Ecommerce Hosting Considerations
Website hosting
can be a complex undertaking. Determining how much
space you need, how much transfer, finding a reliable
host, and getting everything online is no simple task.
Add ecommerce to the mix and things become even more
complex. This article will deal with some of those
additional complications to finding a host for an
online store. All of the same considerations to finding
general hosting can be applied to ecommerce hosting,
there are simply a few additional ones that need some
attention.
Basics- Disk Space and Transfer
The core states
of any kind of hosting, ecommerce or not, remain space
and transfer, or traffic. Generally measured in monthly
increments, your space and transfer will place a crucial
role in determining just what size plan you need.
Ecommerce sites will, generally speaking, require
more space and transfer than an equivilant sized site
without ecommerce. This is due to the presence of
the shopping cart upon which the online storefront
is based. Shopping cart programs are installed to
the account on which they operate, requiring space,
and their scripts for running the store will require
additional transfer to handle customers as they browse,
add items to their cart, and check out. Will there
be a tremendous amount of extra transfer required
by the cart? That depends on how many use the cart
and on the cart itself. This is why its best to start
small and having a clear upgrade path to handle future
popularity.
Prospective online merchants will generally have a
good idea how many products they'll be selling initially.
This will vary wildly from merchant to merchant, and
many merchants don't put their entire stocks online.
It is wise to start with a considered selection of
products first, especially if you wish to initially
keep your hosting plan small and upgrade as the store
prospers. Those with a great deal of products need
to be aware they will probably be facing a bigger
monthly fee for a larger hosting plan. Once the decision
is made regarding the products, attention can be turned
to finding a suitable shopping cart program to contain
them.
Shopping Cart
The choice of shopping
cart can be a personal one. Those entirely new to
ecommerce will probably not have any experience with
any kind of shopping cart software. There are a number
of popular choices, and most hosting companies will
provide one, if not a variety, from which you can
choose. It is important to find a shopping cart that
suits the individual user, as attempting to change
your shopping down the road can be a long process
that will, most likely, bring your store down during
a transitional period. Don't immediately jump at the
first cart a host offers. Ask if they have demos and
try them out. Be sure it's a program you can learn
and use, as it is the primary way you'll be doing
your online business. Even if you have a large business
and have a design firm setting up the cart, a rudimentary
knowledge of the cart's processes is highly recommended.
Learn as much about your prospective shopping cart
software as possible. Make sure it supports SSL, a
common site security protocol that will help keep
your customer's credit card numbers safe when ordering
online. It will need to support your merchant account
and payment gateway. In many cases a host might bundle
these services, so compatibility isn't an issue. If
you secured your merchant services separately from
hosting, be sure they are compatible. Find out if
the cart has a recommended maximum product limit and,
of course, try not to exceed it. The store may slow
down and perform poorly if there are too many products
in it.
Finally, make sure it will do everything you want
it to do. Some merchants sell services and downloadable
items that don't conform exactly to the order-product-ship-product
flow. If your cart doesn't support these features
by default, there may be 3rd party add-ons that will
provide this functionality. Miva Merchant is one such
shopping cart with a very active 3rd party developer
community providing a wide range of add-ons, or "modules"
to extend the feature set of the original program.
The merchant will have to buy these add-ons and have
them installed on their own initiative, though, and
the hosting company will not be able to support them.
Reliability and Support
Perhaps of greatest
importance is reliability in your chosen host. Think
in terms of a "brick and mortar" storefront. If someone
locks the front door during business hours, then no
customers can come in and nothing is sold. Similarly,
if an online store is down at any hour, no customers
can come in and nothing is sold. You want the most
reliable hosting for such a mission-critical site.
Never just take the word of a hosting company's site
in regards to their uptime. Do research and look for
customer reviews of your prospective host. Online
merchants should always be willing to pay more for
a reliable hosting company with good uptime and support.
A good rule of thumb is to stay away from free or
"bargain basement" hosts, since support and uptime
are usually the first things to suffer with this kind
of hosting.
Conclusions
Finding the right
ecommerce hosting company requires a few additional
considerations. Decide on your products, your shopping
cart, and then shop for your hosting company. You
will need more space and transfer than an equivalent
site, but start small with your product selection
and you can still save money on your hosting. Find
a shopping cart that's easy for you to use and understand,
as switching at a later date can result in downtime
and a lot of work transferring your products. Finally,
make sure your host has solid uptime, as an online
store that's down isn't generating any sales.
About the Author:
Mr. Lester has
served for 4 years as the webmaster for http://www.apollohosting.com
and previously worked in the IT industry an additional
5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and
search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides
website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and
web design services to a wide range of customers.
