Running an online shop requires a great deal of knowledge and preparation. So much so that many people give up before achieving any real results. One of the first pit stops you’ll encounter when establishing your online business is the decision of which hosting plan would be suitable for your situation. Many people start with the cheapest web hosting plan in an effort to gauge their success before making a substantial investment in their online business. The problem with this method of progression is that it greatly hinders one’s potential for the very beginning. Instead of starting with an incompetent web hosting plan, and planning to upgrade after success is achieved, it makes more sense to start with a competent hosting plan and plan for success from the beginning. Nonetheless, if you’re determined to try your luck with a shared web hosting plan, then there are a few things you should know in regards to shared hosting and eCommerce.
SSL and Shared Hosting
An SSL certificate allows you to use SSL protection on your eCommerce site. Once you have SSL protection enabled on your site you can place a seal on your checkout page that let’s your customers know that you are utilizing SSL protocol. Many customers simply will not buy a product or service from you online without knowing that your site is protected via SSL. SSL is a file transfer protocol, and in order to use this secure file transfer protocol you absolutely need an SSL certificate. The problem with shared hosting is that you cannot have several SSL certificates with most shared hosting plans. This means you cannot have more than one secure eCommerce site on your shared hosting plan, even though the plan may advertise “unlimited domains”. In order to secure each online shop you would need a new hosting account for each site, which could become more costly than simply purchasing a dedicated or VPS hosting plan.
Shared Hosting and Dedicated IP Addresses
Another potential downfall to a shared hosting plans in regards to eCommerce is the fact that you are sharing an IP block with other webmasters. This means you have to worry about the actions of websites that you are not affiliated with, as there are some cases when entire blocks of IP addresses can be disabled for spamming and other illegitimate activity. In some cases you may even share an exact IP address with other websites. Even though your sites are not related to these sites in any way, there is a distinct possibility that your search engine ranking could be affected by the action of these sites, since you share an online identity with them. In the world of eCommerce, a lower search engine ranking equates to lower sales and less profit.
Limited Server Resources
Another aspect of shared hosting that makes it generally unsuitable for a successful eCommerce site is the overall lack of server resources. Since you will be sharing a server with other users, your site will not have access to as much bandwidth, disk space and other resources that contribute to the functionality of your site. This means your site’s visitors may have to deal with slow page loading, and you may even have to deal with site downtime.
