Technology has never been static. The continuous improvement in technology and technological trends has caused many human activities to be carried out online.
Today, a lot of enterprises transact their businesses online via their websites and mobile phone applications. Even small and medium scale enterprises are not left out.
Some of the activities that can be carried out include viewing available products, placing orders, payments for goods and services, customer care services, feedbacks systems, etc.
Some companies have websites that provide information about them and what they do. To be able to carry out these activities, and more, a business needs a website.
There are many websites, such as portfolio website, e-commerce website, blog websites, landing pages, social media websites, corporate websites, etc.
Businesses own e-commerce sites to enable them to sell their goods or services online.
What Is Web Hosting?
A Webhosting company stores your website’s files on its servers and transfer them to browsers. The files are hosted on many different servers across the world.
The closer the server’s location to the client, the faster the files get downloaded to the client’s web browser.
Without web hosting, a website will not be visible to users from different places around the world.
It is not possible to have an active website without hosting it on a live server.
There are different services a web host provides, such as storage, email, data transfers, etc. The rates differ from one hosting company to another.
Some web hosting companies even allow individuals to resell their web hosting services.
It is synonymous with having your own hosting company but without you owning any servers.
Types of Web Hosting Plans
Web hosting is of different types. Some of them include shared hosting, virtual private server (VPS), server cores, managed hosting, cloud hosting, business hosting, WordPress hosting, etc. The list is endless.
When different websites are hosted on one server, it is known as shared hosting. These websites share the server’s resources and also share the cost of the server.
If the server costs $100 per month and there are ten websites hosted on it, each website owner will pay $10 monthly.
The websites in a shared server are roommates. Roommates stay together and share resources in the house like bathroom and kitchen.
One person might cause disturbances for other roommates. The same thing applies to shared servers.
One website with colossal traffic can adversely affect the performance of other websites on the same server.
The VPS hosting is very similar to dedicated hosting but with lesser features. It has lesser websites on a server.
This ensures better performance of the websites and means each website has more server resources, but it also increases the pricing.
“Dedicated Hosting” means you have a server to yourself. It comes in handy if you have a bog website that requires a lot of server resources.
Your website’s performance is not affected by the traffic of other websites. It is more expensive than the previous types of hosting discussed.
For some big companies that need a lot of server resources and can afford it, dedicated hosting is the way to go. Small and medium enterprises usually opt for shared hosting as it is cheaper.
We will be looking at some of the best web hosting for small e-commerce websites. Our focus is on shared web hosting. This is because we are considering web hosting for small e-commerce websites.
Best Hosting Providers
For a small enterprise looking to own a website, we recommend one of the following web hosting services.
1. Bluehost
Bluehost is a top-rated web hosting provider. Currently, there are over 2 million websites hosted on Bluehost. It is straightforward to use and well suited for beginners.
Bluehost has been on the ground since 2003, providing excellent hosting service.
Bluehost is known for its budget-friendly priced plans, dedicated customer support, and various features regarding hosting plans.
What’s more? This hosting provider offers efficient and robust security options, a user-friendly app, and money back-guarantee if you’re not satisfied with their hosting services.
But of course, nothing is perfect because Bluehost has a few drawbacks when it comes to plans renewal rates that usually increase after the initial signup period.
Also, to explore the complete leashed services of Bluehost, users will have to opt-in for their higher plans because the cheapest plans are restricted in essential features.
Features of Bluehost
- Bluehost’s interface is very clean and simple
- Free domain and SSL certificate
- It is an all-encompassing platform
- One-click WordPress installation
- Secured from fake traffic and DDoS attacks
- Cloudfare integration which increases site speed
- 24/7 customer care support via phone calls or live chat, etc
Bluehost offers some other goodies in the form of SEO and analytics tools. SEO ensures that your website is visible when people search for your business or anything related to what you do.
Analytics is also vital in an e-commerce website as it helps you keep track of activities on your website.
The analytics helps you see the products your customers are buying more and the ones with lower patronage. This can help your company’s decision making.
You also get to see on which page(s) your customers leave your website so you can make necessary adjustments where necessary.
Bluehost Pricing:
Bluehost costs about $7.99 per month. It also has a 30-day money back guarantee.
2. Dreamhost
Dreamhost is another wonderful web hosting provider for small ecommerce buisnesses. They are one of the cheapest out there.
This hosting provider has been on the ground for almost 25 years. DreamHost offers hosting plans with trending apps like WordPress, Wix, and Weebly, providing excellent service to its numerous users.
Their priced plan offers unlimited disk space and bandwidth, providing a full 97 days money-back guarantee for interested individuals to try out their hosting service.
Unlike most hosting provider that offers yearly hosting plan, Dreamhost provides month-to-month plan subscription for users, which they can cancel anytime.
Furthermore, unlike most of its competitors, the hosting provider does not increase the price upon renewal of service.
Features of Dreamhost
- WordPress is already pre-installed.
- WordPress firewall and free SSL certificate.
- Unlimited traffic
- Different plans for different needs. You can purchase the starter or unlimited hosting plan depending on the number of websites you want to host.
- Unique control panel. Dreamhost does not use the popular cPanel used by most web hosting services providers.
