With all the advancements in technology, it seems like there is a new web hosting option introduced to the world wide web on an almost daily basis. One of those options, which happens to be extremely popular right now, is cloud hosting.

Chances are you have heard of cloud hosting. But do you know what it is and how it can benefit your business? If not this article is for you. In it you will discover exactly what cloud hosting is, the major benefits of it, the biggest problem with it and when you should consider using it.

Let’s get started shall we?

What The Heck Is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting is a type of hosting that uses multiple servers to host your website. Utilizing multiple servers helps eliminate downtime as your website can just migrate to another server if something is wrong with the one it is currently running on.

Cloud hosting ensures your website maintains a high level of functionality and reliability. It is a must have for high traffic websites and businesses that can’t afford to have their websites go down.

3 Major Benefits of Cloud Hosting

The 3 major benefits associated with cloud hosting are reliability, performance and security. Anytime a website has access to multiple servers functionality will be at an all time high. Your files basically sit in the cloud and can be switched to another server at a moments notice.

Because of this reliability will also be at an all time high and downtime will be something you rarely if ever have to worry about.

Being that 89% of the most visited websites experienced downtime in the first quarter of 2016, the ability to plan ahead and avoid such situations is a really big deal. This type of flexibility can only be achieved through cloud hosting.

When it comes to performance cloud hosting is in a league of its own. As long as the web hosting provider is reputable, you can expect lightening fast load times every time a visitor tries to access your website. This is why cloud hosting is so beloved by companies that get millions of visitors every month.

The last major benefit is security. Most hosting providers have various security protocols that are designed to protect all databases and applications from common threats such as cross scripting and malware.

In the cloud those security protocols are taken up a notch. They also protect your data and ward off attackers by utilizing preventative measures such as encryption.

While no website is ever completely protected from an attack, with cloud hosting the extra layer of protection should give you great peace of mind.

The Big Problem With Cloud Hosting

As far as disadvantages go there is really only one big problem with cloud hosting and that is the cost. Cloud hosting plans come with a lot of really great features that you won’t find on shared hosting plans.

Because of this you will be paying quite a bit more to have access to this service. If you are on a tight budget cloud hosting more than likely won’t work for you. It’s also not a great option for new websites that don’t yet require additional features and resources.

With that being said, cloud hosting isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. As a matter of fact, spending on cloud computing services is expected to continue to rise over the next few years.

As more and more companies start to realize the potential of cloud hosting and how it can help them better allocate their resources, you can expect thousands more to jump on board in the coming years.

3 Reasons You Should Consider Using Cloud Hosting

If you run a medium to large sized business with a website that gets hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, having cloud hosting is a great way to improve user experience. Always remember your visitors expect your website to load within 3 seconds or less.

If that doesn’t happen they will leave. When you have a high traffic website downtime is simply not an option. Not only can it hurt sales, but it can also ruin your reputation as visitors start to view you as unreliable.

If you believe in taking preventative measures, and business continuity is important to you, cloud hosting would be a good fit for your company.

The second reason you should consider cloud hosting is if you will be scaling your business in the very near future.

As you build your brand you will more than likely start getting more traffic to your website. Depending on your marketing efforts, you may find yourself getting a surge in traffic all of a sudden.

When this happens you will need more resources to deal with the additional traffic. If those resources aren’t available you will experience lag and downtime.

And as we previously discussed, downtime is never a good thing when you are trying to grow and scale a business.

With cloud hosting you will be able to instantly scale all of your resources and meet the demands of your website visitors.

The third and final reason you should consider cloud hosting is because of the enhanced security that comes with it. Protecting the data that you receive from your visitors is extremely important.

You also don’t want to become the next victim of a cyber attack as it can cripple your operations. With cloud hosting you have an extra layer of protection that isn’t available with other hosting plans.

Conclusion

While cloud hosting offers a lot of really great features, if you are just starting your online business there is no need to make such a steep investment. Instead you should opt for shared hosting.

With shared hosting you will get everything you need to get your website up and running as quickly as possible. And the best part is the price. A shared hosting account will cost you less than $10 per month.

Ready to get your website up and running? Check out our shared hosting plans and get started today!