Important things about using eCommerce hosting for growing businesses
Overview
Today, it is the e-age and most of the money transactions take place over the internet. Ecommerce is one of the most popular concepts that 
have emerged out in the last few years. People buy everything right from a cell phone, digital items, music CDs, T-shirts, shoes, down to food items and furniture over the internet. As such, the importance of online stores has increased drastically over time. When the discussion boils down to ecommerce web hosting, there are many differences between normal personal web hosting or shared web hosting and ecommerce web hosting.
Top 5 Requirements of Ecommerce Web Hosting
Sure thing, all the usual requirements of hosting a common site do apply to the ecommerce websites, but there are certain special requirements of ecommerce web hosting. Now, let us take a look at the top 5 one by one.
1. First of all, ecommerce websites require very high levels of security due to the sheet fact that transactions of hundreds and thousands of dollars take place on a daily basis. Therefore, even a small mistake can turn out to be fatal. Hence, very high level of security and reliability of the eCommerce hosting provider are the most important aspects. However, there’s more to it, as merely security issues are not the only deal that you need to worry about.
2. Next to security, maximum uptime guarantee is another very crucial aspect of Ecommerce hosting. You’ll find many amazing ecommerce web hosting packages in the market loaded with top notch features, but at the end of the day, if your host fails to ensure high 
uptime, it may be devastating for your online business. Remember, almost all the web hosting agencies promise 99.9% uptime guarantee initially, but the best ecommerce hosting providers ensure minimum of 99.8% uptime guarantee at all costs. Above all, during downtime, the technical team of your host must be capable enough to fix the issue in minutes and get your online store back up-and-running quickly. Longer downtimes (even if they’re occasional) can be quite annoying for customers and you can be rest assured that the customers who’ve seen ugly messages like “this site is down for maintenance” or “error establishing database connectivity” will never bother to re-visit your site ever again.
3. Go Dedicated: If you’re looking for the best ecommerce web hosting, you must never ever think about hosting your site on a common web server, using a shared IP. Always take a dedicated IP, and ensure that your website is hosted in a private isolated web space, which is least likely to be affected by any other website even during extreme cases. This will ensure that your sales don’t get affected by stupid viruses and malware spreading on the common websites and blogs.
4. Integration with ecommerce apps: Most of the good ecommerce hosts offer PayPal integration, Google checkout, and payment 
gateway for all the major credit/debit cards like Mastercard, Visa, and Maestro. But, remember American Express is not supported by all the ecommerce packages by default. Therefore, if you want to offer payment option through American Express, you must check up with your host to ensure that the package supports this feature. Another word of caution here though, would be that your ecommerce host may do the basic $1 testing with all the payment gateways and give you a thumbs-up. But, it is your duty to ensure everything is indeed flawless before the site goes live. So, don’t be afraid to take pains in thoroughly testing that the transactions are completely secure, and are verified by agencies like VeriSign Secure.
5. Last but definitely not the least - any ecommerce website is incomplete without the necessary tools like shopping carts (look for all possible carts - OsCommerce, Zen etc), but if you pay unnecessarily to the web developers for setting-up shopping carts, it is sheer waste of time and money, because hundreds of one-click installation scripts are available in the market. Therefore, you must ensure that your 
ecommerce hosting provider also gives you goodies like one-click installation scripts for shopping carts, site analytics, real time traffic monitoring, and some free web promotions like free Google AdWords coupon worth $50-$100, MIVA and Yahoo! advertising credit and free search engine and directory submission. This will not only save a considerable amount of money, but also help you in getting kick-started with the promotion and marketing of your website right away. But, of course the free goodies should not be considered before the above-mentioned 4 points.
Selecting the best ecommerce web hosting
So, you must be keen to know how to select the best ecommerce web hosting provider, aren’t you? Well, as you must have figured out, determining the best ecommerce web host greatly depends upon various factors such as reliability, cost, features offered, uptime guarantee, free goodies and experience in the industry.
Basically, if you keep all the considerations in mind, and don’t repeat these common mistakes, the chances are high that you may be able to establish a profitable online business. However, at any point of time, you must be prepared with a Plan-B - whether it be in case of security issues, longer downtimes, or low level of sales for unusually longer times. And, definitely you must never try to save on hosting charges as a trade-off for even the smallest feature.
Today, any business that does not possess a web page and a high-quality ecommerce site hosting company is considered for being left behind in the struggle. Pay a visit to my website online & understand more concerning website hosting today! I like to listen pop-music. The information offered to my site comes from several years of in depth analysis, individual knowledge, and the experience of others.
Article Source: i2 Article Directory (www.i2articledirectory.info)