If you’re thinking about starting an e-commerce website and want to create your hosting provider, this post will walk you through the process of choosing a web host provider and will answer all the most common questions.
This post will cover all those bases so you can decide which type of provider matches your needs.
When We started building my e-commerce business, we spent time learning how to choose a web hosting provider. There was no easy and accessible information, so we relied on forums and trial & error to make the right decision.
Don’t get me wrong, it was an interesting learning experience, but there were more efficient ways to do things. We wish there had been someone around who could have helped me out at the beginning and saved me hundreds of hours of trial and error.
Here are my recommendations for choosing a web hosting provider when starting your e-commerce website. This is a list of all the important things you need to know to make an efficient and accurate decision.
How to choose a hosting provider? Important questions to ask.
A quick overview for beginners in this section. Shared hosting means renting space on a server with many other people’s sites. Dedicated servers & VPS are more powerful than shared, but they’re much more expensive and require more technical knowledge in general. Because of that, I won’t discuss them here because they will only be relevant for most people once they’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
We recommend sticking with a shared hosting plan if you’re starting out. They’re much cheaper and’ll give you the basic functionality you need to get started.
Table of Contents
You should always consider bandwidth limits if hosting anything other than a personal blog. If you’re interested in building an e-commerce or media site, paying attention to this from the beginning is important. You never know if your site will take off, so make sure you go with a quality hosting plan with unlimited bandwidth and storage space.
Access to the control panel is important because it makes everything easier for you initially. You can access the control panel to ensure you’re ready for long-term hosting issues, and you can sort out any problems before they become major problems.
If you’re looking for a free hosting option or a basic hosting plan, We recommend going with BlueHost or HostGator. They have very simple control panels with all the features you need to get started quickly and easily. You might not have access to advanced features like SSL support or multiple domains with GoDaddy, but it’s optional for the beginning stage of building your e-commerce business.
The site speed is important for e-commerce sites, as it affects how well people can use your site. If your site is slow and you’re trying to sell products online, this could be a serious issue where certain customers will give up on your site because it could be more user-friendly.
If you’re stuck with shared hosting, there are some things you can do to take care of this problem in the beginning stage by smartly using the bandwidth limits and optimizing the code a good bit. This means that your customers won’t get annoyed even if it needs to be faster.
You need to pay attention to the hosting options in your account. If you don’t have control over the server settings, it’s a lot harder for you to make changes, and you might have to hire a developer later on if something goes wrong.
A good web host should let you choose where the files are located (root or cPanel), what software you can use (Apache, WordPress, etc.), and even where public-facing IP addresses will be found (if needed).
The return on investment for your hosting provider is important because it will determine how much you pay per month. You want to ensure you’re getting all the features you need and can actually use those features when you need them.
If they have low prices but don’t allow SSL, that’s not good. If they’re very expensive and they don’t give you any control over your server settings, that might be a problem. If you have to pay a lot of money to get basic functionality (like unlimited bandwidth and storage), it might also be a problem.
You don’t want to choose a hosting provider that has high prices and limited functionality and needs to give you more control over the server. On the other hand, you also want to pay only a little for features you won’t use (like SSL support for shared hosting).
Customer support quality is very important because it will determine how quickly you can fix problems with your web host. If their support sucks and all they have is a forum, that might not be ideal for resolving specific problems (especially if it’s not a common problem).
The good thing about choosing a basic hosting plan with a quality provider is getting phone and chat support. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a technical problem on your site and not being able to get any help.
You shouldn’t have to hire someone else to add features to your website if you’re paying a lot monthly (unless they offer those features for free). A good web host should be easy to use because it will save you money and frustration in the long run. You are going to want to spend less time trying to figure out why certain things aren’t working for you, so choose wisely.
For those who want to ensure their prominent success in the job market landscape right…
Cryptocurrency is changing how we think about money. But with these changes come challenges, especially…
In today's competitive business environment, staying ahead requires not just innovation and agility but also…
In today's dynamic investment landscape, sector ETFs have emerged as a popular choice for investors…
As digital content continues to reign across the internet, video has emerged as one of…
Kitchen facilities have become an integral part of workplaces, providing a hygienic and clean area…