E-commerce web hosting solutions are designed specifically for the online business owner and most of them will be able to accommodate your site’s needs. However, there are some very basic differences between each plan, and these differences need to be scrutinized carefully. Without knowing the importance of each feature, it can be difficult to prioritize and make a decision based on performance. Instead, most customers choose their ecommerce hosting plan based on price and popularity.

Basing your decision on these factors is a poor decision, because in the need you still don’t know what you’re paying for. Ecommerce hosting solutions are supposed to be all-inclusive packages that help your online business thrive, yet many of them are basic packages that only provide frustration and a long learning curve.

Although the popularity of a web hosting company is a good indicator of it’s service, basing your decision solely on price and popularity will almost always result in mishap, and in the end the performance of your hosting endeavors will suffer. In the world of ecommerce hosting, there are several main attributes that comprise the performance of a particular plan: Reliability, Features, and Cost Effectiveness.

Reliability

Perhaps the most important attribute an ecommerce hosting company can have is the reliability and support it provides. Without proper support you could find yourself dealing with confusing dilemmas on your own. This can result in loss of time and money, and even downtime for your website. When it comes to testing the reliability of a web hosting company, you should take the initiative yourself, rather than relying on the opinion of others. Make a few phone calls to the customer service department and ask a few questions. This way you can see how long it takes them to address your issues, how friendly they are, and how knowledgeable their service representatives are.

Some companies may require you to have an account with them before they provide customer service, however you can always make an inquiry about their services, which will serve the same purpose. Only once you’ve tested the customer service for yourself should you rely on the opinions of others. Customer reviews on forums may be helpful, but you don;t want to base your decision solely on this information.

Features

All good ecommerce hosting plans should include a variety of features that make your job as an online business owner easier. Although there are many features to consider, the only one that should be noted here is the shopping cart. Shopping carts make the shopping experience more convenient for your customers, which ultimately translates into more sales and a greater return on your investment. Without a convenient shopping experience, many of your customers will leave your site and find another online business to spend their hard earned money with.

Cost Effectiveness

While price should not be a deciding factor, you also want to make sure you aren’t overpaying for a solution that may prove to be incapable in the long term. Be sure to compare the cost effectiveness of each ecommerce solution before making your decision. If you notice that a particular company is charging more than another, then make sure you understand why the price is higher. If there is no logical explanation for the raise in price, then they may be overcharging you, which is a good indicator that they are not a trustworthy business.

As an online business owner, the security of your website should be at the top of your priority list. Web hosting security is a field that is constantly evolving, with new threats developing every day. Just as you work hard on a daily basis to improve the quality of your website, hackers work just as diligently to circumvent the security measures put in place by your web hosting service provider. The detrimental effects of compromised security can range from minor to major. You may simply experience a short downtime/data loss, or you may even be the victim of fraud. One of the worst scenarios that occurs regularly is when a webmaster is blamed for fraud due to their website being hacked.

When the security of your website is compromised and an intruder gains access to your administrative interface, there is often no way for the defrauded client to distinguish between the actions of you and the hacker. This can result in the loss of your website, your business, lawsuits,  and in some cases even unjustified incarceration!

Fighting an Infinite Yet Invisible Threat

When you think of a hacker, you probably envision a young kid sitting in his mother’s basement typing extremely fast, trying to hack into databases manually. Unfortunately, this is not how hacking works in reality. Real hackers do not do tons of work manually, they use networks of “drones” to do their dirty work for them. These drones are personal computers that have been “hi-jacked” and are being used to carry out small individual tasks that ultimately compromise the security of a server or a network of servers. A single hacker can have as many as 20,000 drones, or more, carrying out pre-set functions at any time. In fact, your personal computer at home may be a drone! If your computer’s RAM is being consumed by a hidden application or “virus” then there is a small chance that your computer’s resources are being used by a hacker!

Resistant Viruses

Online viruses are similar to biological viruses, as they are constantly mutating and becoming stronger and more resistant to treatment. To prevent your personal computer from becoming the victim of a new virus, it is important to keep your anti-virus software updated.  Choosing a web hosting company that updates their security measures regularly will prevent your website from becoming a victim as well. This bring us to our next segment.

Security Capabilities of Your Hosting Provider

If you are like 90 percent of webmasters, then chances are your website is hosted by a third-party hosting service.  It is important to realize that many of these hosting companies are losing employees regularly due to the falling economy, and simply do not have the resources necessary to combat the ever-growing security threats in modern cyber-space. Since the security of your website is in the hands of a third-party company, it is important to make the necessary inquiries regarding their manpower, server capabilities and support staff. Choosing a cheap web host is not recommended for a serious online business owner.

An Example of a Serious Security Threat

Some hackers engage in the practice of “click stealing.” Click stealing is when a hacker places a redirect link over a button on your website, causing the information to be secretly sent to a third-party website. This is especially dangerous when the information is private financial information. An example would be an order form submit button. The hacker “steals” the click from the submit button, and the information is redirected to a phony web page that mimics the check out page of your website. This is a serious threat, and if you are using a third-party host it is important to make sure they are aware of this.

