When you set up a website for your Ecommerce business, you think about a number of different aspects of the website – the content, the design, the marketing etc. But how much time do you actually devote to choosing the right webhost? Chances are nil.
This is because most people do not give adequate importance to website hosting. But the fact is that the hosting plays a big role. Why? Well, that’s because the rest of the points (i.e. the design, the content and event the domain name) is what your clients see, but hosting determines whether they see it at all! Your website resides in the server of the web host – and each time someone accesses any page, it needs to be retrieved from the host. And in case it is not available, then the page won’t get displayed.
Consider for instance in 2012 when Amazon’s web host faltered for 40 minutes, that resulted in them losing millions of dollars in sales! Now your loss may not be quite as big, but it will be just as significant to you. And that is what makes it imperative that you choose a web host who you can rely on.
But before we get to what makes a good web host, we’ll take a look at…
Why the web host’s importance cannot be bypassed:
There are mainly three reasons for this:
- A host that doesn’t guarantee secure services can make your website vulnerable to malware attacks, and security issues. None of these do much for the popularity of your website.
- If the host falters often, then you actually become vulnerable to losing out on search engine ranking as well. So an unreliable web host can make your marketing strategy to go all awry.
- And of course, as with the instance with Amazon, if you are using your website to sell products or services, you can lose out on a lot of business during the down time.
Now that we have got the reasons out of the way, it’s time to shed some light on…
What to look for in a web host:
Well, the first thing we’d like to mention here is which web host to choose. That’s right. You have a number of different hosting options open to you –
- Dedicated
- Virtual Private Server (VPN)
- Shared
- Managed Web hosting
Each will have a different set of pros and cons and you need to choose according to your needs.Once you’ve determined which is best for your needs –go for that one.
Once that’s out of the way, here are the other things to look out for:
- Go for a host who provides you with round the clock and dedicated customer support – in case of any problems with hosting, you want to be able to contact the provider rather than sit through feeling helpless. Also, in case of troubleshooting needs, they’ll be able to walk you through.
- Do some background checking on their uptime track record. This will give you a fair idea of what precautions they take to ensure that the websites they host are up consistently. There is no reason to not trust a provider who has excellent uptime records – they will extend the same advantage to you as well.
- Another thing to look for is the ability to expand. The host may not have extra space to offer you – and that will mean you need to shift when you are looking to expand your website. Instead, if the host can give you scaling options, then they are a good option to stay with.
- Don’t only think from the cost perspective. The cheapest providers aren’t usually the most reliable in the long run. Instead, chalk out your budget with a generous amount dedicated to hosting – and look for the best option that fits within this budget.
- Finally, check out their reputation online. How good they are as hosts will determine what is being said about them online. Disgruntled website owners are bound to make their irritation known online. And therefore, this is a good way to check on the provider’s track record.
