10 November 2012

Grow your ecommerce business with reliable hosting


While there are a number of hosting services available at the drop of a hat, the one you choose can make or break your business. In an ecommerce business, it’s all the more necessary that you go with reliable hosting. Doing this is never an easy job, but there are a number of hosting providers in India that assure to make the entire process a seamless one.

Making the right choice among Indian hosting providers

No matter how good your brand and how salable your product, an unreliable site can spell doom for your business. Hence making the right choice in the sea of hosting services is important. You can check for the following when you make a pick from among the various hosting providers in India to ensure that you have nothing but the best:

Security: One of the most important aspects of an ecommerce business is maintaining security, and the best one, if you must. Since online businesses rely heavily on transactions across the web, you must ascertain the dependability of your host provider in terms of the security it offers.

Server: Even if you don’t have much technical know-how of a server and the hardware specifications, looking at it in detail will only be of much help. You must understand that it is the server which is ultimately going to be hosting your business online. Knowing the technical details will allow you to measure your website’s overall performance and better allocate resources in the long run.

Handling Traffic: What really makes your server reliable is the way it handles website traffic. Typically, your hosting provider should be capable of handling peak traffic effortlessly, to allow smooth function of your ecommerce website.

Uptime: It’s only obvious that a reliable host is one that offers more uptime than downtime. You must research and check reviews of the host you’ve zeroed down on for your business to keep a tab on the maintenance routine followed. Most server performances are after all maintenance-dependent. Your server is dependable if it has transparently kept a track of user experiences. Among the reviews, keep an eye on hardware problems with servers. A log in real-time, depicting the status of your host server will also be helpful.

Customer Care: A hosting company providing customer services 24*7 either through telephone, email or video calls is best. Considering that your online business will involve your finances, there is no reason why you should take a risk in this department. Sufficient customer support is among the most important things that you must check for.

In addition to the above points, a reliable hosting provider will also take care of your merchandising needs. In this respect, an internet merchant account which is able to process not just credit cards but other payment gateways too is important. A good host will also ensure that you have a range of shopping cart options to choose from for your online business.

An online business if managed properly can be quite profitable. Remember, sometimes it’s all about the choices we make.

9 November 2012

10 Tips to Follow When Switching a Web Host

Web Hosting Tips
Web Hosting Tips

You are unhappy with your provider and have made up your mind to switch your web host. This is definitely not one of the easiest jobs around. Nevertheless, if you remember a few things, you can almost certainly avoid pitfalls. Here are 10 tips that should ease the transition process:

Back-up: Transfer of a hosting service will have you looking at many things simultaneously. Hence taking a back-up of your web files and pages before you get started can help you in the long run. You don’t want to be worrying about lost files and misplaced pages, when there are other important things that demand attention.

Operating System: It is very important that you check the hosting plan of both your current and new provider. Often, if not paid attention to, this can lead to a broken website. Check and compare the similarities and differences in functionality as far as operating system of the hosts is concerned.
Storage: Assess the storage of your existing website much in advance. This will allow you to choose the correct web host to make the desired switch. Your new plan should have the ability to store not just your current website storage needs, but a little bit more too. The storage plan should typically be your total storage, log files and emails included.

Bandwidth: When you buy hosting, it is inevitable that you check for the amount of bandwidth offered. It should be at least on par with your existing provider. Not knowing about your bandwidth details can see you spend extra money with a new web host.

Shopping Cart: If yours is purely a business website, your new provider must be capable of either accommodating your shopping cart from your previous host or offer a new one that suits your requirements. This feature is essential if your site requires visitors to add their purchases to a shopping cart before proceeding further.

Mail Support: Another often ignored feature is that of email accounts. You must know in advance whether your new hosting provider will offer email accounts in the same quantity as your current provider. You may also want to check for mail forwards and auto responses.

Uploading Content: Hosting a website on a new provider can make you quite hassled, if you didn’t already check for the ease at which you can upload content. The functions and features of different hosts are obviously going to be different. It is important for you to check the know-how of your new provider as far as file uploads to the server is concerned. Most hosts offer to help you transfer your files.

FrontPage support: If your existing website deploys FrontPage, it is only essential that you check whether your new provider does so too. In addition to this, make sure that you check the version of FrontPage supported by both hosts is the same as well.

Email Set-up: Before you transfer your website to a new host, you must have your current email accounts set up on the new server. This ensures that there are no hassles and confusions later.

Script support: Lastly, your new provider must lend a helping hand to all your existing scripts on your website. Hosting a website on a new provider may require you to make relevant changes to your current scripts for smooth functioning.

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