Resentful Employees

If you run a large online business, with tech savvy employees, it is important to change your site’s passwords and security configuration every time you fire an employee. Some employee’s may attempt to seek revenge if they are resentful towards your decision to terminate them.

Customer service and technical support are considered the foundation of any web hosting provider.  Both are vital for running a successful hosting business as they reflect the credibility and reliability of the company.  They also encourage confidence in potential customers because in the event of technical issues or extensive downtime, the consumer can rely on the hosting provider’s support system to have their questions and concerns addressed.

We will use an example to validate the importance of web hosing support.  Let’s say you run an online gift shop and Christmas Eve is the time your business generates the most revenue.  Your site starts to experience technical difficulties on December 23 and eventually goes down.  With customers having no way to access your store, you begin to miss out on sale after sale.  Now imagine if you had no support team to contact during this time.  Though most companies keep downtime to a minimum, these instances occur often and can deliver a crucial blow to your online business.  Because 100% availability is hard to guarantee, all web hosting companies should put major emphasis on their support services.

Must-Have Support Features

Responsive and satisfactory support is a quality every customer should look for in a web hosting service.  Not only can it make or break the company, but also be the determining factor in whether your site fails or succeeds.  A reliable hosting provider is one that delivers superior support on a basis of 24/7/365.  Since your site will essentially always be open, your host’s support team should always be available, weekends and holidays included.  Features you can’t do without are toll-free phone and email.  Support through ticket systems is becoming a common feature so this another method of contact you may want to look out for.  While promptness isn’t assured, support tickets make a great way to deal with issues that are not all that urgent.  With that said, you still don’t want to wait days or weeks just to have your matters addressed.  A good hosting provider will not make you wait it out and address your ticket queries within 12 to 24 hours of submitting it.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, support is vital for the both the customer and web hosting company. The customer needs to establish their credibility as a website owner while the company must provide a system that ensures customer satisfaction in a fiercely competitive market.  Many hosts realize this, and this is why most of them offer 24/7 support to their customers.  This is all comforting to see, but it is still a good idea to check the company’s availability by calling their office during weekend or odd hours.  The response or lack thereof, will give you an idea about their credibility and overall reliability.  A web host cannot afford to compromise on customer service and technical support in an industry where customers rely heavily on the company’s IT infrastructure and expertise.   It is up to the customer to find the host that actually lives up to these values.

Microsoft has placed its stamp on the virtualization phenomenon with the launch of Hyper-V, a new technology that adds to the power of the Windows Server 2008 platform.  Hyper-V represents the next era of virtualization, allowing administrators and hosting customers to get the most out of their sever investments and usage.  What sets it apart from other virtualization platforms is the ability to run a number of different operating systems in parallel on a single physical server.  It doesn’t matter if you prefer Windows, Linux or Unix, Hyper-V allows you to take full advantage of 64-bit computing.

Server Consolidation

Today’s businesses are under a lot of pressure to simplify management processes all while reducing costs and maintaining competitive benefits such as flexibility, scalability, reliability and security.  Hyper-V enables organizations to meet these goals by consolidating multiple servers within a single system while maintaining isolation.  Aside from saving money on individual servers, this type of virtualization also provides for lower processing power, cooling and management costs.  Businesses of various sizes can benefit from an asset standpoint as well as capabilities that allow them to effectively balance workloads across multiple resources.  This results in improved flexibility that allows for the integration of 32-bit and 64-bit operations in the same environment.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Business continuity refers to the ability to reduce both scheduled and unscheduled downtime.  This includes time lost due to routine operations such as backup and maintenance as well untimely events caused by failures and outages.  Hyper-V offers extensive business continuity features such as live backup and seamless migration capabilities that enable businesses to meet demanding uptime and response metrics.

Disaster recovery is an essential element of business continuity.  Emergencies, natural disasters, malicious physical attacks and even simple configuration issues such as software conflict all have the power to cripple an organization’s vital data before administrators have a chance to back it up.  Leveraging the clustering features integrated into Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V supports disaster recovery across diverse IT environments and data centers.  Fast, reliable disaster recovery and business continuity tools help to ensure minimal data loss and enhanced remote management capabilities.

Improved Testing and Development

Testing and development are usually the first functions businesses take advantage of with virtualization technology.  The use of virtual machines allows development staff to create and test a wide range of scenarios in a secure, self-contained environment that precisely approximates the operation of physical clients and servers.  Hyper-V enables the maximum utilization of test hardware, helping to reduce costs, improve test coverage and life cycle management.  With support for numerous operating systems and checkpoint features, this virtualization solution makes an excellent platform for test and development environments.

Server virtualization is a hot commodity in the IT world for the potential of benefits that can be weighed on the scales of cost and performance.  Already one of the pioneers in web technology, Microsoft can now be credited for enhancing the virtualization concept and enabling businesses all over the world to enjoy a more dynamic IT infrastructure.