In the highly competitive e-commerce space, it’s upon you as an online store owner to stay one step ahead of your competitors. Otherwise, you risk ending, up becoming irrelevant. You can avoid such a scenario by choosing a suitable cloud hosting for your e-commerce platform. With the right pick, you can be sure to enjoy high uptime, faster website speed, and easy scalability of your server resources.
The challenge, however, arises when choosing which is the best cloud hosting provider. This is understandably a valid issue as many cloud hosting providers claim to be the best in the market. To help you pick out a provider that’ll, indeed, be the right pick for your e-commerce platform, here are the things you need to consider:
Security
Customers are, nowadays, cautious than ever about handing out their private information, which is deservedly so due to the higher level of cybercrime. Therefore, this needs to be one of the main aspects you consider in your search for cloud services Brisbane or in any part of the world. This is an issue you shouldn’t take lightly as hackers see e-commerce platforms as easy targets where they can acquire user data, such as;
- The users’ full names and addresses
- Bank passwords
- Credit card numbers
Knowing this, you should always choose a web hosting provider that guarantees daily monitoring of your site to protect you from cyberattacks. This is your responsibility as an online store owner as your customers have entrusted you with their private payment information. If you fail to put in place proper security measures, you’ll eventually lose the trust of your clients. And, when this happens, this will mark the start of the collapse of your business.
When searching for a web hosting provider, go for one that provides your site with basic security. This includes incorporating features, such as having strong firewalls, safeguarding servers from DDoS attacks, and securing facilities with limited access. It would be best if you also chose a web host provider that incorporates additional security measures, such as:
- Premium or free SSL certificates to ensure your clients’ financial details are secure.
- A team of WordPress professionals who are available 24/7 to assist with different problems, including security alarms
- Site restorations and offsite back solutions in the event of a security breach or crash
You should also confirm that the cloud hosting provider is up-to-date by using the latest security protocols and patches.
Uptime And Reliability
Each minute your site is down translated to lost revenue for your business, which is even worse if you only make sales through your website. A poor uptime also ruins your customers’ experience; as a result, they may opt to choose your competitor. To avoid this, you should always choose a web hosting provider that guarantees your e-commerce site will be running 99.9% of the time. This means there’s no single time your website is ever offline for more than 45 minutes every month.
The common reason why the web hosting servers go offline is often due to the need for maintenance. But, if the maintenance isn’t done properly, the servers could also go offline due to weather problems, hardware malfunctions, and hacker attacks. This is the last thing you want for your e-commerce store as it directly translates to lost revenue. Therefore, make sure to always pick a web hosting provider who can guarantee 99.9% uptime by asking them about their approach to maintenance and support, plus reading customer reviews.
Customer Support
Your e-commerce site is bound to experience some errors and issues, albeit they might happen rarely. When this happens, you need to have a customer support team at your back that you can call to help resolve the issue immediately. This way, you can be sure that your site doesn’t remain dormant for a couple of hours, leading to lost revenue for the business.
A reliable host should provide you with different types of support, and these include:
- Automatic notices whenever the servers are down
- 24/7 chat, phone, and email support even during weekends and holidays
- Priority support for users paying for the costlier web hosting plans
It would be best to also choose an e-commerce web hosting provider boasting excellent software and hardware. In addition, they should have a team of qualified professionals boosting the expertise and experience needed in order to provide exceptional services at all times. Thanks to such a team of experienced developers and administrators, you’re less likely to experience downtime issues, as well as get assistance even on unexpected problems. In addition, make sure that the support is fast, helpful, friendly, and proactive in preventing an issue before it happens.
Scalability
As an entrepreneur, your business strategies need to be long-term. This also applies when choosing a web hosting provider as you want one that can capably handle increased user traffic due to becoming a hit among your target customers or repeat clients.
To gauge whether a web hosting provider can meet your scaling needs, you should check out if they offer different plans. For example, they should ideally have plans targeted to new online store owners with less traffic, and those perfect for the well-established sites with lots of traffic.
As you research the scalability of a particular web hosting provider, take your time to find out whether they have site visitor, storage, or bandwidth limits. In addition, know the consequences you’ll face for exceeding the set limits. Knowing this is crucial as some web hosting services charge you exorbitant amounts for exceeding the set limits.
Pricing
How much a web hosting provider charges you should always be on top of your mind, regardless of whether you’re running a startup or established online store. Therefore, you should always pick a web host with clear pricing for the different packages to ensure that it’s within your budget. It’s best to keep away from a provider that isn’t clear with the costs, such as having hidden fees or misleading prices.
While you should focus on getting a web host that provides you with the greatest value, don’t go for the cheapest one. This is because many a time, they’re unreliable. Instead, choose a provider that guarantees to provide premium services to your online business to avoid issues, such as increased downtime.
Takeaway
The success of your online business greatly depends on the cloud hosting provider you choose. This is crucial as you want a cloud hosting provider that matches the needs of your company. But, this is no easy decision due to the high number of cloud hosting providers in the market. Luckily, you needn’t experience a similar struggle again; you’ve already been taken through the important things to consider when searching for the best cloud hosting provider.