The world going digital rapidly has been advantageous to many different sectors, especially to eCommerce! Businesses have been going online in the blink of an eye – and the demand for web hosts have been directly growing with it. And since there are so many hosting plans and options for an eCommerce business owner to choose from – there are some factors one should consider. If you are unaware of these factors, you’re in luck, because this article is right here to help you choose the best hosting for your eCommerce website!
Before moving forward to choose your preferred hosting provider for your eCommerce website, you have to confirm whether your system is capable to handle the web host. It is recommended that among other things, the processer should at least be of 1.6 GHz CPU, RAM that of 1.75 GB and HDD that of 1x 40 GB.
Features to look for in your Hosting plan –
All of the hosting plans out there would always provide a whole different set of useful and exciting features. But there are some features that you need to ensure are compulsorily there in the hosting plan you choose, that will make sure your eCommerce business is booming the way you want it to.
1. Fast and efficient functioning:
Hosting a website isn’t an easy task, there are many things to look after – there’s the traffic, the orders and the site in general. A hosting plan should, therefore, be strong enough to facilitate all those actions and then some more. The best eCommerce hosting provider would make sure to give the best of high-performance abilities. To ensure that, you need to check whether your hosting plan has dedicated memory storage, CPU allocation and faster loading and processing capabilities.
2. Encryption:
Since the digital world is unpredictable, one of the most important concerns of any eCommerce business is security. A good hosting plan should have the security features such as Firewalls, Spam filters, Domain name privacy, DDoS protection, SSL certificates and Virus Protection, among others. The best eCommerce website hosting provider will have all these facilities, to avoid fraud, hacking and anything else that could potentially put your website at risk.
3. Storage and Backups:
The storage of any website is supposed to be sufficient to handle your online store and business. Heavy images, huge files, videos, among other things, could potentially slow down your website and make the customer experience rather horrible. So before you choose the best hosting for your eCommerce website make sure you get enough storage to accommodate your files.
In addition to that, a good hosting plan also needs a better backup facility. Why? Frequent backups are needed to keep your website running as smoothly as possible so that you don’t lose your data inadvertently. If the hosting plan is offering the option of regular backups, and that too of the entire platform, without a doubt go for it!
4. Flexible Administrative Interface:
This is not something that directly affects the customer experience – it much more leans towards the backend process of your eCommerce business. A flexible administrative interface is one of the most important considerations to look for while getting the best hosting for an eCommerce business for you. There will not be that much of a difference in administrative interfaces offered by different hosts – it’s just the matter of choosing the one that resonates with your needs and preferences the most.
5. PCI Compliance:
PCI Compliance is a very important factor in running an eCommerce website. It means Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance, which ensures the security of credit card transactions while carrying out online payments. The credit card data, in this way, would be protected from any threats that could befall any payment transactions. A good eCommerce website hosting plan would willingly provide PCI Compliance, so you won’t have to lose your sleep over it!
Different types of Hosting options –
Now that you know which features are universally better to have in your hosting plans, it is time to look at what type of hosting options are suitable for your eCommerce business. These options come with their own set of features and facilities, from which you can choose the one that compliments your business the most.
1. Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting is one of the basic options but also one of the most preferred, especially for beginners and small-scale websites. The server is shared by many websites, with all the attached resources shared amongst them. Since the resources are split, the websites will have limited resources too – but that is exactly why it is really affordable. If you are looking for the best eCommerce hosting provider with shared hosting, then Bluehost is the one for you!
2. VPS Hosting:
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server; so, as the name suggests, a single server is split into multiple virtual ones, thus effectively sharing the original one with other websites, though the number will be very much limited. Such hosting for eCommerce business provides better performance, amazing resources, faster speed and great uptime rates. This type of hosting is perfect for small and medium-sized eCommerce businesses that have limited resources at their disposal and can’t afford unexpected downtimes.
3. Cloud Hosting:
Cloud hosting has lately been climbing that popularity ladder! Why? Because it is cost-effective, fluid and efficient. Since it is primarily online, there is next to no downtime, offers high security and comes with other necessary but exciting features. One of the best hostings for eCommerce websites, it is used by medium and large-scale business websites, especially if they are growing swiftly and need more and more resources at work.
4. Dedicated Hosting:
Dedicated hosting is where the web host provides a dedicated server – equipped with dedicated resources – to just one client at a time. All the different hosting for eCommerce divide either a server or a computer amongst the clients. This type, however, is special because everything that comes in a hosting plan is offered to a single client, who has full control over its functioning. It is rather perfect for larger websites and companies with higher traffic.
5. WordPress Hosting:
WordPress is arguably the most popular choice for hosting right now. With its immaculate and best WooCommerce hosting option, enhanced security, staging and faster speed, WordPress hosting is the best for beginners – but of course, they need to have their own WordPress websites first. It provides four types of WordPress hosting – Shared WordPress Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated WordPress Server and Managed WordPress Hosting, all coming with their own set of benefits!
Conclusion
Choosing the best eCommerce website hosting is a tricky enough decision. With the options being many in the market – all of which provide a plethora of features, each better than the other – one can get understandably confused. It is only after thorough research and listing the pros and cons that you should make a decision. Because only you can understand the most suitable hosting option for you – it is up to you to decide which is the best hosting for an eCommerce website, according to your need and preferences.