We hear about the cloud all of the time, but what does that really mean to you and your business? It could mean a faster, better performing website— let me tell you how!
A little Background
There are a couple different parts to your website. One is your site’s name or address, also called its domain. This is one of the things you will need to purchase when you’re setting up your website, it’s the easy name your clients and customers will remember to use to visit your site. Your site address can become a big part of your brand.
The actual files for your website are stored on a computer called a server, it’s just a computer serving the files up to the internet, or hosting them. You will hear people say you need to buy hosting for your website. Those are the two main pieces that go together, the domain and hosting.
When you start looking at hosting, you will see there are a few options: Shared, dedicated, VPS, cloud, managed, combinations of all of those and then some. Let’s talk about shared hosting first, since it’s usually the most budget-friendly, and often the first choice because of price.
Living in the dorms
I call shared hosting the dorm room of hosting. You move into the dorms and you might have your own little bedroom, but it’s a community bathroom situation and the dining hall is the only food option. Similarly, when you put your site on a shared hosting plan, your site gets its own folder on the server, but it’s a community processor, memory, and bandwidth situation. It’s kind of like when the guy down the hall is hogging the shower; if your server-mate is using all the processing resources, your site is going to suffer.
So, what’s the alternative? Dedicated servers are one, but they are super expensive. You can find cloud hosting for much more affordable prices.
The Luxury Apartment Life
If we’re saying shared hosting is living in the dorms, cloud hosting would be more like if Google went and built a building full of luxury apartments and you rented one. You’d have your own fancy bathroom and kitchen, no more sharing! Technically, it would all be tied together by the same infrastructure in the same building, but your neighbor could stay in the shower all day without it affecting you at all.
In a more business-specific context: You’re meeting with customers. Do you want to meet in a busy co-working space, where you might have to wait for a room, and you have no control over the environment? Or would you rather meet in your own office space, where you have more control over the timing and environment, and can better tailor your customer’s experience?
The prices might surprise you, it’s not as expensive as it sounds! Cloud hosting can be reasonably priced and is a better fit for business sites. Site speed affects not only your customers’ perception, but your Google rank, so we want to make sure you have every opportunity to shine.