Saturday, 8 December 2012

4 Best Web Hosting Sites To Set Up E-Commerce

Web hosting has grown over the years, but the segment to have grown the most is e-commerce web hosting – and for a good reason. More and more businesses have come to realize just how profitable it is to sell their products and services online, and so new specialized companies sprung out from the web hosting industry to create e-commerce web hosts. If you’re looking to sell online but aren’t sure which web host to choose, start by checking out some of these companies:

1. Inmotion

You won’t be able to find too many people who aren’t satisfied with Inmotion web hosting when it comes to e-commerce. These guys truly are the industry leaders, and they give you a whole lot for under $10 a month.

It doesn’t matter if you need your own dedicated server, or if you plan on creating a simple business website – Inmotion is a great company to go with. They boast a 99.9% uptime guarantee which, unlike a lot of web hosts, is actually true. They also have a fantastic technical support which is there to help you through any trouble or issue 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Whether or not you’re new to e-commerce websites, Inmotion can accommodate your skill set and demands. They offer an easy builder-based shopping cart that’s great for anyone who’s new to ecommerce (though the host is also already set up to support most of the popular and more high end shopping carts on the web). They have incredibly quick MySQL databases, and you can easily integrate your merchant account.

Inmotion really is where it’s at when it comes to e-commerce web hosting. Perform any search for a review on these guys and you’ll find that they have received a ton of awards and nominations for best web host for years – and that most of their users are very pleased with the service they receive.

2. WebHostingHub

WebHostingHub is another popular choice when it comes to web hosts, and their fair pretty well when it comes to web hosting in general. One thing that they definitely deserve credit for is their top quality technical support. If you ever have a problem, they’re right there, no matter what time of day it may be. They also have a lot of great features somewhat similar to Inmotion, such as:
  • 99.9% Guaranteed uptime
  • 90 day money back guarantee
  • Free domain name registration
  • Unlimited websites
  • Unlimited space
  • Unlimited email
They also have a premium web builder and a neat 1-click WordPress Installation.

For what you get, the price is also incredibly cheap (under $5/month to start) and well worth it. Just the tech support alone that you’ll receive is worth the price tag.

3. FatCow

FatCow has been around since 1998, and is still one of the best e-commerce web hosts out there for individuals and small businesses. Costing around the same as WebHostingHub, one of their main selling features doesn’t even really have to do with their services at all: they are 100% wind powered and eco-friendly.
You get a lot of great stuff with FatCow for under $5 a month, such as:
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Free domain
  • Free Instant set up
  • A 30 day money back guarantee
  • Unlimited traffic
  • Unlimited disk space
The customer support you’ll get from FatCow is pretty good, though not as great as the two other web hosts mentioned above, and there have been murmurings lately about their service having gone a bit downhill. Though we’ve seen nothing to prove these claims, keep your ears open and make sure that they are still offering the same quality service that they have been for years.

4. iPage

One web hosting option that definitely knows all about e-commerce is iPage. Having been in the web hosting game for more than 10 years, iPage has been a host for a number of different businesses, non profit organizations, and personal websites.
A “feature” (if you can call it that) which they offer which definitely makes them unique is the fact that they offer an anytime money back guarantee. That’s right, if you are ever unsatisfied, you’ll get your money back. You’ll find that most iPage customers stick with them, however, what with their great uptime and the potential to get over $400 of free extras. They have also been well known to extend special offers to long term clients or those who are opening more than one domain with them. Other features you can expect from iPage include:
  • Unlimited disk space
  • Unlimited traffic
  • Instant setup
  • Free domain name
  • A cPanel and Fantastico Script Library
If you’re into eco-friendly web hosts, this is another host that operates on wind energy.

One reason why we don’t place iPage at the number one spot is that there are murmurings about some customers being not 100% happy with their customer service as of late. While we have never had any issue with their customer service, other people have said that some representatives are unknowledgeable or that they were placed on hold for longer than they were helped. Again, if you are ever unhappy with the service that you receive from iPage, you are free to take advantage of their money back guarantee.

There are some basics that you should definitely be on the look-out for if you are looking for a web host. Money back guarantees are always nice in case something doesn’t work out, but having unlimited space and unlimited traffic will really help out any business that’s planning to grow. Quick and easy installation isn’t a must, but it’s a nice bonus, and if the web host already comes with a shopping cart that you can use, then beginners can get started right away.

Customer service is important, especially for those times when you do run into technical issues, but most important of all is perhaps the uptime guarantee. No matter what web host you choose, make sure that the web host you choose lives up to its uptime claims.

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