Migrating a WordPress Site to Google Cloud Hosting

You’ve finally decided to make the big switch and migrate your WordPress site to Google Cloud Hosting. Congrats! Your site is now live and you can begin exploring the many features Google offers. But, before you do, there are several things you need to check out.

How Do I Migrate My WordPress Site To Google Cloud Hosting?

First off, you need to establish a strong basis for your site before you make the jump. Make sure you’ve gotten all the security updates, patched all the security vulnerabilities, and are running the latest version of WordPress. You also need to check out all the various features Google Cloud Hosting has to offer and decide which ones you want to use.

Now that you have a solid foundation for your site, it’s time to dive in and get to work. If you’re using WordPress as the publishing platform for your site, a good place to start would be GCP (Google Cloud Platform).

You can use a number of different services within Google Cloud Platform to get your website to the next level.

Web Hosting

As your name suggests, web hosting is one of the foundational elements that make up your website. What is web hosting and where should you host your website? Think of web hosting as the apartment you live in while your website is up and running. It’s where all the action happens and you need to make sure that all the necessary infrastructure is in place to allow for maximum usability.

There are many different web hosts out there, each offering a different level of service and bundled offers. For example, Dreamhosting comes with all the basic web hosting packages and also includes a free domain name. You’ll not get all the bells and whistles with Dream hosting, but for the price, it’s one of the best values out there.

If you’re looking for a robust web host that comes with all the bells and whistles, try UCC (Unified Communications) hosting by Unify Group. Not only does Unify Hosting come with all the basic web hosting packages, but it also includes a free domain name and offers email marketing, automated website backups, free caching, and more.

Email Hosting

Unless you’re running a high-profile website with a substantial amount of content that you want to keep accessible regardless of which device is used to access it, you most probably won’t need to worry about implementing an email marketing strategy.

However, for those of you who do, you can use any one of the web hosts mentioned previously to set up a reliable emailing service.

Database Hosting

A database is a collection of information stored in a single place. The most popular type of database is a relational database. Relational databases allow for easy querying and extracting of information. They also make it easy to add more records to the database.

When it comes to database hosting, there are a few companies that you can go with. One of the most popular choices is Shopify. Not only do they offer a robust product and excellent customer service, but their database hosting is incredibly cheap. For example, their basic package costs only $2.95 per month.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A content delivery network (CDN) is a group of servers that are distributed across the globe and serve content for a variety of websites and applications.

Because the servers are close to the user, content delivery networks reduce latency and increase speed for websites and applications that use their services. Popular CDNs include Cloudflare, MaxCDN, and Level 3.net. You can use their free tiers for testing purposes before you decide to move your site full-time. If you want a free domain name and you don’t mind spending a little bit of money, Cloudflare is the go-to option for most web developers.

Why Should I Migrate My WordPress Site To Google Cloud Hosting?

There are a number of reasons why you might want to consider migrating your WordPress site to GCP. Here are just a few:

• Security: Keeping data secure is one of the main goals of any business; however, it’s especially critical for websites that deal with customer information. Although all web hosts offer some level of security through various firewalls, DDoS protection, and backups, those features aren’t free. When it comes to security, you can’t beat the extra set of eyes and ears offered by Google Cloud Platform.
• Scalability: Your content might not fit into the default install on your web host’s server, especially if you have a large audience or lots of activity on your site. If this is the case, you’ll want to look into GCP‘s huge scaling advantage over traditional web hosts. Not only can they add more servers to your cluster, if necessary, but they also have specialized engineers that can help you optimize your site for maximum performance.
• Performance: In today’s world, everyone is increasingly mobile. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, then you might as well not even bother trying to reach your audience since they’ll never see your content.
• Ease of Use: Keeping up with all the different platforms and devices that your audience uses to access content can be a lot of work. Letting Google manage your site’s hosting will remove the majority of the pain. Not to mention the extra level of security that comes with it.
• Reliability: Traditional web hosts are notorious for going down repeatedly, especially in major cities. The fact is, no matter how much you pay for decent bandwidth, there will always be periods of time when it’s unavailable. Letting Google manage your site’s hosting will remove all the worry and let you get back to building your business.
• Cost: The cost of web hosting is going up every year, and the majority of the growth is due to what’s called the ‘gold rush’ content strategy. That is, as people become more aware of the importance of SEO and online marketing, the demand for website content increases, and therefore, so does the cost of web hosting.
• Features: What happens when you need a plugin or a feature that’s not offered by your web host? You’ll either have to downgrade to a cheaper host or hope that the developer of the plugin or feature releases an update that works with your current host. With a dedicated server from Google Cloud Platform, you won’t have to deal with any down time or problems that come with using outdated software.

In light of all the above, Google Cloud Platform is an excellent choice for anybody looking for a robust, hassle-free option when it comes to website hosting. With all the features and services that they offer, it’s not hard to understand why.