explore the plugin library, navigate to “Plugins” in the dashboard and click “Add New”.  You can also use the search bar to find specific plugins you want to install and activate.

Whether you want to enhance SEO, add a contact form, or integrate social media, there’s likely a plugin for it. Here are some of our favorites:

• Forms – Ninja Forms, Gravity Forms
• SEO – RankMath, All in One
• Page Builder – BeaverBuilder, Guten, Elementor

Once you find the plugins you want to use, you will want to make sure you look over the customization settings as most plugins come with options that allow you to tailor your site and optimize performance.

Step 3: Set Your Website Up for Success!

Elevate your WordPress site with these proactive measures for a seamlessly optimized and secure website. Here are some things to look at and adjust to ensure your WordPress site is operating at its best:

• Performance: Make sure to utilize things like page caching and image optimization, as well as Minify CSS,HTML & Javascript. Optimizing your site is important and will greatly improve your site performance, create the best user experience, and will help improve your search engine rankings.
• Regular Updates: It is important to keep your WordPress core, themes, and plugins up to date. This helps secure your website if you have the latest security patches. This also ensures that you have all new features available.
• Regular Backups: Set up automatic backups of your site for peace of mind.
• Utilize TurboHub: We have created a WordPress Dashboard for our WordPress users. This makes it easier for people to make many of the optimizations above as easy as a click! It’s now offered on all shared and managed WordPress plans.

Congratulations! You now have a WordPress site!

In conclusion, opting for our managed WordPress hosting provides a seamless and efficient solution for website owners. By auto-installing WordPress, the initial setup becomes a breeze and by utilizing TurboHub, it simplifies the process of implementing crucial optimizations for your WordPress site.

Get started today with managed WordPress hosting!

By following these easy steps, you’ve successfully built a WordPress site from the ground up! As you navigate your WordPress site, experiment with different themes, plugins, and customization options to make your site truly unique. Happy WordPressing! 

The post Build a WordPress Site in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Deciding between Shared Hosting and VPS, Turbo or Standard, Unmanaged or Managed… What is the right choice for you? The answer (as it always is) depends on your situation.

The first step in making this decision is to understand the differences between Shared and VPS.

The Differences Between Shared and VPS Hosting

Imagine you are living in an apartment building. Your building has 10 apartments total. Think of Shared Hosting like this apartment except that the size of each unit changes based on the needs of each tenant. For example, if Dale in Apartment 3B decides on Saturday night to have 50 of his closest friends over for a party his apartment will automatically grow from 800sq feet to 2000sq ft during the time of the party. Similarly if Beth in Apartment 4B throws an equal sized party at the same time, you may find yourself and all your possessions squeezed into a room the size of a hall closet. Turn on the faucet for a glass of water?… Sorry Beth and Dale are using all that too. Want to turn on a light to read?… Sorry about the blinking, Dale bought a disco light.

You may be thinking, why would I ever want my hosting to be in a situation like that? One of the key features of A2’s Shared Hosting is that we limit the number of people who you can share your server with. This reduces the chances of a resource draining scenario like this from happening to your site. Plus, Shared Hosting also limits how much of the resources can be used by any one individual. If your neighbors have extra space to hold parties and everyone is happy with their portion of the resources available, then you would most likely never have a problem.

But even in the best situations when everyone gets along, there is always a chance that one of your neighbors may need to take more and it could affect your website if you are also in a peak period at the same time. This is why Shared Hosting is the most inexpensive hosting option and for many is a perfect, low cost solution for their website.

Using the same analogy, VPS (or Virtual Private Server) is also like an apartment The difference? While you are still sharing the server hardware with other people, all of the specifications of the portion you are alloted are fixed. If you have an 800sq feet apartment, it is always there and doesn’t change… the walls never move. It’s dedicated to you and you alone. You have increased security, guaranteed and fixed resource allocation, and you know that won’t change.

It all Depends on What Type of Website You Are Running

If you are running a website to show off your photography, a collection, or maybe even selling some items on the side, Shared Hosting is probably just fine for you. This type of hosting is made for the individual, the blogger, and the simple website. It allows those who want to have a cost-effective presence online to have one! Most Shared Hosting users use WordPress and A2 has a one click option to install it when you set up your account. To keep the apartment analogy going even further, with the options available it’s like choosing what you want to furnish it with at the time as signing the lease.

But if your website is a mission-critical or key component of your business then Shared Hosting is most likely not the best option for you. Why? Because using a more dedicated environment increases stability, performs better (generally speaking), and it is more secure and not affected by the noisy neighbor. These are all things you want to have when hosting a website that includes handling credit card transactions, sales leads, etc. Now this is not to say that Shared Hosting is not secure, stable, or performant. In fact, I’d put A2’s Shared Hosting toe-to-toe against any other hosting provider in any of these areas and we would compete. It is just that there is more control and more options with a VPS hosting plan than with Shared.

In addition, while a Shared Hosting plan may “give you” enough resources to run your site, if the site begins experiencing a spike the resources may, in reality, not be available… because your neighbor may be using them.

Our VPS partner, Virtuozzo, recommends that you ask yourself these questions when trying to decide which is right for you…

• Is the website a core part of your business?
• Is your website performing as well as you would like?
• Do you sell products or services online?
• Do you drive traffic to your website through paid advertisements, social media or through other means?
• Are search engine rankings important to you?

If the answer is yes to any of these items, then VPS Hosting is most likely a better option…. BUT, there’s a caveat to this you should think about…

Do You Have the Technical Chops for VPS?

Shared Hosting is designed to be simple. With each step of the journey A2 tries to make it as easy as possible. This means that you will have a graphic interface (or GUI) throughout the process. Whether it’s cPanel or the WordPress Admin, most of the interactions you will have with a Shared plan will be by clicking on stuff on a screen to make things happen.

