If you are venturing into the world of eCommerce, you would have realized that there are a plethora of decisions that lie ahead. One such significant decision that you will arrive at is choosing the correct website hosting provider.
To begin with, let’s understand why picking the right host is so crucial. Being relevant in this fast-paced digital age of eCommerce is a major concern and one that is driven largely by efficiency. Having no brick-and-mortar structure to compensate for digital shortcomings, your eCommerce livelihood depends on the efficient service provided to you by your web host. Customer experiences are at the heart of success and providing them with seamless shopping experiences should be your number one priority.
With numerous daily transactions and interactions, eCommerce websites have an entirely different set of requirements. Ensuring that your website hosting provider is able to provide you with services such as shopping carts, payment gateways, etc., is a must. However, choosing from thousands of providers for the first time can be quite a task. To make things a tad bit simpler for you, here are 6 things to keep in mind when selecting an eCommerce website host that is right for you, and your business.
- Scalability and infrastructure
Every business starts with the aim of growing and becoming more profitable each day. One of the main things to ensure is that your web hosting plan is in sync with these inevitabilities. The service and infrastructure should be flexible, scalable, and ready to grow along with your business, as required.
- Uptime
When you’re in the eCommerce business, every second of downtime will directly affect your sales and reflect negatively on your credibility. Most hosting providers offer between 1 Nine (90%) to 5 Nines (99.999%) of uptime, which ranges from 36.5 days to 5.25 minutes of yearly downtime. Since every second of non-functionality will cost you, it’s imperative that you make an informed decision on what suits your current business objective. The question you should ask yourselves is whether the cost of extra assurance of server reliability is less than or worth your projected returns from sales.
- Data and technical specifications
Being an eCommerce business, your database performance levels should be optimal. Storage capacity, processing power, auto-backups, and auto-scaling are features that you should keep an eye out for. However, to ensure that you are not paying more than what you are consuming, you should opt for a plan with a host with whom you can downsize without any hassles.
- Privacy and security
Since your website will be processing numerous transactions daily, it’s a must to ensure that sensitive customer information is secure and protected. To do so, you should only consider website hosts who are equipped with an SSL certification (Secure Socket Layer) in their plans, at no extra cost.
- Technical support
Another major consideration is to confirm whether your potential host provides in-house or outsourced tech support. With in-house support, you have a guarantee of 24×7 reliability in the event of any server errors or malfunctions – which is an absolute must.
- Cost
Lastly, we come to the pricing of plans. The harsh reality is that in the world of website hosting, you get what you pay for. If you’re just starting out your business, you should take the time to assess features that you deem essential, and those that you can go without. As you gain traction, expand your eCommerce platform, and start operating profitably. You can always upgrade your plan to support this growth.
Since the success of your business lies entirely in your customers’ hands, it’s an absolute necessity to ensure that their experience on your eCommerce website is seamless, convenient, and without any glitches. Thus, the key is to pick an eCommerce web hosting plan that will grow and adapt to your changing business needs while providing you with the service assurance and reliability you require. Each business has unique needs, and your plan should be customized according to what you think is best for your current situation while having the ability to make desired adjustments in the future.