It is highly unlikely that being a website owner, you do not understand the importance of SEO. You need to have some basic knowledge of SEO if you want to do well on the internet. In case you want to succeed in the online circuit, you need to apply search engine optimisation or SEO to your website properly. To make a sound SEO strategy, you need to work on a lot of factors. But in the excitement of SEO, many website owners tend to forget the relationship between hosting and website visibility. The way you decide to host your website can significantly impact the visibility it generates on the search engine results page. It is for this reason that people who are in the know don’t think twice before shifting to cloud hosting to boost their website visibility.

Cloud hosting offers several benefits to businesses – it is cost-effective, secure, flexible, scalable, and above all, it improves website visibility.

Here are some compelling cloud hosting statistics.

Cloud hosting statistics

• 77% of businesses have a minimum of one application or a portion of their enterprise computing infrastructure in the cloud (Forbes).
• In 2018, businesses had predicted that they would invest an average of 3.5 million on cloud apps, platforms, and services.
• 76% of businesses are looking at cloud apps and platforms to accelerate IT service delivery.
• The Akamai Technologies State of Online Retail Performance report of 2017 has this to say about the website load speed which is a critical factor in SEO:
• A delay of 100-milliseconds in website load time can bring down your conversion rates by 7%.
• A delay of 2-second in the web page load time increases bounce rates by as much as 103%.
• If a mobile site takes more than 3-seconds to load then 53% of its visitors will leave the page
• So, is there any connection between cloud hosting and website visibility? Yes, there is. Let us take you through how cloud hosting can have a positive impact on your website visibility.
• Cloud hosting in today’s competitive internet environment is one of the fastest ways to improve your website’s ranking on search engines. And, it also helps increase your page views and boosts your traffic.

Types of cloud computing

• Broadly, based on a service the cloud model is offering, it is classified as under:
• Infrastructure as a service or IaaS
• Platform as a service or PaaS
• Software as a service or SaaS
• Or, Storage, Information, Database, Integration, Process Application, Testing, Management, Security as a service.
• And, based on the deployment type, the cloud is classified as under:
• Public
• Private
• Hybrid
• Community

What is cloud hosting and how does it work?

Cloud hosting is a method where a series of interconnected servers are used to host your website. The interconnected servers (known as nodes) are spread across geographical locations which makes it easier for your website or application to be accessed by users regardless of their area or device platform. Cloud hosting has grown by leaps and bounds in the recent past, and there are several cloud hosting service providers who now offer competitive cloud hosting packages to host your websites and applications.

In cloud hosting, the resources for maintaining your website are spread over multiple servers, and you are only supposed to pay for what you use.

Cloud computing offers some significant benefits which help boost your website’s visibility substantially.

Here is how cloud hosting can impact your website visibility

As mentioned earlier, cloud hosting offers several benefits to businesses. And, one of the major benefits is that cloud hosting helps improve the visibility of your website. Here is how cloud hosting improves the visibility of your website:

