'We're Not Done Yet': Liquid Web Brings Innovation Back to Managed WordPress Hosting

A recent Liquid Web survey shows strong demand for managed WordPress hosting among designers, developers and digital agencies, with 78% building websites on WordPress. In addition, the top three criteria these customers look for in a managed WordPress product are performance guarantees, simple installation and automatic backups. These key criteria drive some of Liquid Web's latest WordPress product updates and continued innovations.   

"Despite the demand, there have been few innovations to managed WordPress hosting in the last few years," said Chris Lema, vice president of products and innovations, Liquid Web. "At Liquid Web, we believe that when our customers trust us to host their WordPress site, we have a duty to keep giving them the most value possible. That means adding new features and never ceasing to innovate."

Visual comparison tool
Liquid Web is rolling out a unique new visual comparison tool, which gives customers more control over plug-in installations. When a new plug-in is ready, the feature automatically takes snapshots of your website before and after installation to see if it changes how the site looks. If there is no visual change, the plug-in automatically installs. However, if there is a difference, the update is rolled back and the customer receives an email asking them to review those changes, with the option to manually install the plug-in.

"This is a compelling addition. We're automatically upgrading sites, but validating the upgrade by comparing before and after photos," Lema said. "This allows us to make sure the plug-in isn't going to alter the look of the website, while also ensuring you have the latest code on your site."

Other new default features include:

• SSL certificate – Keeps all data passed between the web server and browsers private; while not a new feature, SSL certificates now come standard and free for every site hosted by Liquid Web

• Varnish for site performance – Helps sites perform quicker by delivering saved versions of the requested pages to customers without having to go back to the server
• PHP7 checker – Scans the site for potential PHP7 conflicts. If any plug-in or theme on your site isn't compatible with PHP7, it gives the option to upgrade anyway or open a support ticket. If no conflicts are found, the site will be upgraded to PHP7 instantly with no support ticket needed

• Stencils feature – Allows people to use a snapshot of one site to quickly create another based on it
• Tagging and filtering – Helps site owners manage multiple sites in the management interface; sites can be tagged so you can group "friends" sites, "business" sites and "ecommerce" sites

"Many companies would charge for these service, yet with Liquid Web, they're all rolled in for free," Lema said. "By continually adding new capabilities to our managed WordPress hosting, we're putting out the word that we're not done trying to move the needle in this space. We are innovating and delivering value in a crowded market with a clear sense of the features that set us apart."

About Liquid Web
Liquid Web powers content, commerce and potential for entrepreneurs and the designers, developers and digital agencies who create for them. The $100 million web hosting and cloud services provider known for its high- performance services and exceptional customer support delivers reliable, highly-available, secure and hassle-free hosting backed with a human touch. Liquid Web offers a broad portfolio designed so customers can choose a hosting solution that is hands-on or hands-off or a hybrid of the two. The company owns and manages its own data centers, providing a diverse range of offerings spanning from bare metal servers and fully managed hosting to managed WordPress and continues to evolve its service offerings to meet the ever-changing needs of its web-reliant, professional customers. With over 30,000 customers spanning 150 countries, the company has assembled a world-class team, global data centers and an expert group of 24/7/365 solution engineers. As an industry leader in customer service*, the rapidly expanding company has been recognized among INC Magazine's 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for the last ten years. Liquid Web is part of the Madison Dearborn Partners family of companies. Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC ("MDP") is a leading private equity investment firm based in Chicago. For more information, please visit www.liquidweb.com, or read our blog posts at http://www.liquidweb.com/blog. Stay up to date with all Liquid Web events on Twitter and LinkedIn.

*2016 Net Promoter Score of 71

Media Contacts:
Liz Pandzich
Phone: 248-304-1444
Email: [email protected]

Terry Trout
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Liquid Web

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