Choosing the Right Hosting Company

After you created a domain name and developed a Website, the next step is finding the right hosting company to work with. Remember, whatever hosting you go with, they are responsible for making sure people can connect to their servers fast and reliably. They must be sure that all tools are in place to handle orders, or other correspondence from your site is handled appropriately. Unless you plan to spend a large amount of money to host your own site, you will be paying a monthly or yearly fee to have someone else do it for you. Before you go out to look for an eCommerce hosting company, look at some areas you need to review about hosting companies so you can make the right choice for yourself and your needs:

 

·        The type of server they use: What type of server do they use? Is it shared or dedicated? A shared hosting system is when the server houses several domains on one server. The only concern here is bandwidth. If you had a dedicated server, it would provide you faster access and the hosting company would ensure that your site is accessible 24/7.

·        Hard-disk space: How much disk space you need depends on how many Web pages you have and if you have any files to store on the hard drive. A hard drive around 300-500 MB is good. If you really need the space you can get one as high as 9 GB, but you pay for it to.

·        Accessibility: In order to run a successful Website, it must be available 24/7. Therefore, you must make sure the hosting company you choose can provide that availability.

·        Email: Every hosting company has email accounts. The only question is the email accounts part of your package or does the hosting company charge extra for this service?

·        Security: Does the hosting company provide security? It is very important for a Website owner to take and send credit card information to make money online. In this regard, all information must be encrypted. Make sure the hosting company offers SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Encryption.

·        Support: Will the hosting company provide 24/7 support in case of failure of some type? This is important, especially if you get a phone call from a previous customer who claims he can’t access your site in the wee hours of the morning or late at night.

·        Payment system: The biggest part of an eCommerce Website is taking orders. Otherwise the site owner won’t make money. So the eCommerce hosting company must provide a way for the site to process orders. The hosting company must understand the Internet payment processing system and how it works. Here are the principles that will be involved in processing orders that the hosting company must be aware of and work with:

o       The bank – Every merchant account was set up by a bank. They are the ones who supply the authorization for the site owner to accept credit card orders.

o       Credit card associations – This includes MasterCard and Visa. They give the Website owner permission to accept their credit cards online.

o       Customer’s bank – This is where the funds will come from to pay for the order. The eCommerce hosting company must be sure connections to the customer’s bank are available.

o       Internet merchant account – This is the actual account that the bank issues to the Website owner so he can take credit cards online. You will be required to pay a processing fee per transaction to use this service.

o       Payment gateway – After the payment has been made, processing takes place. This processing is done by the payment gateway. Once the company in the payment gateway accepts the transaction, they process the order and send the request for payment to the customer’s bank.