1. Increases page load speed – As a website owner, you must be aware that page load speed is a critical factor which impacts your rankings on the search engine result page. The advantage of cloud hosting is that it improves the load speed of your website. Hence, when you move your website to the cloud, it starts loading faster. And, the faster your website loads, the better are your chances of climbing the search engine rankings.If your website takes too long to load, it creates a poor user experience which can decrease the number of visitors coming to your site and increase your bounce rates. And, when your bounce rates are low, it means that you are meeting the expectations of your users which is sure to be rewarded with better rankings. Since cloud hosting makes your website load faster, you can expect a higher page rank, hence improved visibility.
2. The benefit of local SEO – In comparison to traditional hosting, cloud hosting helps your website gain an advantage in local markets. For local searches, your website needs a country related domain extension or domain name which should indicate that it is part of a particular region or country. For instance, a website with a domain name synergy.co.nz will rank better in local searches in New Zealand and Australia than a website with a domain name synergy.com. In the case of local searches, search engines take into account the details of the local market your website caters to and the place where it is hosted. As a website owner who has opted for traditional hosting, if you want your website to fare well on local searches, you will have to purchase domain names featuring the country extension so that your website is hosted on local servers.But with cloud hosting, you don’t have to worry about all of this because the server nodes are spread all over the globe. There is no need to host your website on different local servers to fare well on the search results. You also do not need to tie your website to a particular ccTLD. With cloud hosting in place, your website can have a presence in any country, and you can fare well on the local search results.
3. It improves your performance – Cyberattacks, server downtime, and other security complications can seriously impact your SEO efforts. People do not want to engage with a website that regularly performs poorly, does not offer a decent uptime, and is vulnerable to security breaches. But when it comes to cloud hosting, it is extremely reliable. In cloud hosting, the resources you need to run your website is spread across multiple servers. Hence, when there is a problem with one server, the other takes over which ensures that your website remains up and running always. Also, with cloud hosting, you get improved bot protection, and you also get enhanced security to ward off other forms of cyberattacks.Since cloud hosting improves the performance of your website, it is bound to have a positive effect on the search rankings of your website which in turn increases your traffic.
4. Enhanced mobile compatibility – People these days are increasingly using mobile devices to access the internet. Due to this, major search engines now include mobile responsiveness as one of the ranking factors. What it effectively means is that your website should display properly on all the devices, including mobile devices. And, in case your website does not load properly on mobile devices, you will lose traffic from users who access the internet from mobile devices. It is, therefore, important that you optimise your website for mobile devices which ensures that you get traffic from all the quarters. And, when you opt for cloud hosting, you get the resources and tools which you can use to make your website mobile compatible. When you make your website mobile compatible, it is sure to boost your SEO efforts which ultimately makes your website more visible.
5. It offers BOT protection – Top cloud hosting service providers make sure that you are protected against bots. Bots or malicious scripts are tasks that can negatively impact your website which, in turn, adversely affects your search engine rankings. Bots are applications that command and attack the search engine. For example, scraping bots which are responsible for duplicating content can negatively impact your SEO ranking and should be avoided at all the costs. And, when you opt for a cloud hosting server, your website is protected against these bots. Link spamming bots are another challenge that cloud solution providers can effectively address. Therefore, cloud hosting impacts your SEO efforts positively.If you want to host your website on the cloud, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. The reason you should select us is simple – our cloud servers are built on powerful machines and offer the bandwidth that helps your website surge ahead in search rankings. Our cloud hosting packages are affordable, and it can help you empower your website as well as business.

Businesses the world over have now understood the benefits of cloud computing, and that is why they are moving their operations to the cloud. Some of the cloud computing benefits are cost reduction, storage, greater flexibility, optimal resource utilisation, backup, and scalability. With so many benefits (of cloud computing), it is not surprising that businesses use cloud computing to further their business goals.

When you opt for cloud computing, you don’t have to invest heavily in creating an IT infrastructure. Moreover, cloud computing offers matchless mobility, which means you can access your files from anywhere and at any time if you have an internet connection.

The world over, more than 50% of businesses will depend on the cloud for a minimum of one public cloud platform to drive digital transformation and delight customers (Forrester).

And, not to forget that the public cloud market is growing at a CAGR of 22% and is projected to touch $178 billion in 2018.

Businesses on an average predict that they will invest $3.5 million on cloud apps, platforms, and services in 2018.

Do we need to say more about the utility of cloud computing in today’s times?

So, what are the top most common uses of cloud computing?

The top most common uses of cloud computing

Some scenarios where cloud computing is used to further the ability to realise business goals are:

Cloud database – Every organisation needs an IT infrastructure. Businesses who need a database, but do not want to invest in acquiring the IT paraphernalia can turn to the cloud for all their IT needs. What you stand to gain if you embrace cloud computing is you don’t have to invest huge amounts upfront, and you also don’t have to hire a team of IT experts to run the show.

With cloud databases, you get powerful databases that work fine, and you don’t have to bother about physically acquiring an IT infrastructure. The upkeep of cloud databases is the responsibility of the cloud service provider. Businesses don’t have to bother about maintaining and operating the databases. All you need to do is handle your data.

Moreover, businesses get endless scalability if they opt for cloud databases. Whenever you need to increase your resources, you can inform your service provider, and within minutes you get the additional resources. For example, during the seasonal sales period, you know that your visitors increase many folds which means you need additional databases. You can upgrade and downgrade your requirements as and when you want when you opt for the cloud databases. You don’t have to install additional servers to meet your requirements.

