Setting up an eCommerce website is not an easy task if you are not familiar with the basics. There are many intricate details that you first need to figure out, before looking for web hosting company for your eCommerce website. Through this article you will be able to find out few important pointers that will help you with getting started. Let us look at the 5 things that you need to know before think about investing in eCommerce hosting.
- Price
The most important thing when looking for a host is the pricing. You need to find out about the pricing slab that suits you the best. Often web hosting companies offer multiple hosting packages like shared, VPS and dedicated hosting to suit budget & requirements of everyone. However, some hosting companies also offers specific CMS based hosting packages which includes managed Magento hosting, X-Cart hosting, WordPress hosting, Drupal hosting etc. to cater specific needs of clients. You just need to consider your personal budget first and then work on the other details.
- Server, Storage Space & Bandwidth
Online storage space is essential to consider while you are choosing a web hosting company. For example, if you are a small business then your storage requirement would be 100 MB. On the other hand most of the hosting companies are providing 1GB space that is needed for their business requirements. Remember that for an online business requirement you need large space to support everything. Things like images, plug-ins and other stuff acquire a lot of storage space for a fully functional eCommerce website. Another thing is the bandwidth that determines the number of users who would be able to utilize your website. Often web hosting companies offer to give a 50GB limit without videos included. If videos are included then you would need 500GB of space to support it all.
- Security
One more essential factor for a good website is that of security. It is important that you take rightful security measures. This requires selecting a good hosting provider with SSL connections. It ensures that the website is secure even if it is a shared SSL connection. You can opt to go with dedicated connection too, but that would require extra investment and fees. However, it is all about safeguarding your website and keeping the customer information secured. All this leads to a multiplied amount of customers for you.
- Monitoring and Backups
Regular monitoring of websites ensures that all the bugs and flaws are fixed. Additionally, it involves keeping an eye on the conversion rate and ensuring good performance. It is essential to note that a good hosting company would provide you with the facility to remotely monitor your website from anywhere. Another thing would be monitoring and measuring performance reports in relation to website response. This gives you a clear idea on how good the website is running.
Backups are equally essential to maintain a viable database and make it easy to fetch records. It can be done on cloud, on the server space or as dump file format that can be later on shifted to another location.
- Customer Service
It is all about being customer centric at the end, this means being able to provide a good after sales service. The after support provided by a web host is essential to resolve any queries that come after the website is live. All the support involved in serving customer needs is what is essential. Problem solving and providing viable solutions is necessary as they arrive.
- Installation & Customization of E-commerce Platform
Installation of various software, plug-ins and managing it properly are the essential things that a web hosting company should provide. This is required as it takes off the stress involved in working through the minute details, to know how a website is performing. Customization of the website and the platform with things that are most required by the customer is yet another factor to be considered. E-Commerce businesses require lots of details that need to be worked upon, according to the changing needs of the customer.
Keeping all the above factors in mind you will be easily able to find a good web hosting company to your credit.
