eCommerce hosting – Factors you need to consider

If you think that selling your products or services online needs to be a big affair – possibly something like Amazon – you’re in for a nice surprise. Over the past few years, there’s been a rise in eCommerce, which essentially refers to online sales through secure websites that are fully compliant with international payment and security standards. However, if you’ve just created your website, you’ll also know that there’s a lot more that goes behind it than its mere design.

One of the big things you’ll need to consider if you’d like to sell online is who will be doing your eCommerce hosting for you. But what is eCommerce hosting and what does it entail in the big picture? We take a closer look here.

What is eCommerce hosting?

When it comes to eCommerce, or selling your products or services online, eCommerce hosting refers to the web host who will provide the platform for you to sell online as well as all the security features, checkout software and payment processing that goes on behind the scenes to ensure you get paid. 

You might have all these factors planned out but you should also remember that there are some crucial variables at stake when determining the future success of your eCommerce store. Some of these include the fact that customers are more likely to leave slow sites with poor performance and loading. They’re also more likely to seek secure websites as opposed to unsecured ones. Therefore, getting that last “s” at the end of your “httpS” address in your URL is crucial as this will boost consumer confidence. 

Finally, your site needs to be able to operate optimally without any down time. Add down time to the equation and you can count on the fact that you’ve lost existing or potential customers. This is why choosing your web host for your eCommerce store is vital as they should be able to take care of these issues and more. 

So, what factors should you consider?

What factors do you need to consider when choosing an ecommerce hosting?

Security should be one of the top priorities on your list when choosing your eCommerce hosting provider, but there are other aspects to consider too. Here are some of them:

• Encryption: there are many bad guys out there and some of them want to get behind your online store for the sake of it, while others will try to gain access to acquire sensitive information and put your business reputation (which takes years to build) at risk. This is why you need to ensure that when you’re choosing your eCommerce hosting provider, that they offer you solutions related to the provision of firewalls, SSL certificates, DDoS protection, spam filters, domain name privacy and virus protection.

• PCI compliance: this is a big requirement for any retailer seeking to sell online. PCI DSS compliance is a global security standard that protects cardholder information and keeps it secure. Your eCommerce hosting provider must offer you PCI compliance, otherwise, your customers’ transactions will be at risk possibly leading to a loss in reputation, funds, income and earning potential, as well as clients.  

• Size of your files: it may not seem like that big of a deal, but file sizes are another important component when choosing your hosting provider for your online shop. You need to ensure that they can provide enough bandwidth to support large file sizes of images, videos, PDFs, descriptions and more. 

• Back ups: this is another big one you need to consider because a back up is what will save you and your business in the event of a hacker attack. If you end up losing your information and have no back up, there will be little impetus for you to carry on after all the time, effort and resources you’ve put into building your business. This is why a hosting provider should help you with back ups, and daily ones at that to ensure your data is always updated, safe and secure. 

• Limits to your account: finally, we come to some limitations on your account that you might only find out about after signing up with your eCommerce hosting provider and this could pose some challenges for you. Some of these limitations include whether you need to pay extra for your SSL certificate or hosting, despite offering you free eCommerce software.
  
  Others include limits to your file storage, limited web templates, limits on sales volumes, fees for exceeding bandwidth limits or even difficulties you may face if you wish to customise your website without the developer’s knowledge.

How do I host an eCommerce website?

While you’re free to host your own eCommerce website using your own servers, it’s important to keep in mind that servers are usually kept in a separate room or data centre and they require periodic maintenance and regular check ups to ensure the hardware is working.

In addition to this, you’ll also need to ensure that your software e.g. for processing payments is working too and by the time you hire the right team, you may realise that it would have been cheaper to simply outsource your hosting to an external provider. 

What type of hosting is best for eCommerce?

Hosting that is best for eCommerce will include free SSL certificates, PCI DSS compliance, design templates to choose from, sufficient bandwidth to support various files and images and more. 

How much is eCommerce hosting?

Now we come to the crux of things: how much will eCommerce hosting set you back? If you’ve done your research online, you would have noticed prices that go up to the thousands of euros for a hosting service. But the fact of the matter is that you can have your website fully hosted without the need for developers or designers.

In other words, it can be completely free! 

What kind of hosting does myPOS provide and why should you choose it?

With a myPOS Online store, you get free hosting, a secure site that’s fully PCI compliant, GDPR compliant and enables you to accept payments safely and securely with the added bonus of enjoying instant settlement of funds at no extra cost. It might sound surprising but this service is absolutely free and you can take advantage of it today and join thousands of others who have already done so. 

Closing remarks

While there may be several considerations and variables when it comes to choosing your eCommerce hosting provider, we believe the verdict is quite clear: with a myPOS Online store, you get a full hosting package through which to sell online and it’s completely free. Enjoy PCI DSS compliance, a free SSL certificate, security when it comes to payments acceptance as well as instant settlement of funds and more.