Website hosting – Hosting takes up a large portion of IT resources. If you have a growing business, you need to host your website on the cloud or else you need to upgrade your IT resources constantly. With cloud-based web hosting, you don’t have to worry about your growing needs as scalability is an inbuilt option in the cloud package you select. And, if there are issues, then your website can migrate to the nearest server, or you can add more servers during uptime to offset the problem.

Also, with cloud web hosting, you pay as you use. There are no security concerns as it is the responsibility of the service provider to provide foolproof security.

Test and development – Testing and development are important because you need to make sure that your application can run smoothly, without any hassle, and is usable. And, to test your application, you should have a simulated environment which needs to be exactly like the actual business operations to authenticate the results.

And, it is cloud computing that comes to the rescue of businesses as there are various ready-made environments which are tailored to suit your requirements as and when you need them. The moment your application is ready, you can introduce it to a test environment for analysis. You can also use the platform for training purpose.

Big data analytics – In today’s times, every data that you come across – be it the resumes, the stack of paperwork, or digital data, it is all categorized as Big Data. The importance of data management is well documented, but its sheer volume makes the job a bit challenging. When you put your data into the cloud, it makes the job of data management easier, accessible, and when you combine it with analytics, it offers useful insights.

The biggest challenge that you face in data management is the processing part. So, how do you get the most useful information from the sea of data? There are Big Data Analytics platforms that use cloud technology and help businesses to process structured as well as unstructured data.

Backup and disaster recovery – You need to backup all your data so that you don’t lose any information. Be it your files, documents, or any other data; you need to back them all up. But, not all of us follow it routinely. Even today, we manually dispatch data by using portable devices and storage facilities which is both time-consuming as well as costly. That is where cloud computing’s disaster recovery steps in. Disaster recovery is a process that efficiently backs up your data in case of any eventuality, whether natural or otherwise. A disaster recovery plan not only save you costs, but it also offers several benefits to businesses. If there is a natural disaster that destroys your business partially or totally, your data is kept safe in the cloud which can be recovered timely and automatically. It thus eliminates the need for tapes, disks, or other storage facilities.

File storage and sharing – It makes life easier for businesses that work from different locations. Since all your files and documents are stored in the cloud, it makes sharing and retrieving data very easy. The most popular example of this service is Google Drive and Dropbox. With file storage and sharing, you and your colleagues in different locations can work on the same project without wasting time and money. You can upload the information which can be viewed and worked upon by your colleagues and vice versa. You can receive feedback, edit or review things online instantly which saves you a lot of time as well as money.

Business applications – There are cloud-based applications that are intuitive which are easy to use and are tailor-made for a specific industry. For example, you can use cloud CRM to build and maintain a strong relationship with all your customers. You can use cloud ERP to keep track of the resources, get decision-making insights, and update the budget plan. And, you can use cloud LMS for corporate training to keep your employees engaged. These cloud applications can help small, medium, and large enterprises in the same way. Organizations don’t have to pay any upfront cost for the hardware and software, and the pricing is typically cloud-based which is pay as you use.

Some companies still have security concerns as far as cloud computing is concerned. But, any service provider worth its name in the market will offer adequate security measures so that your data and company information remain safe at all the times.

In case you have not thought about migrating your business operations to the cloud, you need to urgently think of shifting to the cloud so that you can reap the benefits of innovative technology. For affordable cloud computing plans, you should get in touch with vStacks Infotech now and take your business operations to the next level.

If you want to manage all your IT and file storage needs efficiently, you should opt for cloud hosting packages from vStacks Infotech. With fully redundant data centres, we are capable of keeping all your information safe and secure.

The cloud market is growing at a break-neck speed, and there are no signs of a let up in the years to come. Cloud computing offers several benefits like affordability, security, and scalability. And, that is the reason why companies around the world are shifting their business operations to the cloud.

Cloud computing has been around for a pretty long time now. For example, the banking transaction we do on the internet, the music we listen to on the phone, and emails that we send and receive – all of it is managed and stored by cloud computing.

The cloud computing market is projected to touch $411 billion by 2020 (Gartner).

