Some key things to look for when shopping for ecommerce web hosting are:
- Reliability - you need consistent uptime to serve your customers
- Email - you want email addresses that reflect your business, it's free advertising
- Database - to keep track of inventory and to streamline your business
- Shopping cart - this is not even optional if you are selling things online
- FTP
- A good content management system
- Blog capabilities
- Forums if needed
- Live chat options for customer service
- Online banking and payment system
Depending on your type of business you may want any number of the following features:
- Google Checkout and PayPal payment options (people feels safe using these)
- SSL certificate for security - make sure your site is secure so you don't run into problems
- Accounting program integration - download data into Quicken or QuickBooks
- Offer an affiliate program to increase your traffic and sales
- Ability to offer coupons, discounts and gift cards
- Shipping integration with USPS, UPS and FedEx
- Web statistics
- Ability to upload your current product information instead of manually entering each item
- Good idea to look for unlimited disk space and unlimited data transfer
These are just a few of the bases you will want to cover when shopping around for an ecommerce web host. There are many great deals out there. Our top picks are the following:
