Bloggers are starting to realize that there are a variety of benefits in taking their site to the cloud. The benefits of using a cloud provider to host your Wordpress site include:

• The provider has a plan in place to backup your data and recover it if it is lost.
• There is no limit to the amount of data you store.
• You don’t need to deal with the frustration of setting up hardware and software to run the servers. Your provider has done this for you.
• Your pages will load much more quickly. Your visitors will appreciate this and your search engine rankings will improve as well.
• Your site can handle sudden influxes of traffic. This is essential if you have a story that goes viral on Slashdot or Reddit.

Cloud hosting clearly creates a number of benefits for WordPress site owners. So why aren’t more bloggers using it?

Challenges with Cloud Hosting

Despite the many benefits that cloud computing brings, many bloggers still haven’t taken the leap. There are a few reasons why it is worrisome. One of the biggest concerns most bloggers have is the cost (although the technology should be cheaper a few years down the road when providers have had a chance to fine-tune it). Cloud computing also creates some security problems and forces bloggers to relinquish some of their control.

In order to benefit from the cloud environment, you need to understand the cloud environment and what you need to do to get the right cloud hosting.

Taking Your Blog to the Cloud

You will need to pick a good cloud provider to host your blog. It is always good to work with a company that has a proven track record for working with WordPress blog. Different cloud providers often specialize in different applications. WordPress sites have their own set of security and storage needs, so you don’t want to take the chance of working with a provider that isn’t equipped to provide that service for you.

There are a number of companies that are well known for hosting Wordpress sites. Rackspace, Cloudypress and Woohost all provide cloud hosting for WordPress sites.

You will need to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine which one seems to be the best fit. Consider the quality of service each provider offers. There are thousands of companies that provide cloud hosting services throughout the world and they are not equal by any means. You should answer the following questions before you choose any cloud provider:

• What is the pricing structure?
• What security solutions do they offer?
• What guarantees can the provider make in terms of data recovery, uptime and other essential variables?
• What reviews does each company provide?

Finally, you will want to consider where your users will be located relative to your host. If you are running a blog that is mostly tailored to people in Saudi Arabia, then a cloud host in the United States might not work so well. Your visitors might need to wait longer to get your data and the data may not be of the same quality they are looking for. Try to find a cloud provider in the same country unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise.

Make sure that you understand your data and security needs before you sign any contract. You may need to get a different hosting plan if it doesn’t provide the services you are looking for.

There are a number of reasons to take your account to the cloud. Make sure you understand what you are looking for before you select any cloud hosting plan.

Kalen Smith writes about technology and could computing for Scale Matrix, one of the top private cloud providers.