WordPress is an extremely popular platform for creating and managing online content. This content management system is used by everyone from individuals to large organizations, thanks to its open-source license and easy, flexible customization.
You’ve probably given a good deal of thought to what platform you want to build your site on, but have you applied the same level of scrutiny to where you host it? When it comes to hosting your WordPress site, there are some important considerations to be made. This blog will help you get a sense of why where you host your website is important and the key benefits of hosting WordPress on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud service.
Being a perfect host
Just to be clear, web hosting refers to the place on the internet where the files and content on your website live. And as I’ve said, it’s so fundamental that it’s often overlooked. Choosing the right host for your WordPress site can go a long way to improving the impact your website has once it’s out there in the world, including speed and response times, security, search engine optimization (SEO), and user experience.
A quick look at the hosting universe:
There are several options for hosting a WordPress site. These include:
- Free
- Dedicated
- Shared
- Managed
Businesses are increasingly turning to Azure to host their WordPress websites. This is because hosting your WordPress site on the Microsoft cloud can give you better scalability and increased flexibility as well as other benefits. Let’s look at these benefits now:
Better performance
When you’re trying to promote your organization and sell your brand, the last thing you want is a lag on your website. Your website is the window to your business and your very presence in a world where decisions are made primarily online. When it doesn’t work very well, people notice and will (thanks to reduced patience and a plethora of options) find an alternative site in mere seconds. You can’t afford to lose people at this crucial stage.
Hosting on Azure can ensure that your site is up and running, fast, and the user experience is as you intended it to be. Ensuring your website performance is consistently excellent will go a long way to keeping your current and potential customers coming back for more.
Scalability
The ideal for any organization is to get a massive surge in traffic to your site. But with that comes pressure on your hosting capabilities—think about the last time you got up at the crack of dawn to nab tickets to your favorite band only for the website selling the tickets to crash, and you’re kicked out of the line.
To stop your site from crashing, you must be able to scale to accommodate sudden surges in demand. Hosting on Azure means your website will be automatically ready to handle any massive upsurges in traffic that may occur.
Reliability and peace of mind
Hosting your WordPress site on Azure means you also receive Microsoft’s 99.5% availability SLA. It means your site will “always be on.” If a disaster should strike, your data will be protected, and a second data center will pick up the load. You can rest safely in the knowledge that your business will always be available online.
Indeed, with all the hard work that goes into the design and build of your website, not to mention the data you collect from it every day, you will need the peace of mind that you can only get from a reliable backup service. When you host your WordPress on Azure, you are automatically backed up by Azure Backup, keeping all your precious data safe and your business protected.
Cost-effectiveness
Another benefit of hosting your WordPress site on Azure is the access to pay-as-you-go pricing. That means no significant investment or lump sum payment is required to get your website up and running. Instead, you can get started right away with generating leads and sales and only pay for what you use per month. It gives you added business agility and enables you to scale when you need to.
Let us help you
When hosting in Azure, you can deploy powerful Azure-based resources across various operating systems and tools. And you can easily add more services when needed. Whether you have already built your website and you’re looking to move it to Azure, or you’re thinking about where to host as part of your building process, an experienced technology partner can add a lot of value to your website (and business) ambitions.
The Bauen Group are seasoned Microsoft experts and highly experienced in WordPress, and so are perfectly placed to assist your organization with hosting your WordPress site on Azure. We’ll help you ensure your online presence gives exactly the impression it needs to, and make sure Azure is a platform you can build future success on.
To learn more about hosting WordPress on Azure or other reasons why an investment in Microsoft might be the best step for your business, get in contact with the team at the Bauen Group today.
