| When you're setting up business online, the | | | | to work. The hours seem like days and will be |
| provider you choose for your ecommerce web | | | | costing you money. |
| hosting is absolutely one of the most | | | | |
| critical decisions you make. In a manner of | | | | 3. Do they have a state-of-the-art site |
| speaking, this is where you will live for the | | | | themselves? You can bet that if a hosting |
| rest of your business life - and you know | | | | company has an unprofessional website then |
| what a hassle moving can be. | | | | the company is also run sloppily. You want to |
| | | | make sure that your hosting company has high |
| It is the location where your customers will | | | | standards for themselves. |
| come, where your online "building" will be. | | | | |
| You want to make sure that your customers can | | | | 4. Are they certified hacker safe? If you are |
| visit your place and do business with you, | | | | going to be collecting names and emails on |
| and have a pleasant experience so they'll | | | | your site, then you absolutely have to know |
| come back again and again. You don't want to | | | | that your clients' information is safe. If |
| have any problems either, because you're open | | | | this gets lost, it can kill your business. |
| 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and any time | | | | |
| people can't get to you, you're losing money. | | | | 5. Are they willing to help you get set up - |
| | | | at no charge? Services such as free transfer |
| You want to know that you can set up your | | | | of your domains, files, databases, etc. is a |
| shop and have everything work the way you | | | | huge time saver, and if they truly want you |
| expect it to, plus if ever any issues do come | | | | to do business with them, they'll help you |
| up, they'll be resolved immediately. Not in a | | | | take care of these matters. A truly friendly |
| few hours, now. So you want a hosting company | | | | host will give you a domain name at no extra |
| that will be reliable, be trouble-free, plus | | | | charge. |
| won't eat into your profits. | | | | |
| | | | 6. Are they asking a reasonable fee for their |
| Here are several of the really important | | | | services? Though they may be hard to find, |
| things to look for when choosing a good web | | | | there are several good and reliable hosting |
| host. | | | | companies for under $10 per month. |
| | | | |
| 1. How long have they been around? When it | | | | Your web hosting should be one thing that you |
| comes to your website, you want to work with | | | | set up once and basically forget about it |
| a company that has been around long enough to | | | | after that. This is one aspect of having a |
| have perfected what they do. | | | | website that you don't want to spend your |
| | | | time on once you're underway. If you |
| 2. Do they have great customer support that | | | | currently have a host where you know everyone |
| is available around the clock There is | | | | in the support department from calling so |
| nothing worse than having your site go down | | | | much, then perhaps you should consider |
| and having to wait until they decide to come | | | | changing your hosting provider. |