Choosing a web hosting provider for your site is quite straightforward if you are looking to just share static web pages like blogs or information and news articles. For the average user, these can be hosted with the minimal requirements and resources offered by most hosting providers. There is no threat to data loss that could result in disastrous consequences, finances are safe and people’s identities will, for the most part, be protected.
When it comes to hosting ecommerce sites, the reverse is true: extra care must be taken as a crash, data breach or theft of people’s finances could have real world consequences which could not only ruin the lives of your clients and bring your business to its knees, it could also see you end up behind bars for reckless behavior with your clients’ information or even as an accomplice to a crime.
Hacking into a server has become relatively easy in today’s world of free tools and scripts that can be downloaded from thousands of websites. Even a child with the right set of tools can breach a relatively secure website with a little patience and tenacity.
This means you owe your clients the courtesy of choosing the best web hosting provider for your ecommerce site, and here’s how you can choose one:
The Most Secure One
While comparing web hosting providers, opt for the ones that take the time to add as many security futures to their clients’ packages as possible. Do not make compromises on security – your clients trust you to keep their personal and financial information safe. If you have to pay extra for added security features, do it. It is always worth it.
If you want to accept payments using credit cards you will need to have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates which any decent hosting provider will have – get it along with a static IP address. With them in hand you will be able to encrypt the data that goes to and from your website and make it harder for data theft, thus protecting your clients and yourself.
Uptime Should be Above 99%
Your site should never go down. Your clients should never click on your link and see a “404 – Page not Found” error message. You can’t afford it, because the chances of a visitor returning to your site decreases drastically with every error displayed. You also do not want a deal to fall through because your site went down mid-transaction – you could lose a sale and, worse, your client could lose their money. You will definitely earn a bad reputation, to say the least.
In an ideal world, web hosting providers would have their servers up and running 100% of the time. Realistically, they promise you something a little less: 98% – 99.99%. This is in anticipation of unforeseeable circumstances. If they do stick to these numbers you shouldn’t see too much of a glitch in your operations.
You can do some research before you sign on with a provider and even after you decide to join them, make use of monitoring tools to see if they hold up their side of the bargain. Anything more than 24 hours’ downtime is unacceptable; move to a new provider.
Resource Allocation, Flexibility and Scalability
A business is never created to remain stagnant. It needs to grow. As your business grows you will need to have the backing of a hosting provider which will allow you to handle the increase in visitors, customers and sales.
To begin with, you should have a site that doesn’t lag or crash with your current client base and rate of transactions. As things change for the better, your hosting provider should make the gradual transitions to faster speeds and more resource and bandwidth allocations without any problems or downtime.
Look for providers who can not only guarantee easy flexibility and scalability, but actually have a proven track record.
Play with the Big Boys
Find out which provider your biggest and most well-established competitors are using and look into them. If they trust their hosting providers, you can safely assume they will be good for you too. An added advantage will be that they already know your business requirements and what you will need when you need to migrate to bigger plans.
Shopping Carts and Payment Gateways
Do not settle for a few select and/or popular shopping carts and payment gateways. Do not decide what your clients should use to pay you. Provide all the available opportunities for them and they will be glad to do business with you. In fact, if you can integrate lesser-used options you might be able to attract customers who didn’t have a way of paying for services because your competitors didn’t cater to their payment needs.
Conclusion
A good rule to abide by is to look for the biggest players in the web hosting business. Mind you, it doesn’t guarantee that they are the best choice for you, but they should be able to meet all the requirements mentioned above. They have the experience and knowhow to ensure smooth hosting experiences. Of course, the more customers they have the less attention they may give to your individual issues. But that is a balance you will need to weigh your requirements on when choosing the right provider.
