Web Hosting Reviews & Ratings

February 03, 2009

How to Get the Best E-commerce Hosting

The reason deciding on an e-commerce hosting solution is so challenging is because there are literally thousands of companies to choose from.  Your search becomes even more difficult when visiting sites advertising load balancing VPS, colocation, Ruby on Rails and several features you may not be familiar with.  When it comes time to choose a web host company, it is important to determine why you need web hosting in the first place.  Knowing what you need plays a major role in determining the type of hosting you require.  Web hosting comes in many different variations and prices.  By figuring out what you need in advance, you can avoid paying for the services and features that have no prevalence to your initiative.

The best way to narrow down the companies able to suit your needs is to ask yourself a few questions.  Here are some to keep in mind.

• What type of functionality do you require?  Databases to support web applications, SSL for securely processing credit card transactions?
• How many visitors do you anticipate?  Do you expect a minimal, moderate or high volume of traffic?
• What type of performance does your business require?  Can you afford to host on a server with slow load times?
• Although web hosting is generally affordable these days, e-commerce solutions can range from under $10 to hundreds of dollars per month.  The price really goes up when factoring in packages like dedicated servers and managed hosting.  Being that this is one of the important decisions you will ever make, you need to make it a priority to get the best value for your money.

Here are a few questions we suggest asking a prospective web host before signing up for service.

• Is there a money-back guarantee?  Do I get a full or partial refund?
• What is included in the uptime guarantee?  How am I compensated in the event of a failure?
• What methods are used to backup my data?  How often is data backed up?
• Do you have redundant connections to the internet?   Are connections leveraged from one or multiple providers?
• Do you offer 24/7 customer service and technical support?  Is there toll-free phone and live chat or just email?
• How long have you been in the web hosting business?  Does your company have references of other e-commerce sites you are currently hosting?
• What are the terms of the contract?  Do I have to purchase an annual contract or can I pay for service on a month to month basis?
• Is it possible to upscale or downscale a hosting package as my needs change?

Finding a good web hosting company for your e-commerce site requires a thorough process where you must question both yourself and the host.  The answers you get from the questions will make it much easier to find a provider best suited for your requirements.  If you think finding a web host is tedious, you haven't experienced anything until purchasing a horrible service and being forced to move all of your data and customers to a new server.

Tags: e-commerce hosting,  e-commerce,  credit card transactions,  colocation,  backup data,  vps,  uptime guarantee,  SSL,  ruby on rails