If you’re thinking about starting an e-commerce website, there’s no doubt that hosting is an important part of owning it. The cost of hosting can vary widely from one provider to another – and the quality of service and features offered by each varies as well. In this article, we’ll look at some of the factors that should be considered when choosing a web host for your online store so that you can make sure everything runs smoothly when it comes time for opening day!
Selecting a web host
Choosing a web host is the foundation of your e-commerce website. It’s important to find a host that is reliable, affordable and offers enough features for your needs.
- Reliability – A reliable web host will help you avoid downtime or slowdowns in service. If you have any downtime issues with your site, it can cause serious damage to sales on your store and may even lead to lost customers who abandon their carts when they cannot complete their purchase during the outage period (however short).
- Affordable – Look for a host that offers cheap plans but still provides all the necessary tools required by an online merchant; these include cPanel & WHM control panels as well as security features such as firewall protection software/firewalls etcetera
The cost of web hosting services
If you want to get the most out of your web hosting service, it’s important that you know how much it will cost. The price can vary based on features and services offered, so it’s important to look for a host that offers a free trial period and money-back guarantee. Additionally, finding a low cost per month is one way to lower the overall cost of your site.
The uptime guarantee
The uptime guarantee is the percentage of time your site is available. If you have a 99% uptime guarantee, it means that your server will be online for 100% of the time that it’s supposed to be up and running (i.e., 24 hours a day).
Uptime guarantees can be as high as 99%, but some hosts offer even higher guarantees – like 99.9%. And then there are hosts who only offer lower-quality guarantees: for example, they might promise an uptime rate between 90% and 95%.
Technical support
- 24/7 support
- Phone, email and live chat support.
- How quickly you can get help when you need it.
- How easy it is to get help from the technical team (the time it takes them to respond).
- How helpful the support staff are at solving your problem(s) or explaining how they would tackle a similar situation in the future if one were to arise again on your website.
Control panel software
The control panel is the software that allows you to manage your website. It’s different from the web hosting service in that it doesn’t have a graphical interface, and it won’t be in the same place on your computer as WordPress or one of its other applications.
The control panel can be used by anyone with basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP—the main languages used for creating websites online. This means that even if you don’t know how to program (or even if you do), there are plenty of tutorials available online that will teach you how to use these tools effectively!
Domain name management
If you own a domain name, such as “example.com,” it’s important to know that if you want to use that domain in an e-commerce website, then any other company or person who has a similar name will also be affected. For example, if your company owns “example” and someone else already owns “example2,” then neither party can use those names without legal action being taken against them by both parties involved.
Similarly, if someone else is using the exact same name for their business (such as “example”), then they cannot be named as one of your clients either—unless they’ve paid for some sort of exclusive rights from yourself or another person/company with similar interests (which may not even make sense).
Traffic reporting and analytics
Traffic reporting and analytics are important for any e-commerce website. The most important thing to remember about traffic reporting and analytics is that they aren’t the same thing. Traffic reporting tells you how many visitors your site had during a given period of time, while analytics helps you understand why those visitors came (or didn’t come).
Web hosting is an important part of owning an online store – make sure you weigh all the factors when you decide.
Web hosting is an important part of owning an online store – make sure you weigh all the factors when you decide.
- What are the costs? Can they be compared to other hosts?
- How long will it take to set up a website, and how long does it stay up if there are any issues with maintenance or upgrades? If a web host goes down for any reason, will your site be down with them or can you continue accessing it from another location (such as an off-site server)?
Conclusion
Make sure to consider all the factors involved in your decision. It is important to have a good web host that has reliable services and support, as well as one that can help you with issues such as security breaches or downtimes. We hope this article has given you some insight into what web hosting is all about!