VPS, on the other hand, requires a bit more technical knowledge. Because a virtual machine can use a number of different operating systems and underlying software, it does not come with a cPanel (although it is available as an add-on). This means that the initial interactions with the server (to set up any operating systems, tools, or applications) will be done through a Command Line Interface (or CLI). Using a CLI requires specialized knowledge and training and is usually only something a SysAdmin, Server Admin, or Developer would most likely undertake.

To use our apartment analogy one more time, while you have a nice 800sq foot apartment with the water and electric allotment you need there really aren’t any doors… that is except the secret one that only the technical folks know how to use.

This is Where Managed Comes In

So, what if you are a cake-and-eat-it-too kind of person? You want to have the security, performance and stability of VPS but you don’t have the technical skill set required to set everything up or maintain it. For this A2 offers Managed VPS hosting plans. These plans offer you all the benefits of an unmanaged plan with additional support to help you get things setup and keep those things up-to-date.

Managed VPS plans also come with a cPanel license giving back the GUI interface to make things easier on you from a technical perspective.

With the additional help from the A2 Guru Team, Managed VPS is a great option if you don’t have or don’t want to have to hire someone with those extra technical skills required to make it successful.

Comparing VPS vs Shared Hosting

Whether to choose Shared or VPS for your hosting is largely based on your situation and use case. Here are some of the pros and cons to consider to help you choose the one that’s best for you.

Shared is Fine, But I Want More Performance

So if you start down this path and find yourself realizing that Shared Hosting is just fine for what you are doing,
but you still want to have increased experience for your users, A2 offers Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans. These shared environments offer better hard drives (NVMe which are 3X faster than standard SSD), improved processors, and built-in caching. They also offer LightSpeed, which is a software application designed to improve the performance of the server you are on by up to 11X.

One thing to remember, however, is that it might not be the server that is making your website run slowly. To get best performance you should remember to optimize your site. You could have very large images that are taking time for your site to load. If you are using WordPress there are several plugins that can help with image compression and caching that can improve the speed and performance of your website. It would be a good idea to look at these options and see how that helps before making the move to a faster hosting plan.

If that sounds daunting, For WordPress users we offer Managed WordPress hosting plans that give you extra help and support while on a Shared Plan.

VPS Hosting may seem a little daunting for the non-technical user, but if you are running a website that is key to the success of your business or necessary to provide income, Managed VPS Hosting is the right choice.

A Note From the CEO

In late 2020, A2 Hosting launched a series of new VPS hosting products.These new VPS offerings took us to the next level when it came to performance, stability and security.

A2 made the strategic decision to partner with Virtuozzo, a market-leading provider of container virtualization. Utilizing their modern software and it’s included toolset, we are now able to offer our products state-of-the- art virtual environments.

Once we implemented the new solution, performance on the new servers increased by more than 40%, furthering our brand promise of Our Speed, Your Success. We are committed to providing the fastest, most stable hosting experience because, as the world moves faster, search engine algorithms seem to change on a weekly basis and visitor attention spans continue to shorten. This all impacts metrics like cart abandonment and bounce rate. The last thing our customers want to worry about is their web hosting. Our customers rely on us to provide hosting speeds that give them the edge for better rankings, better conversion rates and better bounce rates, which we deliver consistently.”

We promise to continue to improve the performance of our VPS offerings.
– Bryan Muthig, CEO

A Word from Our Partner

As a shared hosting customer, when do you know you should switch to a different type of hosting?

In my case, I switched when it became painfully obvious. I am not a technical web developer, but I have experienced a lot as a nascent, hobbyist, and small business owner over a 20-year period. During this time, I have volunteered to build numerous websites, one of which was for a new charitable foundation. It was ( I thought) the best I had ever built. My excitement was quickly diminished when I went to demo the website and it just sat there, failing to load.

While the person I built the website for was ecstatic. For me, I was disappointed as I spent more time trying to “fix” the website and the issues related to the speed than it took me to build the website itself.

With years of experience as a business user and many of those years working within the hosting industry, I still find myself reluctant to spend what I fear as hours working on migrating my entire hosting account or just a website to something that will perform better.

A2 Hosting gives a good recommendation; right from the start on the front page of their website, Shared Hosting is a “great solution for a blog or a personal website.”

That is what shared hosting is best for. Even with a blog, if you are expecting higher traffic and to monetize the website, you should think of it as a business website. If your website is for a business, you need a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or higher. If you are not a technical user, you need a Managed plan.

Whether or not you made the decision recently or many years ago, if you are like me, when is it time to make the move to a better hosting solution?

My personal decision can be attributed to a few different factors. I was running a WordPress website on an account with multiple other WordPress websites and other types as well. It was too much.

WordPress can be tricky to optimize and you might not ever get it to where you want it to be with all of the plugins tried and image compression. Shared hosting resources can have a tough time keeping up with the demands and VPS is a great option to give your website a boost.

There are ways you can check the performance of your website and receive recommendations of how to make improvements. To start, you can use free tools like Pingdom and GTmetrix, with the latter now powered by Lighthouse, Google’s latest set of tools for website developers.

If you are still experiencing performance issues, once you feel you have done all you can on your own you may want to find a freelancer to help you with continuing to improve your website.

In the end, it is really simple, if your website is a core part of your business, Shared Hosting is probably not the best option for you. If you are selling something, this becomes even more important. Whether it is Magento, PrestaShop, Woocommercem or another eCommerce option, you will be better off using VPS over Shared Hosting.

The post Choosing Between Shared and VPS: A Guide appeared first on The A2 Posting.