Shopping Cart Hosting

Shopping Cart Hosting Solutions

If you’re looking at shopping cart hosting solutions, you may be wondering which option you should choose. So many ecommerce hosting solutions are available that sometimes finding the one that works best for your Internet store is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

The shopping cart hosting solution you choose could determine the success or failure of your online retail efforts. Each store has unique needs, so the ecommerce hosting your colleagues or friends use may not work for your store. Generally, however, all business owners will benefit most from host providers that deliver flexible, reliable service packages that can be designed to meet specific needs. If you are ready to select a network hosting solution for your Internet business, consider these factors when selecting a provider:

Time frame: If you’re ready to begin your venture into the ecommerce world, you shouldn’t have to wait long to launch your store with a host provider. Select a provider that features tools for designing commercial websites that don’t require extensive technical expertise to use. Once the site is ready, it should open to customers right away.

Design choices: Internet stores have only one opportunity to make a positive first impression on first-time visitors. This is why designing your store’s website professionally can be critical to the success or failure of your business operations. Review the available design templates your provider offers for use. Note: if you aren’t a design expert, templates that offer click-and-drag functions are often easiest and most convenient to use.

Transaction fees: Most host providers charge a transaction fee, and these fees are based on a percentage of sales. The higher your sales, the more you will pay in transaction fees. Some network host solutions offer services for set rates, rather than fee-based services. Check to see which will be more cost-effective for your Internet business.

Technical support: Unlike physical stores, ecommerce sites are open for business at any time of day or night. Server problems do occur, so choose a host provider that will provide telephone, email or live chat technical support when those problems arise.

Secure transactions: Identity theft is a real and serious threat, and most online shoppers are well aware of the potential damage unsecured transactions can cause. Ensure that your customers’ personal and banking information is protected by the ecommerce host. Discuss whether the host uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, and confirm that certificates advertising account security will be available to upload to your website.

In addition, check to see that the host meets data security standards as defined by the payment card industry (PCI). These standards were designed to protect the private information and account data of individual credit card holders. (The first Internet business provider to completely meet PCI requirements was Network Solutions.)

Uptime reliability: If your provider doesn’t offer reliable service, you will lose customers and sales. Every website has some downtime for required maintenance, security updates, and other necessary functions. Your best choice, however, is an ecommerce host that will be able to guarantee you 99.99 percent uptime reliability.

Shipping tools: Every online store owner is concerned about shipping, and shipping issues can create or destroy your customer satisfaction ratings. Check to ensure that the host’s shopping cart software package communicates with USPS, UPS, and FedEx websites.

Website marketing: After you’ve launched your online store, you’ll face the challenge of drawing the business traffic necessary to generate sales and make your business venture successful. Good search engine results page (SERP) rankings will help you to achieve this objective. To get good search results, you will need to use software solutions that are friendly to search engines.

Check with potential providers to determine whether they offer additional services such as search engine optimization or marketing. For example, Network Solutions offers business owners a package that includes free forms for submitting your website to search engines, as well as a monetary credit toward establishing paid marketing services. These services are designed to help improve search engine rankings for popular search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Credit cards: Some ecommerce hosts offer compatibility with merchant accounts that will allow business owners to accept credit card payments. Online stores that don’t accept credit card payments are rarely successful, so check to see whether your host’s software will be compatible with frequently used payment gateways, including Paypal.

Store productivity: As with physical stores, business owners need to be able to monitor the activity of their online store to determine which marketing strategies are effective – and which are not. Check with prospective hosts to determine whether their software solutions feature analytic or reporting tools that will help you to closely watch trends and statistics for orders and sales.

Get the answers to these and other important questions from shopping cart hosts before making a decision about contracting to launch your online business venture with that provider. This will help you to most effectively meet your Internet store’s unique requirements, and will offer your business a greater chance of success.