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Web Hosting · Wisconsin

Web hosting with a real person behind it.

Managed hosting for Wisconsin small businesses. We watch your site, keep it patched, back it up, and answer the phone when something breaks. One local contact for your website, start to finish.

The usual setup

Most small business sites are hosted and forgotten.

Someone set up the site years ago, picked a cheap host, and moved on. It works until it doesn't. Here's what we see when a Wisconsin business calls us about their website.

01

Nobody is watching it

The site goes down on a Friday night and nobody finds out until a customer mentions it on Tuesday.

02

Updates never happen

Plugins and themes sit years out of date. That's how most small business sites get hacked.

03

Support is a chat window

National hosts route you through tier 1 scripts. They don't know your site and they won't fix it.

04

Nobody knows who has the keys

The domain is in a former employee's account, the host login is lost, and the web designer stopped answering.

What's included

What managed actually means.

Server space is the cheap part. What you're paying for is someone taking responsibility for the site staying up, staying secure, and staying current.

Uptime monitoring
Availability
Your site is checked every minute, around the clock. If it goes down, we get the alert and start working on it.
Security updates
Maintenance
Software, packages, and dependencies kept current every month. Unpatched software is the most common way small business sites get compromised.
Monthly backups
Recovery
Full snapshots kept for 12 months. A bad change, a deleted page, or a hacked site gets rolled back in minutes.
SSL certificates
Security
HTTPS set up and renewed automatically. No "Not Secure" warnings scaring off visitors, no expired certificates.
DNS management
Infrastructure
Domain records, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and subdomains handled for you, documented, and kept in your name.
Direct support
All tiers
Call or email the people who actually work on your site. Based in Whitewater, working with businesses across Wisconsin.
Your options

National host vs. local managed hosting.

Cheap hosting is cheap because you do the work. Here's how the common options stack up for a small business that doesn't want to babysit a website.

Option 01

Budget shared host

$5–$15/mo
Plus your time
  • Cheapest monthly cost
  • You handle updates
  • You handle backups
  • Nobody watching uptime
  • Renewal price jumps
  • Support is a chat queue
Option 02

Wix / Squarespace

$20–$50/mo
Platform subscription
  • Hosting handled for you
  • Edit it yourself
  • Okay performance
  • Locked into the platform
  • Limited SEO control
  • Nobody to call
Option 03

BadgerLayer

$25–$150/mo
Managed, local
  • Uptime watched every minute
  • Updates and backups done for you
  • Fast, modern hosting
  • You own the domain and code
  • Content changes on request
  • Local Wisconsin support
Pricing

Hosting plans, real numbers.

No "call for pricing." Final price is confirmed after we look at your site, but these are the numbers you should expect.

Basic Hosting
01 / Existing site
$25
Per month
  • Fast, modern hosting
  • SSL set up and auto-renewed
  • Uptime monitoring every minute
  • Monthly backups, 12-month history
  • DNS management
  • Email support
Get a quote →
New Site + Hosting
03 / Full build
$3.5K+
Project · Then $150/mo
  • Custom design and build
  • Hosting set up at launch
  • Schema markup and SEO basics
  • Optional CMS for self-editing
  • Up to 2 hours of changes/month after launch
  • 90-day post-launch support
See web design →
Moving from another host?Site migration starts at $150 one-time, depending on platform and size. We assess the site first and quote before any work starts.
Web design

Site needs more than new hosting?

If your current site is slow, dated, or built on a platform you've outgrown, moving it to better hosting only goes so far. We design and build custom sites for Wisconsin small businesses, then host and maintain them after launch.

One relationship covers the design, the build, the hosting, and every change after that.

$3,500
Starter site: 5 to 7 pages, custom design.3–4 week timeline
$7,500
Growth site: CMS, blog, full schema, analytics.6–10 week timeline
$15K+
Custom: integrations, member areas, e-commerce.Scoped after discovery
100
Lighthouse scores across the board on badgerlayer.com.Same standard on client builds
Who we host

Built for Wisconsin small business.

Most of our hosting clients are local businesses that need their website to just work, with someone they can call when it doesn't.

Insurance agencies

Fast, reliable sites that rank locally and stay up during renewal season.

Law firms

A professional presence without agency rates or managing WordPress yourself.

Contractors and trades

Remodelers, electricians, and landscapers who need to show up in local search.

Medical and dental

Mobile-fast sites for patients searching from their phones, managed by the same team as your IT.

Nonprofits

Reliable hosting and a real person to call, at a price that fits the budget.

Restaurants and retail

Menus, hours, and location that are always right, because the site is the first impression.

Service area

Hosting clients across Wisconsin.

Based in Whitewater and serving businesses statewide, with most clients in Southern Wisconsin and the Milwaukee and Madison metros. Hosting support is remote, so location doesn't limit us.

  • Whitewater, WI
  • Madison, WI
  • Milwaukee, WI
  • Janesville, WI
  • Waukesha, WI
  • Watertown, WI
  • Fort Atkinson, WI
  • Jefferson, WI
  • Elkhorn, WI
  • Beloit, WI
  • Oconomowoc, WI
  • Lake Geneva, WI

Hosting questions.

What Wisconsin business owners ask before switching hosts. If yours isn't here, ask on the call.

Get a hosting quote →
How much does web hosting cost for a small business in Wisconsin?
Managed hosting at BadgerLayer starts at $25/month for an existing site we migrate over. Hosting with maintenance (monthly updates, content edits, priority support) starts at $75/month. Sites we build move to a $150/month hosting and maintenance retainer after launch.
What is the difference between managed hosting and regular hosting?
Regular hosting gives you server space and a login. Everything else is on you: updates, backups, SSL, noticing when the site is down. Managed hosting means someone is responsible for all of that. We monitor the site every minute, keep it patched, take backups, and pick up the phone when something breaks.
Can you host a website you didn't build?
Usually, yes. Modern static and framework sites (Next.js, Astro, plain HTML) migrate cleanly. WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace sites are assessed case by case. Some move over as-is, some are better off rebuilt. We look at the site and tell you which before quoting anything.
Will moving hosts hurt my Google rankings?
Not if the migration is done right. We keep your URL structure intact, set up 301 redirects for anything that changes, and resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console after cutover. Most migrations are invisible to visitors and to Google.
What happens if my site goes down?
Uptime is checked every minute. If your site goes down, we get the alert and start working on it, usually before you notice. Emergency response is included on the Maintenance tier and the full retainer. Basic Hosting clients are alerted and can have us respond at our hourly rate.
Do I own my domain and my site?
Yes. Your domain stays registered in your name, and you get access to your site's code and hosting account. There is no lock-in after year one. If you ever move on, we hand everything over with documentation.
Do you host email too?
We don't run mail servers, but we set up and manage business email through Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, including the DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) that keep your mail out of spam folders. That's often bundled with managed IT.

Ready to switch hosts?

Free review of your current site and hosting. We'll tell you what a move involves, which plan fits, and send a written quote. No forms, no pitch deck.