If you decide you want to sell handcrafted items online, you might not be sure how to set up your website to do so. Well, you would need to add a shopping cart to your site. Not all website hosting services will offer the tools you need. What other features may you need to take into account?
Research the hosting service to learn what kind of websites they offer. A lot of free services will only provide you the tools necessary to build your own pages or let you use their templates, but not add overly dynamic personal scripts. If you need to have a scripting page that’s dynamic, a pay host that’s affordable is the way to go.
When selecting a web page hosting service, opt for the provider that has a favorable track record for outages and downtime. Companies that have a lot of outages aren’t reliable and it is obvious that they do not have plans in place to shorten or prevent lengthy outages. Frequent outages signify an unprofessional business. Don’t make commitments to these type of companies.
Partner with a web page hosting service that is capable of supporting your website as it expands and grows. A simple HTML page doesn’t require much space, but adding videos and pictures quickly causes you to be in need of much more space. You should have enough space, and room to grow with 100MB.
Be wary of hosting packages that tout unlimited services. For instance, if a web host provides unlimited disk space, it might impose limits on the types of files that are permitted. Unlimited bandwidth claims may simply mean a tiered rate structure. Get all the information about plans upfront, and don’t take the word “unlimited” literally.
A guarantee of your money back is one thing you should look for in a web host. Be sure that you can cancel and get all of your money back within 30 days if you are not satisfied with the service. Many webhosts advertise themselves better than they are.
There are free web hosts, but you may “pay” for them in other ways. They typically require you to advertise on your site. You cannot choose the advertisements that you will need to post. The random adds that are on your site, will make it appear very unprofessional.
Many hosting services rely on the services of larger companies. They buy a large hosting account, and then hand out smaller pieces of it to other companies for a monthly fee. You should check out different web hosts under the same company, as you may find a better deal this way!
If you have little web design experience, select a website hosting firm able to provide strong customer service. As a novice, you will find yourself full of questions about how to use certain features of your web hosting package. In most cases, you will not even use all of the expensive bells and whistles. Odds are good that you will get more out of a reliable and accessible technical support system.
Dedicated Server
Consider using a dedicated server rather than a shared one. Dedicated servers are more secure. You can also get more disk space and bandwidth on a dedicated server. This will let you give your customers the best experience they can have while looking at your site. Remember, happy customers are return customers.
Once you decide on the features you will need for your website, review which companies offer those features and check on their price. Avoid paying for features you’ll never use while also considering future needs when selecting your plan.