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I sat at my desk wondering where the heck I was going to start on such a huge topic. Professional web hosting is one of those necessary evils in the process of getting your eCommerce website online.
I say this because of the incredible number of choices available for hosting your small business web site, the immense number of options available from the different web hosting companies, and the price variation in the marketplace for the services being offered.
Let's take a look at the process just in case your new to having an eCommerce small business website.
Your eBusiness website was designed on a computer. Either your's or a web site designers. This web site now must be uploaded from the computer where your website was designed to a server that has a permanent connection to the internet and an IP address (a host).
I use WS_FTP Pro.
Just as your street address tells people where to locate you in person, your IP address will tell people where to find your website on the internet. An IP address looks like a series of numbers, for example, 65.108.82.140 . This is the IP address of the website you are on.
Now, to make things easier for people, the internet gods decided that people probably couldn't remember all these silly numbers so they declared to all people "there shall be names that people can make up that will be tied to these numbers...." and it was so. That is why you can type Secrets4Success.ca and end up at 65.108.82.140 .
OK, that's way more information than you needed to know but what the heck.
Domain Name
The reason why I launched this whole IP thing was to get to the topic of a Domain Name. Get your own domain name. Let me say that louder.
GET YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME.
That will show people that you are serious about doing business on the web. Nobody will take your eBusiness seriously if your domain name is www.somebodyelse.iamasomebodytoo.mb.pu.com.
Also, search engines hate free domains. If you plan on using a search engine for marketing, get your own domain!!
Make it a good one. Make it topical. Domains are cheap to buy.
Web Hosting Options
If you chose to have a private web designer or a design company create your eCommerce website then the chances are they have a "favourite" web host company that they are familiar with and recommend or they will have their own hosting service available to you. If you are designing the website yourself and you need a webhosting company, here are a few tips.
Take a look at the user interface or control panel that the particular webhost companies offer. The control panel gives you the capability to manage all aspects of your account. You can administer your webspace, your email accounts, your directories, your cgi-bin, and all the special features that are offered to you, such as site statistics and shopping carts.
At one time only a computer techno-geek could be a webmaster, but now the user interfaces are becoming very intuitive. Programming skills are not mandatory.
Reseach the options that the web host provide and at what price the add-ons will be. Price vs options, very important.
Take a look at their eCommerce options as well. Some web hosting companies have great shopping cart systems with cgi-scripting already in place that easily plug in to your website. Others have partnered with advanced visitor statistic software to give you in-depth reports. Some web hosts even have mail list software already installed.
Back to Secrets4Success Home Page!
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