Best Web Hosting

The best web hosting plan for your ecommerce site will depend on what your business model will be.

If you want to sell hard goods from your site, you’re going to need a shopping cart and a secure site. Your business web site needs will be different from someone who will be engaging in affiliate marketing. As a result, it’s going to cost more.

Here is a list of items to look for in the web hosting package you choose for your web site.

Fast, reliable connection with excellent uptime; minimum downtime. (Most web hosts will have some downtime. Make sure it’s as close as you can get to 99%)

Free backups of Site/data back-ups

Storage space – 5 MB (free) to 3 GB (less than $10/month)

Transfer space – Bandwidth from 3 GB (free) to 75 GB (less than $10/month) Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred from web server to clients’ internet browser.

CGI Bin – a few standard free scripts and ability to add your own scripts without asking for permission

Secure Server Capability – encrypted pages for selling online. This feature can also be added through third party processing company.

Free Autoresponders, email aliases, mailboxes and mailing lists (or third party provider) –These are needed to keep in contact with customers.

What's Best for Your Needs?

The best web host choice for a small to medium business that isn’t going to be selling goods online should cost no more than $15/month. If you plan on selling hard goods online from your own inventory, you should plan on spending from $19.95 up to $99.95 and beyond if you need a dedicated server.

Always make sure you have good customer service from your web hosting company. This is where doing a little research on web host review sites would be worth your time.

I've used Host Gator for most of my sites and I've been very pleased with everything that they offer. Their hosting plans are very affordable from $4.95 a month to $12.95 a month and meet all the parameters that you need for a professional-looking and secure web site. Not only that, they give you a 45 day money-back guarantee.

Choosing the best web host for your business is a really important part of starting your online biz. Make sure you understand the basics of what you'll be getting before committing to a 6 month or more contract.

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