Host for Ecommerce site.

Hello guys,
I am going to start a new Ecommerce site, that have a multi-vender system, i curious about the host, i think i will use a hostgator ,but what plan?

Here the list of question
-What type of host do you think is good why?their seem to be "web hosting"(share host, right?)
"VPS host" and Dedicate host(which is start quite expensive). what type i should use, how is this different?

-A host like dedicate host, what is it use for? when should i use it?

-For now i expect about 500 visitor/day, if i use webhosting of them what plan do you think it good for me, Hutching plan, Baby plan, Business plan? How much people per/day can each of this plan support, is it relevant?

-This question is not relevant but i just curious, what the big website like facebook, amazon use for their host, ? This is i just curious if anyone can clarify i will appreciate.

Thank you, guys, hope i post on the right channel, since i am noob here, if not i appology in advance.

 

I would not recommend basic shared hosting. A business class shared hosting might be right for you or a VPS but not basic shared. With only 500 visitors per day, a dedicated server is not even considerable at this point. If you are going to be handling credit card payments, PCI compliance is a must. A PCI compliant business class shared hosting plan can be found starting at $20 a month. So it is not a huge investment of money. Shop around. You did not say what country you are in or where your customers will be located. That is a consideration, too.

Facebook operates its own data centers. So it is its own host. It used Akamai in its earlier days and still does for content delivery. Amazon also operates its own data centers. They have spent hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars developing their data centers.

 

Hey Wayne,

I would try to help as much as I can here.

First of all I would advice to steer away from hosts like HG and I don't want to go very deep in details about why. You can just checks about them in respectable forums like WebHostingTalk or just Google their mother company EIG and see how they like to operate. Many new users are mislead to choose them because of the enormous amount of fake review sites and affiliates advertising them to get a juicy bonus. At the end of the day its your choice and this is as much as I will say about them.

Then comes the type of hosting to choose. This would depend on the web building software you choose but you are good to start with Shared hosting if your provider is good and doesn't oversell. With each new business the speed of growth can only be assumed so its good to choose a host that has several upgrade options and can move you up easily as your needs grow. Going for a VPS is often a little too much for beginners (especially if its unmanaged) and a Dedicated Server is a huge overkill.

As a merchant there are some things to consider. PCI compliance was mentioned but I doubt this will be a must for you. Its only necessary not only if you take CC payments, but if you also store the cards for recurring payments. A good thing is to check what additional perks your host can offer for merchants. For example some offer merchant accounts, some offer connections to various payment gateways. In any way I believe its good to have an SSL certificate as this will gain the trust of your visitors and your credibility as a merchant. Many shoppers are deterred by the lack of an indication that their personal details are not well-protected.

As it was already said very big brands have their own datacenters and are self-hosted. They operate on a whole different level and cannot really be compared to standard web hosting.

I hope this was able to bring more light to your queries and will gladly help more if needed

 

Hello,
Thank you for your answer Rado.

 

I would recommend some cloud server hosting. Because you are starting your new business now, you wouldn't have a lot of traffics, and to buy some dedicated server would be wasting money. Cloud servers allows you that you pay for resource only how much you need. In the beginning, you could take a lower packet, and when you get more traffics, just easily upgrade to bigger one.

For cloud hosting I would recommend Digital Ocean. They have a great technical support and I am very satisfied with them. From the website:

More about them you can find here https://www.digitalocean.com/

 

Thank you i wll check it.

 

Since you are just starting out Wayne, I would highly suggest getting a secure HTTP protocol.

I would not shop anywhere without it.

 

Thank you, but what is it? how can i find it?

 

A company I have used in the past (besides my own) is entitled Arvixe.

Here's some reading. https://support.arvixe.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/127/10/how-do-i-setup-ssl-ie-https-to-encrypt-the-connection-to-my-website

 

That is basically the Private SSL certificate I was talking about in the previous post. It provides a secure encryption over the HTTP protocol (hence the abbreviation HTTPS). And practically any respectable host will have such in their extra service offerings.

 

Nice !!

 

Dedicated web hosting offers you the entire server that completely work for you and your websites. Dedicated hosting is reliable and more secure than the other hosting plan. Dedicated sever allow you as much control as you requires for increase your business.

 

I agree with that you should go with a business class or a VPS hosting.

I hosted my eCommerce site at BlueHost in the past few years. I count it as a reliable hosting provider in general though not perfect in every aspect.

I started my business in China from last year. To ensure my Chinese customers can access my site fast, I transfer my site to a Hong Kong hosting provider, ZhuJi91.com.hk. I worried in the beginning, because most hosting providers in the market are unreliable today. But it turned out that this company offer excellent service.

 

Yeah you are right dedicated hosting offers the entire server whereas as the VPS hosting means you have a virtual machine and only you can access that server.

 

hi i think it best to go with correct server management process if u host in improper server it leads site problems, go with vps hosting, of course there are many but i think this is best,

 

Hi, I have been managing multiple types of servers for different use for my clients. I would suggest for a start you go with a VPS and upgrade it to a dedicated whenever possible. Reason for going for a VPS or a dedicated is so you have control over what you install on your server.

Also, decide what platform you are going to develop your website / e-commerce site on. For example if you are looking at something like Magento, then a server with an ssd works best. Also for magento I prefer nginx with php-fpm and not a normal apache server for good performance.

For something like xcart LAMP should suffice.

Ofcourse SSL is always suggested right from start.

I hope this info is good enough.

K..

 

If you have a plan to scale instantly you can go for amazon aws, but that has a steep learning curve. For other less priced VPS plans, the best ones are Digitalocean, Linode, MediaTemple etc.http://merabheja.com/top-10-web-hosting/

 

This question depends. What eCommerce platform are you planning on using? Magento is definitely one of the top options and for that I would recommend getting with a Magento host, many of which you can find on their preferred hosting partners page (http://partners.magento.com/partner_locator/search.aspx?f0=Types+of+Partners&f0v0=Hosting+Partner). Of the ones on that list, I would recommend Nexcess. They have a great reputation for service and support and a level of Magento expertise that is unparalleled. If you're using something like WooCommerce for WordPress, you'd probably be good starting with a shared hosting environment and scaling up as necessary. I would recommend sticking to no EIG hosts like HostGator. Smaller hosts seem to have better service and support.