Many eCommerce businesses often make the mistake of choosing a cheap web hosting provider. Most of them think that web hosting is not important, and it will not affect their income. But the truth is quite the opposite.
In this post, we’re going to show you why a good web host is critical to the success of an eCommerce site and the criteria for choosing an eCommerce host.
Why It’s Important to Choose the Right Host
When you google for the best eCommerce hosting provider, you will get a list of the cheapest web hosting services. These web hosts are fine for small eCommerce sites, but they aren’t perfect for mission-critical eCommerce sites.
Mission-critical eCommerce websites never settle for third-rate hosting services.
Speed Matters
Most consumers expect web pages to load under two seconds or less. If not, they will leave your site and buy from a competitor. Slow-loading websites not only ruin the customer experience but also hurt your Google rankings. If your eCommerce store is slow, it will be outranked by competitors who have faster ones.
Prevent Potential Loss of Revenue
Web hosting plays an important role in the revenue of an e-commerce website. If your eCommerce site has poor user experience and takes more than 2 seconds, nearly 50% of your potential customers will quit.
This means that if your site gets 10,000 visitors a month, 5,000 of them will quit without buying anything. That’s huge.
Better Protection and Security
Managed eCommerce hosts offer better security than traditional cheap web hosts. Online Shoppers prefer secure eCommerce sites that do not leak customer information. That’s why top-rated eCommerce hosts offer managed security, dedicated firewalls, free SSL certificates, single-click backup, and restore options for their customers.
Higher Scalability
Managed eCommerce web hosting platforms have higher scalability power. These platforms can be scaled vertically and horizontally. You can easily manage your resource level according to your needs. Thanks to this ability of scale, you only pay for the resources you use.
You’re the boss, you have control of your applications.
eCommerce Hosting Options
All web hosting servers are not the same. There are many different hosting options for eCommerce sites.
Shared Hosting
As it says in the name, several websites are hosted on the same server. This is the cheapest type of hosting service available. One of the biggest disadvantages of shared hosting is, the performance of your site depends on neighboring websites.
Bets choice for smaller eCommerce websites with low traffic.
Self-Hosted
Some larger corporations host their websites themselves. They maintain their computers in a large room or data center. This option gives you full control over what you do with your servers and applications. However, if you are not an expert in IT, you cannot take advantage of that flexibility.
Best for large corporations.
Cloud Hosting (SAAS & IAAS)
Nowadays, cloud hosting is one of the most popular hosting options. Cloud hosting is a collection of remote servers and each server has different responsibilities. If one server has a problem, the other servers on the network handle that responsibility. This makes cloud hosting appealing and cost-effective.
Best for medium size and large business eCommerce websites.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is the most expensive type of web hosting, but it has additional benefits. As it says in the name, the hosting provider provides a server that belongs to you, and you alone. However, you must be an IT expert or should hire an expert to manage the server.
Best for enterprise-level websites.
All-In-One Providers
All-in-one providers are ideal for anyone who wants to create a mission-critical eCommerce store without the hassle of hiring professional web developers. For example, an all-in-one provider such as 10Web offers managed eCommerce hosting powered by Google cloud plus all tools to build a super-fast online store.
Some of the advantages of using an all-in-one provider include:
- Managed hosting
- Managed security
- Ease of use
- Templates for building an eCommerce website.
- Optimized for SEO and performance.
- Inventory systems
- SSL certificates
- Options to recovering abandoned carts
If you’re planning to move your eCommerce store to 10Web managed hosting platform on Google Cloud, you’re in luck. Woblogger.com has the best 10Web promo code to get a lifetime discount of 20% off on all plans.
Criteria for Choosing an Ecommerce Host Based on Your Specific Needs
Choosing the wrong eCommerce host not only cost you money but also destroy your brand reputation. Whatever the web hosting provider good for you now, it may not be the best fit in the future. Therefore, it’s crucial to find an eCommerce host that maintains a balance between your budget, your specific needs, and the potential of growth.
Storage
What’s the storage? Web storage (a.k.a disk space or web space) is the amount of space on a server that is allocated to host your website. Some web hosting providers mention that they offer unlimited storage for their customers.
It sounds like an appealing offer, doesn’t it? But the truth is quite the opposite. You can find out it by reading their terms of use (TOS). There are no such things as unlimited web storage.
You need to decide how much web storage your eCommerce store needs. If you prefer all-in-one provider or cloud hosting, you can scale your needs later according to future requirements.
Higher Uptime
When your online store is offline, you’re not generating any income. Poor uptime will eventually weaken the customer experience. When you are looking for a web hosting for your online store, many web hosts will offer different uptime guaranteed. You need to pick the host who has the best uptime according to user reviews.
Also, you should check their money-back guarantee, and if they don’t meet your requirements, you can get a refund. On average, a good web hosting provider delivers uptime of 99.9% or more. Some cloud hosting providers who are using the latest technologies, now offering a 100% uptime guarantee.
Security
Security is essential for every eCommerce store. You want to check what security features your web hosting provider offer. A good web hosting provider upgrades their PHP software, database software on a regular basis. It’s a good question to ask them how often you upgrade your outdated software.
Another security option you must consider is an SSL certificate. You need to check whether your web host offer a free SSL or not. If they do not provide a free SSL certificate, you need to find out if their platform is compatible with SSL certificates.
Technical Support
One of the essential aspects to consider when choosing a web host for your online store is technical support. If your site goes offline, expert technical support is a superhero for you. Technical support is a key feature that separates a good web host from a bad.
Also, technical support should be available whenever you need it. Therefore, you need to check whether they offer 24/7/365 support or not.
Automated Backups
What do you do when you wake up and find out that all your hard work has disappeared overnight? That’s why automated backups are essential for your eCommerce business. It’s a good practice to prepare for a data loss. Some web hosting providers offer automated backups hourly, daily, weekly basis or you can schedule it. Carefully decide the cycle of your backups system and choose a web hosting provider according to your needs.
Location
If you are serious about the performance and uptime of your online store, you should definitely think about datacenter location. Choosing a close data center to your target audience is crucial and it reduces the latency. As a result, your site may load faster and offer a great user experience.
Your Budget
In the end, this is the most important one. Considering all the above factors, you now know your technical requirements. Now you should decide the best web hosting provider for your mission-critical eCommerce site.
Paying extra bucks doesn’t always give you the best experience. That’s why we need to find out our technical requirements first and then you should carefully choose the web host according to your budget.
In a nutshell
Making your eCommerce store look good is half the digital battle. That’s why choosing the best hosting provider for your “Mission Critical” eCommerce site is crucial. We think now you know why it’s important to choose the right host and criteria for choosing an eCommerce host based on your specific needs.
