Nowadays, creating a presence for your existing business or a new online venture is more affordable than ever before – mainly thanks to affordable cloud hosting solutions and content management systems which have made it possible for anyone to own a website. But what is cloud hosting and why it’s better than other types of servers?
Hosting your site in the cloud means that it’s stored in a pool of connected, configurable servers which are set up to act as one system. Theoretically, it is possible to keep adding new machines to the system (the cloud), providing its users with unlimited resources.
Naturally, the cloud is limited by the physical number of connected servers. But, quality cloud hosting environments such as those managed by Hostinger provide users with access to an agreed amount of resources, which are assigned exclusively to them. This means that they don’t have to worry about resources “running” out. What are other advantages of cloud hosting, on top of having an unshared access to resources?
Because resources that are assigned to you cannot be used by other users (contrary to a shared hosting, where the occasional server-wide usage spikes can affect your websites), a high-quality cloud hosting server should can provide you with unbeatable speed and performance. In the end, all CPU power, RAM and bandwidth are yours to use. This helps you speed up your website, reduce loading time, and provide your website visitors with great user experience. But it’s not just websites that you can host in the cloud.
The fast-paced growth of cloud computing has lowered the prices of hosting services even further and made it possible for businesses to do a lot more than just host their sites in the cloud. In fact, it’s estimated that 83% of enterprise workload will be performed in the cloud in the next two years. How come?
The best about cloud hosting is that, unlike typical shared hosting or other web-hosting environments, it allows you to deploy many other applications and perform a variety of operations, which can benefit your business. And all that without having to invest in physical infrastructure and hardware. What leads to yet another advantage of cloud hosting.
As if the flexibility that you get from being able to deploy different applications to your server wasn’t enough, the savings on infrastructure and hardware expenses leave you with a lot more money to reinvest back into other areas of your business, allowing you to better adapt to changes in the market.
Moreover, because you pay only for what you use, you can plan your hardware expenses upfront and scale or reduce the resources use based on present needs. The best is that all it takes is just a few clicks of a button – no need to purchase or sell any hardware, and the changes can be done in just a few minutes.
Another great benefit of an outsourced cloud hosting is that you don’t have to deal with the infrastructure yourself. And it’s not about the said cost of hardware – you don’t have to hire any system or server administrators, which also means much lower labor costs. And those are set to increase, considering that the demand for professional admins will keep growing.
Who takes care of your server then? The company that you are renting it from! Of course, not all of them offer 24/7 support (avoid those), and the level of help that you receive will depend on whether you go for a managed or unmanaged cloud hosting package.
But if you were to choose, unless you are a big enterprise, it’s always better to go with a managed one. That way, you don’t have to worry about anything – from setting up the server to updating the software and managing the resources. This leads us to the last important benefit of cloud hosting for every business.
To secure and maintain your hosting, cloud companies employ the best people in their field. It’s quite possible that, unless you have a huge budget for your hosting, it could be hard for you to get that experienced people on your team. Not to mention the amount of money it’d cost.
The good news is, if you rent cloud resources from a third-party company, they are responsible for installing firewalls, malware scanners, and performing regular backups. On top of that, cloud infrastructure consists of multiple servers with redundancies that protect your data against system or hardware failures. This ensures that you have nothing to worry about and can focus on growing your business.
How to Choose the Right Hosting for You
If any of the above sounds convincing, it’s probably a good idea to move your business web assets to the cloud as soon as possible. But how to choose the right provider? Here are a few tips:
What Kind of Businesses Is Cloud Hosting a Good Choice for?
I believe that there are no restrictions as to what business can use cloud hosting. Naturally, some companies will use it just to host their sites, while other might be interested in deploying other applications. But the flexibility that a good cloud hosting setup can give you is what makes it such a great choice for every business – from small marketing companies to international eCommerce giants.
Definition of Cloud Hosting
Hosting your site in the cloud means that it’s stored in a pool of connected, configurable servers which are set up to act as one system. Theoretically, it is possible to keep adding new machines to the system (the cloud), providing its users with unlimited resources.
