E-commerce web hosting offers features for online businesses, including email management, shopping cart support, and payment gateways. Shared hosting is cheaper, while dedicated hosting provides more security. Additional services like domain registration and website design are available. Choosing a provider with high-performance hardware and reliable support is important. Review websites can help with the decision-making process.
E-commerce Web hosting is a segment of the web hosting market geared towards businesses involved in e-commerce. Unlike a basic hosting service, this variant offers features specifically designed for those who want to sell products or services online. These features typically include email management systems and offer support for shopping cart programs, merchant accounts, and payment gateways.
Most ecommerce web hosting works like any other type of web hosting. The customer purchases a service plan and then receives space on the company’s server, along with Internet bandwidth and a predetermined set of features. In the ideal arrangement, an ecommerce hosting provider will typically provide all the tools the customer needs to create and maintain a web-based storefront.
An ecommerce business can run on a variety of platforms, with shared server and dedicated server being the most common. In a shared hosting deal, customers are required to share space and various resources with other business customers on the server. Since the expense is split between the customers, shared server tends to be the cheapest option for ecommerce web hosting.
With a dedicated server, the hardware and its resources are usually exclusive to a single company. While often more expensive, this option can generally provide an online business with a much higher degree of security and reliability. Since managing an entire server can be complex and labor intensive, many businesses are opting for managed solutions to take the burden off their hands. This type of arrangement can often allow companies to devote their attention to other critical areas of the business.
Typically, ecommerce web hosting companies offer a wide range of services in addition to their hosting solutions. Some of the more common offers include domain name registration, marketing services, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to facilitate secure transactions. Many also provide website design and management services to help clients with special needs. These services can prove very beneficial to the smaller business that doesn’t have the time, skills or financial resources to maintain their corporate website.
Ecommerce web hosting packages are usually widely available, ranging from affordable to very expensive. The determining factor for the overall quality of a given solution is typically the company providing the service. High-performance server hardware, a secure infrastructure, and reliable support should usually be considered when evaluating providers. Because choosing between the vast sea of companies can be difficult, there are a number of review websites for online merchants who need some guidance.
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