Is Cloud Hosting a Good Choice for Small Businesses?

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Small business sites usually have one thing in common–they are run by a single person or a very small team who are also responsible for all the business and the website. Beyond that, small business websites can either function as the digital footprint of the business which connects people to the operations, or it can be the entirety of the business like in a digital service or ecommerce situation.

Whatever kind of site you’re building, you want hosting that works with and for your small business. Is cloud hosting a good choice for small businesses? Let’s check it out:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_id=”Pros and Cons of Cloud Hosting”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Contents

Pros and Cons of Cloud Hosting

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]In case you aren’t quite sure what cloud hosting is, here’s a few specs about cloud hosting:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Pricing

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Cloud hosting is one of the cheaper forms of hosting that you can get. It is usually slightly more expensive than shared hosting, depending on the company that you go with, but is generally cheaper than getting a dedicated private server.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Specs

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Cloud hosting uses a number of underlying physical servers to create a single virtual environment that lots of different websites and companies can draw resources from. The perks of a cloud environment is that it is dynamic. When you put a few different websites on a single server using a shared server, the websites are capped by the resources of the single server. But if you took the equivalent of 5 shared servers and all the different websites on them and pooled them to a single resource environment, then the cloud could distribute resources to each of the websites and it has more resources to distribute than.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Scaling

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Cloud hosting is absolutely great for scaling. While many shared hosting plans that run on traditional single server solutions, cloud hosting runs in data centers that have a ton of data available. If you are willing to pay for that data, it usually could be yours. When you want to scale your cloud hosting it is usually an easy process, where scaling other kinds of solutions can generally cost more to simply move your data.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Security

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Cloud hosting is fairly secure. It is not, however, the most secure kind of hosting that you could possibly get. If you are looking for the maximum amount of security, you might have to house dedicated servers in-house or have a managed dedicated server solution with special security features. Many kinds of small businesses will be fine with the level of security that a cloud hosting solution offers. But if you are not in that category of being fine with the level of security that you are offered, then you’ll have to consider dedicated hosting, managed or in-house.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_id=”What Kind of Hosting is a Good Choice for Small Businesses?”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

What Kind of Hosting is a Good Choice for Small Businesses?

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Is Cloud Hosting Too Powerful ?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The honest answer is that for many small business websites, cloud hosting will either be the kind of hosting that is too powerful or the exact right kind of hosting. If you are running a small business site that doesn’t house a lot of media, doesn’t get a lot of traffic, and doesn’t use any ecommerce functionality–then cloud hosting will definitely work for your small business, but shared hosting might be an even cheaper way to host your small business site. If you are not super concerned about the amount of money that you spend on hosting, then cloud hosting is probably one of the best choices for hosting.

Also, keep in mind that most cloud hosting solutions have a lot of built in scalability for your business. Most cloud hosting plans can scale up in exciting ways, but most plans also have low bars that you start with. In most public cloud plans, you are paying for a piece of that public cloud. Most hosting plans allow you to start with a lower fee if you only will be using a small amount of the resources on that cloud.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Is Cloud Hosting Affordable?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Even just a few years ago you could get a pretty good discount on hosting by opting to go with shared hosting instead of cloud hosting. But data and processing power is becoming cheaper, and giant web players with their huge cloud solutions have made cloud hosting an affordable choice for small businesses. Even the huge web service solutions have very reasonable price points which allow you to get exactly what you are looking for without spending a ton of money on the solution.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Can Cloud Hosting Run Ecommerce?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Yes, cloud hosting is plenty secure and plenty powerful to run a bunch of ecommerce solutions and processing. While cloud hosting is not quite as secure as some dedicated hosting solutions, it is in fact a very secure solution. Cloud hosting also offers you plenty of power to backup those sparkling images and ecommerce processing plugins.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Should I Get an In-House Server For My Small Business?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Instead of cloud hosting, you might be considering getting a server and putting it in-house for your small business. If you are playing the long game and want to manage your own data and service without paying a monthly subscription to a big cloud data player, this might be a good option for your business. However, for most small businesses, this will be more trouble than it is worth. After all, you’ll be responsible for managing all the connections and the processing of the server. Unless you have a space to put it and plenty of tech experience already on your team, this might not be a realistic way to run things. [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

What Kind of Service Do I Need for My Small Business Cloud Hosting?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]When you are running a business website, you need the best possible service for your cloud hosting. Go with a cloud hosting company that can offer you 24/7 customer service and the right kind of service solutions to get your website back up and running if things go down. Small business websites, especially if they are ecommerce, can cost a lot of money if they go down. Having the right kind of hosting service will prevent lost hours of function and lost dollars of commerce.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]