If you’re looking for increased site performance and functionality, look no further. The WordPress Cloud plugin allows users to create cloud storage functionality right on their own website, and it comes with a slew of benefits.
What does that mean for you?
At the most basic level, each user will have a personal space for hosting images and documents. It’s a great solution for businesses that have more than one registered user on each site and want to keep files and documents separate.
And, unlike plugins of the past, this one isn’t installed directly on your website.
Let’s dive in a little deeper:
What is a Cloud Plugin?
Traditionally, WordPress plugins have been installed directly on a WordPress site. This could lead to a number of drawbacks including:
- Slow load times: Running multiple plugins at the same time can lead to decreased performance – and slower load times can be further amplified by plugins that require a lot of resources to run (like eCommerce).
- Compatibility issues: Plugins can sometimes interfere with each other and the more plugins you have running on your site, the greater the chance that will happen. This can lead to performance issues and a poor customer experience.
- More time spent on maintenance: Website owners are generally responsible for updating and maintaining their own plugins. It stands to reason that the more plugins you have, the more time you will need to spend on maintenance.
Today, there are several plugins that allow you to add cloud functionality to your WordPress website and they all have one thing in common: functionality is now shared between the owner’s WordPress installation and the cloud service.
How Does a Cloud Plugin Work?
Like traditional plugins, these allow the user to interact with an interface via JavaScript enabled content. Unlike traditional plugins, they connect to a cloud service.
There are two basic types of interfaces available at the moment:
- Control Interfaces: these allow a WordPress site owner to configure plugin behavior.
- Content Interfaces: these allow site visitors to interact with cloud services and present a consistent user experience. There are currently several different varieties, including photo galleries, media players, and upload boxes.
Benefits of Using a Cloud Plugin
In theory, hosting these services on the cloud vs. directly on the site will lead to increased page speed. Here are some other benefits:
- More Reliable Performance: Because a cloud plugin is held in its own self-contained environment, it has a far lesser ability to affect your site’s performance. In addition, there is very little chance it will interfere with other plugins, essentially eliminating the compatibility problems that often plague WordPress plugin users.
- Lower Cost for Site Owners: Because the plugin isn’t held on the user’s site, it will decrease their overall hosting costs. Instead, the burden will fall on the plugin creator’s cloud provider.
- More Money for Plugin Providers: Most plugins today are available for a one-time cost. Cloud services, on the other hand, generally operate on a monthly fee, leading to increased revenue for the plugin provider.
Should You Switch to Cloud-Based Plugins?
If you’ve been experiencing WordPress website performance issues, you may want to consider switching to cloud plugins.
Start keeping track of your performance issues and determine if they might be plugin-related:
- Do you run several different plugins at the same time?
- Is your site running slow?
- Are one or more plugins malfunctioning as the result of a possible compatibility issue?
- Is ongoing maintenance hard for you to keep track of, resulting in less-than-optimal performance?
By leveraging the power of cloud-based services, you can eliminate many of these common grievances. If you have any questions, our friendly service team is always here to answer!