Hosting
issues always come up in choosing the most reliable hosting provider but more
for e-commerce sites. The success of an e-commerce site is highly dependent
upon the hosting provider that can provide the necessary features and services.
The first consideration is always the
quality of service. Quality should never be compromised over a cheap web
hosting service, because the sale of products or services is the main objective
of the e-commerce site. The business cannot afford a disastrously slow connection
or a host server that keeps crashing. Quality of service has a price and so
with reliability. If customers cannot access the site then chances are they
will continue the search to a competitor. The business should also consider the
amount of data transfer and storage that is required and the web host must be
able to accommodate it without having to exceed the limitations. From a
positive outlook, the business will expand in a few months; hence, allowances
must be made to avoid storage and bandwidth issues.
The second consideration, the web host must
be able to support e-commerce software like the shopping cart, SSSL
certificates, advertising packages and other features that will enhance the
business. Shopping cart is a major feature in web hosting for e-commerce sites.
With the shopping cart, the customer can select products from the business
catalog, change and discard according to the individual’s preferences. The
shopping cart also allows the calculation of the total cost of purchases, the
sales tax applicable including the shipping and handling costs. The SSL
certificates provides for security of online payments. Most online payments
involve credit and debit card payments where sensitive financial information is
submitted. Security over the information is required to avoid the identity
thieves of getting hold of the information for their nefarious activities.
A third consideration is the technical
support. No system is perfect. Downtime
is always possible as a result of power outages or technical problems. While
this scenario cannot be avoided, the web host must have a backup system
installed to limit the amount of downtime. Advance notice must also be given to
the business in cases where maintenance procedures need to be done on the
servers. Technical support must readily be available even outside of the usual
business hours. Problems usually occur at the most inconvenient time. Downtime
hurts a business when after a search of the e-commerce site; the potential
customer fails to find it and transfers the purchase to a competitor. Uptime
must be guaranteed by the web host to be 99.9% most of the time. This guarantee
is usually under the Terms of Service which must be carefully read and
understood.