Cloud computing has the potential to solve all your IT infrastructure needs. With cloud computing in place, you don’t have to invest in costly IT infrastructure. And, it is just a myth that cloud computing is meant only for big businesses. Cloud computing has several benefits to offer to businesses both big and small.

So, what are the benefits of cloud computing? But before getting into the benefits of cloud computing, let us try to understand what is cloud computing.

What is cloud computing?

The use of various resources like software development platforms, software, storage, servers over the internet is called cloud computing. And, the companies that offer these services are known as cloud service providers. When it comes to cloud computing, you only have to pay for what you use. The cloud service providers generally manage the backend of the application (hardware), and you only have to pay for the services you use like bandwidth, processing time, memory, etc.

In cloud computing, you can run all your programs and applications over the internet. And, since you don’t have to invest in costly IT infrastructure, that is why you save so much money. That is why cloud computing is a boon for small and medium enterprises because businesses don’t need to arrange liquid funds to create the IT infrastructure.

Cloud computing is generally categorised into three main types – Infrastructure as a service or IaaS, Platform as a service or PaaS, and Software as a service or SaaS.

Benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing has several benefits to offer to businesses both big and small. Here are some of the major benefits of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is/ offers:
Cost-efficient – Small and medium enterprises need to invest in the infrastructure set-up carefully. Putting in place the IT infrastructure and the team to run the show requires a lot of money upfront. And, many a time, arranging liquid funds becomes a problem for organisations that are starting their operations. And, cloud computing comes as a major respite for all such organisations that don’t want to invest big at the start. You are not required to invest big (or even small) when you start your operation in the cloud. All you have to pay for is what you use.
It is the responsibility of the cloud service provider to acquire the hardware, run it, maintain it, and upgrade it. All you have to pay for is the services you use, and that too in a convenient way – yearly, half-yearly, or monthly.

Scalable – At the start organisations have limited requirement, but as you grow, your needs grow. It means that as you grow, you need to increase and improve your IT resources (read infrastructure), employees, team collaboration, etc. But when you opt for cloud computing, you don’t have to worry about your growing needs because cloud computing offers scalable solutions. You don’t have to keep investing money to upgrade your IT resources every time your business operations grow. It is the responsibility of the cloud service provider to arrange all the resources for your organisation. For example, if your bandwidth requirement grows, your service provider will scale up your capacity. Likewise, if your requirements come down, your service provider can scale down your capacity.

Safe – Cloud computing is safe. Cloud providers take adequate measures to make sure that your data remain safe at all the times. You can put in place different security settings to keep your data protected from prying eyes. Also, encryption provides additional security to your data in the cloud. Your data remains safer in the cloud in comparison to the traditional on-site servers.

Mobility – Cloud computing can increase the productivity and efficiency of your team members because it offers them mobile access. Your team members can access the corporate data as and when they need it, and this helps them remain on the same page on any given subject. Those at a remote location and high-flying executives who are short on time can keep themselves updated on all the recent developments. It makes life much easier for your remote staff and freelancers who can remain equally productive. It also empowers your sales team because they have access to all the data on the move.

Increased collaboration – Cloud computing makes the process of collaboration seamless. It allows your mobile workforce and remote workers to access information seamlessly across devices making them more productive. With cloud computing, your team members can view and share all the information securely without any delay. Collaborating without cloud computing is not easy, and it is also not all that effective.

Disaster recovery – Data is important for every business, and that is why businesses need to invest in robust data recovery. But due to lack of expertise and liquid funds, it becomes difficult for smaller businesses to invest in data recovery. That is where cloud computing comes to the rescue of businesses. You can avail the cloud-based backup and recovery solutions which ensures that your data remains safe at all the times. Businesses not only save on time and third-party expertise, but they also don’t have to spend money on disaster recovery. Be it power outages or natural disasters; cloud computing offers a robust data recovery solution.

Document control – You need to have stringent document control in place when employees and partners from different region collaborate on documents. Earlier, employees used to send the documents back and forth as an email attachment for inputs and correction where only one person at a time could have given his or her views. All of this resulted in unnecessary confusion. But when businesses move their operations to the cloud, all your documents are stored at a central place and in a similar format. And, when people in your organisation access the same information, it helps you to maintain data consistency and eliminates human error. It improves collaboration which, of course, results in better outcomes.

