How to Find an Ecommerce Web Hosting Provider

Think of your ecommerce web host as you would the landlord of a brick and mortar business. Your business website rents space from the web host. Web hosting is available at all different levels for all different prices. There is even free web hosting available. Free web hosting might work for a personal website, but it is not a good choice for an ecommerce site.

Instructions

1. Decide if you need a dedicated server, or if your ecommerce site would be alright on a shared server. A shared server means you are hosted on the same server as other sites renting space. A dedicated server means your website is the only site using the server. A dedicated server is much faster and more reliable, but is also costly. A shared server is usually acceptable for small to medium size businesses.

2. Do a search of the Internet for "Ecommerce web hosting" to find a long list of companies offering the service. Do a quick rate comparison between some of the companies and select a few of them that look like they are offering the best deals.

3. Look into the web hosting companies on your list further. Pay attention to what they are offering for the quoted price. Make a note of how much space they will give you, the monthly fee for the service and what extra options are offered at what price.

4. Determine if your business needs any of the extras offered by the hosting site and then factor their cost into your total cost. Get a total cost for each host on your list and compare them.

5. Pay attention to the web host providers' downtime and uptime. Most web hosts post their stated up time on their website. If they do not, ask them what it is. Your customers can not access your business if your web host is down. You want a web host that has an uptime of 90% or greater.

6. Do a check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on each of the companies you are considering. You need to know their physical or mailing address so you can check with the BBB in their hometown.

7. Host your ecommerce site with the company that shows the best value for the money after you have done all of your homework.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are unhappy with the web host that you choose you can always move your business later. However, switching web hosts is time consuming and usually creates some interruption in business so it is best to make a smart choice the first time.