Hosting Issues to Avoid for the E-commerce Site

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.