Competitive edge – Businesses who have moved their operations to the cloud firmly believe that it has provided them with a competitive edge. With cloud computing, you get access to enterprise-class technology which helps small and medium companies to act faster than big and established corporates. When you opt for cloud computing, you get all the resources to compete with the big players.

In case you are planning to move your business operations to the cloud, and you are looking for a reliable cloud service provider, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now.

vStacks Infotech offers affordable and flexible cloud hosting solutions. We have the necessary experience and exposure in the software industry to take your business to the next level.

According to Gartner, by 2020 a corporate no-cloud strategy would become as rare as a no-internet policy is in today’s time.

Cloud computing is neither a fad nor an illusion, it is a reality and a necessity which is here to stay. Businesses across the globe, small and big, are shifting their operations to the cloud, as it offers several benefits including flexibility, cost efficiency and increased productivity.

We are already using the cloud in our day to day lives, in one form or the other. Online banking, sending and receiving emails, or listening to music, you are part of the cloud revolution that has dominated the landscape of information technology in the last one decade.

The security concerns pertaining to cloud computing is no more an issue with the corporates now, as several checks and balances are in place to safeguard your company information.

Cloud computing and its type

The delivery of software, servers, analytics, storage, networking and databases, etc. via the internet is known as cloud computing. The companies that offer these services are referred to as cloud service providers and you need to only pay for what you use.

Cloud computing allows you to run all your programs or applications via the internet, without the need of investing in the costly IT infrastructure. It is the computing that is based on the internet. A boon for organisations starting off their operations, and also for those who are concerned about liquid funds.

There are three common types of cloud computing and these are:
Software as a service or SaaS
Platform as a service or PaaS
Infrastructure as a service, or IaaS

Reasons why your business needs cloud computing services

There was a time when cloud services were patronised by big corporate houses and small businesses thought that there was nothing much in store for them. But, things have changed since then and even small companies are now benefitting from the cloud services in equal measure.

Some of the main reasons why your business need cloud computing are:

You save money – Businesses, especially small and medium enterprises can do a lot more if they have liquid funds available with them during the initial stages of their operations. And, cloud computing gives them just that, the option to save huge amount of money. You do not need to buy costly machines or invest in hiring and managing a big IT team, or arrange for space to keep all those servers in your premises. With cloud computing you just pay for what you use, the services are on rent, you do not have to purchase it.

Also, there is minimum or no upfront cost involved when you shift your business to the cloud. It is therefore a cost effective option.

You can always keep your focus on your business – Managing an in house IT department takes away your precious time and attention. If you invest this time in your core competency, you can definitely take your business to a higher level, and that too at a faster pace. Cloud computing gives you the liberty to stay focussed on the development of your business. You have time to channelize your abilities in the right direction.

Increases the productivity of your staff– Maintaining on premise datacenters require constant attention of your in house IT team. But, when you move your operations to the cloud, it is the responsibility of the service provider to do all the regular maintenance work like software patching and setting up of the hardware. This gives your team sufficient time to accomplish other important business targets and add further value to your organisation.

Cloud computing is more reliable – Your customer data and company information needs to be protected at all costs. Even the best of systems and servers can crash if you do not invest in costly redundant systems. With completely adaptive disaster recovery, regular data backup and powerful machines/ servers, you can rest assure that your data is totally safe and secure. This also means that your business is continuously up and running without any significant downtime. You get all this and more with cloud computing, which is cost effective as well as reliable.

You get unmatched security – Losing tablets and laptops are a big issue, not because of the machine, but more due to the information you lose with them. But, with cloud computing you never lose any of your data, since all the information is in the cloud.
Cloud computing now offers strong password and multiple step verification so that your data remains completely safe.

It is scalable – Many organisations start small, but grow as they move on, and their IT requirements also increase along the way. But, this does not mean that you invest in the hardware and software when you do not need them. Cloud computing is scalable, you only need to pay for what you use. Hence, as you grow your software and hardware requirements are well taken care of by the cloud.

If you have not moved your business to the cloud yet, get in touch with vStacks Infotech, a cloud computing Services Company that can take care of all your IT needs efficiently.

With over two decades of experience in the software industry, vStacks Infotech is capable of handling all your cloud requirements.