What Is Cloud Hosting, and Is It Right for Your Business?

Cloud hosting spreads your website across multiple servers for better reliability and easy scaling. Here's how it compares to traditional hosting.

Traditional hosting puts your website on a single physical server. Cloud hosting runs it on a network of connected servers, so resources can be added or moved instantly.

Benefits of cloud hosting

• Scalability: handle traffic spikes by adding resources on demand
• Reliability: if one server fails, others take over
• Performance: resources dedicated to your application
• Pay for what you use: many plans charge based on actual usage
• Global reach: deploy close to your customers around the world

Popular cloud platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and DigitalOcean are widely used, each with data centres in India.

Is it right for you?

Cloud hosting is ideal for web applications, busy ecommerce stores, SaaS products and mobile app back-ends. For a simple brochure website, quality managed shared hosting is often enough and simpler to run.

Managed vs unmanaged

Raw cloud servers need technical expertise to set up, secure and maintain. Managed cloud hosting handles that for you.

We set up and manage cloud infrastructure for our clients. See our hosting services.

Key takeaways

This guide on cloud hosting covered:

• Benefits of cloud hosting
• Popular cloud platforms
• Is it right for you?
• Managed vs unmanaged

Cloud hosting checklist

Use this checklist to put the ideas above into practice:

• Uptime is monitored with alerts
• Daily backups are stored off the server and tested
• SSL is installed and renews automatically
• Admin accounts use strong passwords and two-factor login
• Hosting resources match your traffic
• Software, plugins and the server are updated regularly
• A firewall and malware scanning are active
• Email uses SPF, DKIM and DMARC to avoid the spam folder

Key terms explained

Uptime

The share of time your website is online; good hosts aim for 99.9% or better.

Shared hosting

Hosting where many websites share one server; affordable and fine for small, low-traffic sites.

VPS

A virtual private server with dedicated resources, suited to busier sites, online stores and web apps.

Malware

Harmful code that attackers inject into websites to steal data, show spam or redirect visitors.

Backup retention

How many past backups are kept and for how long, so you can restore from before a problem started.

DNS

The system that points your domain name to your server and email provider.

CDN

A content delivery network that serves your files from locations near each visitor, making pages load faster.

Cloud hosting FAQ

How often should a website be backed up?

At least daily for active sites, with copies stored somewhere other than the server. Backups only count if you have tested restoring them.

How do I know if my website has been hacked?

Warning signs include strange redirects, unknown admin users, spam pages in Google results, browser warnings or a sudden slowdown. Regular scanning catches problems early.

Why is SSL important?

SSL encrypts data between visitors and your site, shows the padlock in browsers and is a small ranking signal. Browsers warn visitors about sites without it.

What is website uptime monitoring?

A service that checks your site every few minutes and alerts you if it goes down, so problems are fixed before customers notice.

Why do my website emails go to spam?

Usually because the domain is missing SPF, DKIM or DMARC records, or the server has a poor sending reputation. Fixing these records makes a big difference.

What type of hosting does my website need?

Small business sites run well on good shared or managed hosting; busy online stores and web apps usually need a VPS or cloud server with more resources.

How DigiGlobal can help

DigiGlobal provides fast, secure hosting with SSL, daily backups, updates and monitoring, and can move your existing website with no downtime. If you have questions about cloud hosting for your own business, our team is happy to help.

• Web Hosting & Domains: Fast, secure hosting with real humans to help when something goes wrong.
• Web Development: Websites and web apps that are quick, secure and built to grow with your business.
• Website Design: Good design isn't decoration. It's the reason a visitor stays, trusts you and picks up the phone.