5 Things To Consider Before Partnering With A Web Host For Your E-Commerce Store

Choosing a web host for your e-commerce store is a tricky process. After all, there are now thousands of web hosts to choose from and they all claim to be able to offer the number one service. That’s not always the case, though, and many business owners run into problems shortly after parting with their money. If you’re looking to start an e-commerce store, it’s especially important your website is online all the time, and that means spending the time choosing the right web host. Here are some of the things to consider before you partner with a host.

1. The Need for Speed

We’re in the day and age now where people lack patience, so if they can’t access a page on your website within a couple of seconds, they’re likely to click on that red cross and use your competitor’s products/services instead. Therefore, the speed of your site is especially important. Always research the hardware and data centre network of a web host to ensure it’s up there with the best speeds possible. Also, do your research in the search engines to see what past and present clients think of the overall service. If you have an AACSB online MBA (Masters in Business Administration online), you’ll already know how speed is important to surfers online.

2. Support Methods

If a web hosting provider doesn’t provide phone support, the chances are, they’re a one-man army serving their clients from a bedroom environment. It’s not professional for any business not to offer phone support as a basic method, so don’t part with your money with a business unless it does. A bog-standard web host now provides 24/7 support, so that’s something else to consider to ensure you’re always covered should you need any help with your service.

3. Reliability

When choosing a web host, it’s wise to partner with a solution that’s been serving clients for years. This doesn’t mean new web hosts are going to be unreliable, it just means that you should consider the established providers first. The reliability of the service is what really matters to your e-commerce store. If your website isn’t online, you’re going to lose customers very quickly.

4. Costs

Many online web hosts oversell resources they don’t have access to. Usually, if the price of hosting seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. If you can get access to unlimited resources for $2 a month, you should probably look elsewhere for web hosting services. Also, no web hosting business out there can provide unlimited resources, so again, look elsewhere for services.

5. Popularity

It’s very easy to find a web host in Google these days, but you’ll want to go further than Google to do your research. Consider websites like Trust Pilot to see reviews and testimonials of their service. You need to look for reviews from years ago compared to recent ones so you can see how long they’ve been in the game. It’ll give you an idea of what other consumers think so you can see whether it’s a service worth spending a dime on.

Choosing the right web host won’t just save you money down the line, but it’ll save you a lot of time and hassle when it comes to moving hosts again. Therefore, by paying attention to the above points, you’ll be better able to separate the good hosts from the poor ones to give you a shortlist of hosts you’re guaranteed to have a good experience with.