Hosting Considerations for E-commerce Website

When it comes to e-commerce, one must take several factors in consideration. Apart from deciding what market you want to tackle and thinking of ways to promote the business, you must also factor your online presence into the mix. Your business site will require a hosting solution and there are so many too choose from. There is shared hosting, dedicated hosting, managing hosting and a wide variety of niche variations. You also have the option of hosting your business in-house or going with a provider that specializes in colocation. Making a choice can be difficult, but it is much easier when matching up a solution with the specific needs of your business.

In-house vs. Colocation

Hosting your e-commerce business in-house is a do-it-yourself solution that calls for you to purchase the hardware, software applications and lease an internet application. It also means you need an expert staff to maintain these vital components. You need to think about server administration, network monitoring, data backups, security and much more. This is independent method is the most costly way to run your business online.

Colocation is the perfect alternative to hosting your business in-house. This is the kind of arrangement where you store your server hardware in the provider’s data facility. They supply you with you an internet connection and the power necessary to run the equipment. The major benefit to colocation in comparison to an in-house solution is cost savings. The key is finding a provider you can rely on to keep you online.

Shared vs. Dedicated Hosting

Shared hosting is the most affordable way to get your e-commerce business going, a situation where you share a web server with other users. With this type of hosting, you are sharing the actual hardware along with the operating system and other critical resources. Shared hosting is often the first choice of small businesses who don’t have demanding needs. It also quite limited in terms of control and is prone to more stability and security issues when compared to having your own server.

With dedicated hosting, you sign up for a hosting plan and have the server all to yourself. You have your own internet connection, operating system and all the other resources that are tied up in shared hosting. The server can be enhanced with your own software applications, programming technologies and security mechanisms. Because performing these tasks are more complex than a shared hosting solution, managed hosting exists to aid those with limited server administration skills.

Dedicated and managed hosting services are geared towards businesses that receive a high level of traffic and require maximum stability. The major difference between these solutions and colocation is cost as you are paying a monthly or annual fee just to lease the server opposed to owning it.


Conclusion

As you can see, there is lot more that goes into e-commerce besides opening up a store and marketing your products. Finding the right type of service is so critical because it forms the very backbone of your online business. Ultimately, the solution for you depends on your expertise, manpower, budget and requirements.