Naturally, the cloud is limited by the physical number of connected servers. But, quality cloud hosting environments such as those managed by Hostinger provide users with access to an agreed amount of resources, which are assigned exclusively to them. This means that they don’t have to worry about resources “running” out. What are other advantages of cloud hosting, on top of having an unshared access to resources?
Top Performance and Speed
Because resources that are assigned to you cannot be used by other users (contrary to a shared hosting, where the occasional server-wide usage spikes can affect your websites), a high-quality cloud hosting server should can provide you with unbeatable speed and performance. In the end, all CPU power, RAM and bandwidth are yours to use. This helps you speed up your website, reduce loading time, and provide your website visitors with great user experience. But it’s not just websites that you can host in the cloud.
Multi-Purpose Environment
The fast-paced growth of cloud computing has lowered the prices of hosting services even further and made it possible for businesses to do a lot more than just host their sites in the cloud. In fact, it’s estimated that 83% of enterprise workload will be performed in the cloud in the next two years. How come?
The best about cloud hosting is that, unlike typical shared hosting or other web-hosting environments, it allows you to deploy many other applications and perform a variety of operations, which can benefit your business. And all that without having to invest in physical infrastructure and hardware. What leads to yet another advantage of cloud hosting.
Great Flexibility and Scalability
As if the flexibility that you get from being able to deploy different applications to your server wasn’t enough, the savings on infrastructure and hardware expenses leave you with a lot more money to reinvest back into other areas of your business, allowing you to better adapt to changes in the market.
Moreover, because you pay only for what you use, you can plan your hardware expenses upfront and scale or reduce the resources use based on present needs. The best is that all it takes is just a few clicks of a button – no need to purchase or sell any hardware, and the changes can be done in just a few minutes.
No Need to Hire Admins
Another great benefit of an outsourced cloud hosting is that you don’t have to deal with the infrastructure yourself. And it’s not about the said cost of hardware – you don’t have to hire any system or server administrators, which also means much lower labor costs. And those are set to increase, considering that the demand for professional admins will keep growing.
Who takes care of your server then? The company that you are renting it from! Of course, not all of them offer 24/7 support (avoid those), and the level of help that you receive will depend on whether you go for a managed or unmanaged cloud hosting package.
But if you were to choose, unless you are a big enterprise, it’s always better to go with a managed one. That way, you don’t have to worry about anything – from setting up the server to updating the software and managing the resources. This leads us to the last important benefit of cloud hosting for every business.
Security & Reliability
To secure and maintain your hosting, cloud companies employ the best people in their field. It’s quite possible that, unless you have a huge budget for your hosting, it could be hard for you to get that experienced people on your team. Not to mention the amount of money it’d cost.
The good news is, if you rent cloud resources from a third-party company, they are responsible for installing firewalls, malware scanners, and performing regular backups. On top of that, cloud infrastructure consists of multiple servers with redundancies that protect your data against system or hardware failures. This ensures that you have nothing to worry about and can focus on growing your business.
How to Choose the Right Hosting for You
If any of the above sounds convincing, it’s probably a good idea to move your business web assets to the cloud as soon as possible. But how to choose the right provider? Here are a few tips:
- Check if the company offers dedicated resources. You don’t want to share those with anyone else.
- Estimate the required disk space, RAM and CPU cores that you will need – and choose the right pricing plan. While it is true that with cloud hosting you only pay for the resources that you use, it applies to the resources that you choose in your plan. Even if your files take just half of the allocated disk space, you still pay the full price.
- Look for hosting that comes with a money-back guarantee – that way, you can fully test its speed and performance, as well as the responsiveness of the support, for the full 14 to 30 days (depends on the offer).
- Make sure that the offered hosting plan is a managed one and that the support is available 24/7. You don’t want to sign up only to find out that you have to set up the whole server yourself.
What Kind of Businesses Is Cloud Hosting a Good Choice for?
I believe that there are no restrictions as to what business can use cloud hosting. Naturally, some companies will use it just to host their sites, while other might be interested in deploying other applications. But the flexibility that a good cloud hosting setup can give you is what makes it such a great choice for every business – from small marketing companies to international eCommerce giants.
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