The Most Important Principles Of Web Hosting For Online Businesses

Anyone hoping to make money by selling things online needs to remember that an internet presence isn't all that's necessary - your site needs to be reliable enough to back it all up. But what does that mean, and how can you be sure you're going to manage it?

  • Get A Good Domain Name
    Everyone knows that branding is important, and the domain name and URL you choose for your shop is a huge part of your own personal branding.
  • Check That You'll Have Enough Resources
    There are three main resources that are relevant to picking a web host: disk space (how much room you have to upload pages, images and other files), bandwidth (how many people can look at or access your site at once) and RAM (how quickly your site will function from the perspective of the end user). You need to be sure that you'll have enough of all three, complete with room for future upgrades and expansions.
  • Be Sure You Won't Suffer From Downtime
    Every minute that your website is down is a minute's worth of lost potential revenue, and prolonged downtime can hit your accounts harder than you'll be able to take. When you're choosing a server on which to host your website, make sure it has 99.5% uptime at the very least - 99.9% is better. You'll never achieve 100%, but you want to get as close to it as possible.
  • Pick The Right eCommerce Tools
    User accounts, product catalogues, shopping carts and virtual checkouts are amongst the most important parts of any online selling venture - so make sure that yours are easy to understand and simple to use for all your customers.
  • Look After Your Customer's Details Well
    You're going to be collecting sensitive data from your customers - things that you need them to trust you with, like their addresses and their credit card or bank details. It's imperative that you take every precaution you can to protect these things and to look after their best interests.
  • Make Sure You Do Your Accounts
    You're going to have a budget, and you're going to need to be sure to stay inside that budget. Don't sign up for a package that you ultimately can't afford - just make sure that you'll be able to upgrade to it later when you do have the money.
  • Give Some Thought To The Server You Use
    Your website is going to be hosted on a server somewhere, and you'll need to decide what kind of server you want. The cheapest option is a shared server, where your site sits alongside others on one machine - but these can be slow and vulnerable to attack. Virtual servers are safer, but no more speedy. Dedicated servers are a lot more expensive, but they're not vulnerable to SQL injections and you'll have all that RAM to yourself.
  • Remember You'll Need Customer Support
    At some point, something is going to go wrong - and it's not so much a matter of 'if' as it is one of 'when'. The important thing is to be sure that the web hosts you've chosen offer good enough customer support that the problems you experience will be fixed as quickly as possible.

If you're careful to pick the right tools and the best resources, you'll find that your new business venture thrives online - but if you choose poorly or otherwise mess up this vital step your endeavour might never recover from it. Be careful, and make your decision wisely.