TechKnowmad
Due to the large number of ecommerce web hosting solutions available to select from, it can be tempting to simply pick the first one that you come across. Moreover, while it is possible to be fortunate and have no problems with your decision years down the road, it is a risk that most of us should be willing to take. It’s best to do your study before launching your online store, and here are some of the reasons why.
Read More: Best Free VPN for 2022
Table of Contents
Website Speed
Not only does site speed play an important role in providing a great user experience, but it also has an impact on where search engines place your website in their rankings. Yes, it’s only one criteria among hundreds that Google considers when determining where your site should show in the search results page for a specific query, but it’s still crucial.
It’s inconvenient, but it’s also understandable. Search engines must consider their own end users when developing their algorithms. In an effort to offer them with the greatest possible user experience, they want to make certain that they are sending them to websites that not only contain the information they are looking for, but also to websites that do not have excruciatingly long loading times.
It is impossible to emphasize the importance of fast page loading in terms of business. Web consumers expect a page to load in two seconds or less, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen. Users would abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load; therefore, the faster your website loads, the better it is for you. Even a one-second delay in page load time can result in a 7 percent decline in conversion rate, according to research. If your ecommerce site generates $100,000 in revenue each day, a one-second delay might lose you $2.5 million in income over the course of a year.
It is dependent on a variety of things, including your web server, the types of files you have on your site, and the size of the code on your site, as to how quickly your website will load. While you have complete control over your file types and code size (and you may take steps to optimize them), when it comes to hosting, the only recourse you have is to conduct thorough due diligence.
Uptime
Possibly due to the fact that no web host can honestly guarantee that their site will be online 100 percent of the time, several web hosts claim uptime rates of 99.9 percent or more. While this is normally acceptable, it’s crucial to realize that any downtime has a negative impact on your ecommerce sales and should be avoided if possible. There is only a 40-minute difference between 99.9 percent uptime and 99.99 percent uptime on average every month, which is insignificant in a sector that operates around the clock like ecommerce — especially during peak traffic hours, when problems are more likely to occur.
However, while the cost of website downtime varies widely from business to business depending on the size, industry, and time of day, 81 percent of businesses surveyed reported that just 60 minutes of website downtime can cost them more than $ 300,000, and 98 percent of businesses reported that just 60 minutes can cost them more than $100,000.
Considering that this occurs numerous times a year, you are effectively denying yourself an enormous amount of potential cash. However, it is much more than that. A single negative customer service experience may do considerably more damage to your reputation than a single positive one – and when a large number of customers are unable to check product specifications or finish their orders as a result of downtime, you’re dealing with far more than just lost money.
Read More: Top 13 Skills to Be a Marketing Consultant
Scalability
I’m confident that no matter how big or tiny your company is right now, there will never be a point where you stop and say, “All right, I’m done expanding.” In order for my business to succeed, I do not want it to earn any more money than it does today.”
Your ecommerce site must be designed with scalability in mind from the beginning. As your company grows and expands, whether in terms of the products you sell or the number and frequency of sales you make, your requirements will alter. Check that the platform you choose will be able to develop with you so that you don’t have to struggle with downtime as you transition to a platform that will serve you better.
Hidden Costs
In the world of ecommerce, there is no such thing as a truly free platform. It doesn’t matter if you build the website yourself with a domain name, your choice of web hosting, and a shopping cart platform that works on a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal; the costs of the domain, web hosting itself, any premium plugins, as well as design and maintenance costs, will still be incurred.
Certain ecommerce platforms will be more expensive than others, depending on the features you require and the size of the store you intend to operate. Some payment processors will charge you additional costs for host bandwidth or transaction fees in addition to the fees charged by the payment processor. The fees charged by others will vary depending on the quantity of products in your catalog, while some will merely charge a percentage of the transaction for every item you sell.
When it comes to operational costs, it’s important to examine whether you need a function that others don’t offer. If you do, it’s worth it to spend a little extra money on a one-stop shop that will ensure your business operates smoothly in the long run.
The time you invest in researching your e-commerce platform in advance of launching your store ensures that when you do decide to invest time and money in a platform, you will be able to construct and market your store with fewer surprises down the road.