- Migration to dreamhost is super easy and free using their plugin.
- Cheap and affordable domain prices.
Email support is excellent. Phone support attracts an additional charge while live chat is available during business hours. Phone support is however free on their pro plans.
Dreamhost Pricing:
Dreamhost’s pricing starts at $3.95 per month with a 97-day money back full guarantee. Also, there are no hidden charges after first payment. The price is fixed.
3. Hostinger
Hostinger is renowned for its fantastic speed at jaw-dropping prices. They also have guaranteed uptime.
Hostinger is a highly-vetted hosting provider that has been in the industry since 2007, offering what we will call a distinct service to its users.
There provide a free website builder and domain name to users irrespective of the price plan they decide to use.
Customer support provided is multilingual, which means you’re not limited to using their service due to lack of communication.
The only noticeable con of Hostinger is that it does not offer a traditional cPanel and provides a 30 days money-back guarantee.
Overall, we are optimistic that Hostinger serves a reliable hosting plan for users who want to try out its service.
It means your website will always be up and running. Here are reasons why you might consider this excellent web hosting service.
- Free domain and SSL certificates.
- 99.9% uptime is guaranteed.
- Email hosting available.
- They provide excellent support 24/7.
- Uses hPanel as its control panel.
- Easy to use custom interface which makes development easy and interesting.
- Multilingual platform with over 20 languages.
They have a website builder (Zyro) with a ton of templates available for customization.
Hostinger Pricing
Hostinger priced plan starts at $0.99 for the first payment. Interestingly, you can pay for 4 years upfront at the same price.
Subsequent payments increase after that. A single site web hosting will cost about $2.15, and they also have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
4. Hostgator
Hostgator is best suited for small businesses with small needs. Businesses that own small and simple websites will have a smooth experiencing hosting their website on Hostgator.
Hostgator offers cPanel migration and a free site to its users. They also get a 45 days money-back guarantee to try out their service.
Hostgator is perhaps the most user-friendly hosting provider for newbies and reliable customer support.
It is a viral hosting provider, hosting about 9 million websites worldwide.
Features of Hostgator
- Unlimited storage and email accounts.
- 45-day money-back guarantee.
- Free domain and SSL certificate.
- Free domain name transfer.
- User friendly interface.
Hostgator Pricing:
It’s Shared hosting prices starts at $2.75/month. It also has a 30-day back money guarantee.
5. A2 Hosting
They are one of the fastest web hosting providers in the industry.
Features of A2 Hosting
- Free and easy to migrate websites to web host
- 24/7 live chat, email and phone support
- 99.9% uptime commitment
- Free SSL certificates and website builder
- Uses cPanel as control panel
- 100GB SSD storage
A2 Hosting Pricing
The starting price for A2 hosting is $8.99. There is a 63% discount promotional price.
You can get a greater discount by paying for 3 years upfront. This will earn you a 2-year free hosting. Absolutely, amazing right?
6. Greengeeks
This is an eco-friendly web hosting provider, just like their name implies. They use only renewable energy sources to discharge their services.
They are conscious of the environment. In our world today, where we have global warming and other environmental phenomena, that is a laudable step in the right direction.
Not only are they environmentally conscious, but they also provide excellent hosting services in terms of speed and performance.
Features of these unique web hosting services providers include:
- One click installs and auto updates for WordPress.
- Load time of under 500ms
- Free domain and SSL certificates
- Secure, scalable and Eco friendly
- 30-Day money back guarantee
- Free nightly backups
- unlimited domains on one account
Greengeeks Pricing:
They have an introductory price of $2.95 and a subsequent payment of $9.95. You can save more by paying three years in advance at the initial price.
7. Inmotion
Inmotion is also one of the best web hosts out there. They have provided topnotch services to a large number of dedicated customers over the years.
Some of the features that keep them relevant up till now include:
- Unlimited disk space
- Free data backups for websites
- Free domain name and SSL certificates
- Website migration is also free and easy
- Secured from DDoS and Hack Protection
- Free drag and drop website builder
Inmotion Pricing:
Inmotion pricing goes for $5 monthly at promo prices. The renewal price is about $8 per month. They have a 90-day money back guarantee.
Conclusion
The importance of good hosting cannot be overemphasized. Good hosting is not a luxury; it is a necessity.
If you need customers to be able to interact with your website at all times, then you must ensure to get an excellent hosting service that suits your needs.
Some of the factors you should put into consideration before paying for any hosting plan includes the following:
- Website speed
- Website uptime
- Pricing
- Traffic volume
- Migration features
- Customer support strength, etc.
Compare these features between different web hosting providers before making your final decision.
Small businesses usually go for shared hosting because of the affordable pricing. Also, they do not need a lot of hosting resources. However, you can always upgrade your hosting plan if need be.
The majority of these hosting plans supports WordPress and is even recommended by WordPress.
WordPress is the commonest CMS (Content Management Systems) used by many small and medium-scale enterprises to build their e-commerce websites.
WordPress makes use of themes and plugins for websites development. This enables business owners with no coding knowledge to build their business website by themselves.
It’s a faster and cheaper way to build an e-commerce site. It is also very effective and secure.