Is Ecommerce Web Hosting So Different From Traditional Hosting?

Many online shop owners are facing the same “difficulties” when trying to get a reliable hosting solution for their ecommerce website while they are not sure whether ecommerce hosting is different than traditional hosting. The easiest conclusion would be a big no, actually there is no difference between those two types of hosting however it all depends on the magnitude of the ecommerce site: factors like how big the site is, how many visitors it has and so on are decisive for whether remaining with a cheap shared hosting package or moving up to a Virtual Private Server or even better, a dedicated server.

However, whether you are up to choose a regular hosting provider or an “ecommerce hosting provider”, there are some things to keep in mind when making the decision, listed below:
1. Server uptime – over 99%
In fact, 99% is quite a low number, many hosting providers offer nowadays 99,9% uptime or even better (and definitely in rare cases), 100% uptime.
2. cPanel+Fantastico
These two addons are a must, you will literally have no problem in managing your domains, server, even creating a blog by simply pushing two buttons. There are cases when cPanel comes with an extra-cost but most of the times for shared hosting it is free, as well as Fantastico.
3. Domain names
Some hosting providers offer domain names for free when choosing one of their packages, some not. It would be great to cut from your expenses and get one or more domain names for free, if it’s possible than why not?
4. CMS
CMS installation should be free of charge, again, there are companies charging for CMS installation however most of them offer it for free.
5. Unlimited bandwith, unlimited space etc
Most of the times these “unlimited” features are not unlimited so better talk with the company rep. before getting into their hosting services. Also, there should be unlimited emails and quite few (if not unlimited as well) databases, you never know when you need an extra-one.
6. Support
What most business owners should look for is 24/7 support, whether if by opening tickets, emails, live chat or telephone. You can easily find many companies offering this type of support, do yourself a service and choose the right company with proper support features.
Jumping from one thing to another, if you are choosing a hosted ecommerce solution instead of an “out of the box one” placed on whatever hosting package you like, here are the things you should definitely look for in order to maintain your ecommerce store at highest levels:
1. Payment gateways
There are literally tens of payment gateways available nowadays, however the most important ones still remain the most popular ones – PayPal and credit card. First look for these two, second, any other payment gateway as addon is great.
2. Ecommerce store features
Among the features that any self-hosted ecommerce solution should offer these are almost a must your should consider having:
- Inventory management
- Tax and shipping taxes calculation
- Product updates email notification
- Unlimited products can be added to shopping cart
- Products’ reviews
- Gift certificates, coupons and discounts creation
- Unlimited categories and subcategories
- Powerful search catalogue
You must try to find the provider offering all these features and more, if you found someone that cannot offer those skip and head to the next one. With the multitude of ecommerce hosting providers available nowadays it is not such a difficult task for finding the best value for the money, when it comes to your online shopping store.

Source: Google.com