eCommerce is the modern method to run a business and it’s incredibly effective. An online store is much cheaper than a storefront, and your customers can buy your product easily from anywhere in the world.
For this, it’s a good idea to find the best server for eCommerce. Website design and setup is also a necessary thing to do for your business.
How to Set up an eCommerce Website
The first thing that’s needed is a domain name for your website. Once this is decided, you’ll need to design a website. An easy way to do this is by using something called a CMS, or a content management system. A CMS is a software that helps people build websites. There are specialised options for eCommerce websites.
There are many of these CMS’s available, popular choices being Shopify, OpenCart, Woocommerce (a plugin for WordPress),and Magneto. It’s important to do your research here because this is what your customers will see as your store.
Once your website is set up, you will need to find a good web host and the best server for eCommerce website.
What is a Server and Why is it Necessary?
Simply put, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides some form of functionality, or service, for other programs or devices.
More specifically, a commerce server is the type of server needed to run an online business. Included within a commerce server are all the tools and components of an online storefront.
It provides everything you expect to see in an online store, and will also manage all the ‘back-end data’ in your store, such as accounting and inventory data.
Why a Good Server is So Important
It can be tempting to go for the cheapest options for your server. After all, they all provide basically the same service, don’t they?
Well, yes. But quality matters. This is your store, after all. The customer’s impressions on your product and whether they want to buy it are largely based on the quality of your website and the service it provides.
An unattractive or difficult to use website will frustrate customers and make them less likely to buy your product or return to your eCommerce store. A site that runs slowly will have the same effect, as many people shop online out of convenience and a slow website doesn’t facilitate that.
On the other hand, a well designed website which runs smoothly will impress customers. It’s a similar principle to a physical store. An attractive store with well arranged displays and good customer service will be far more successful than a store which is unpleasant to be in and irritating to shop in, even if they sell the same product.
So, bearing this in mind, it’s obvious how important the best server for eCommerce website is for the success of your business. So how can we set this up?What is a Web Host?
While you may use a CMS to build your website, you also need to decide how to host your website. Hosting is what provides the server for your site and allows it to connect to the internet. These vary in cost and will determine what hardware and setup you need.
The cheapest option is ‘shared hosting’, which is suitable for startups and very small businesses. This method of hosting means your website will be slower and will have to share server space with other sites.
VPS, or virtual private server, is more expensive. Your server still shares a machine with other sites, but it’s more isolated than shared hosting and allows for faster speed.
Dedicated hosting is the top tier option using a physical server, giving you a private machine. Some powerful tower servers can be kept and maintained yourself, making them a great option for those with more technical knowledge and who want the most control over their servers.
Finally, a good option is Cloud Hosting. This solution is affordable and can scale well for a quickly growing business. It’s very affordable for startups and comes without some of the issues of shared hosting.
Once you have your server type decided upon, you should decide how to manage your hosting. You can manage this yourself, and do all the setup, security and maintenance yourself, but it’s generally much easier to have a specialised company manage your hosting for you.
How to Select an eCommerce Hosting Provider?
An eCommerce hosting company provides core functionality for your website and allows it to get started up as soon as possible. This service can be as basic or as specialised as you like. What you’re looking for is speed, ease of use, value for money and support.
A popular option is Wix eCommerce, which is designed for small to mid-sized businesses. Wix is very easy to set up and use and is very affordable, making it good for someone just getting started. However, Wix is not the fastest option out there and so isn’t suitable for a large store with heavy traffic. Wix also is less customizable than other eCommerce providers.
There are a lot of other options out there, and it’s best to shop around for what’s best for your business. Examples include Siteground, which is known for having very fast speeds and Kinsta, a cloud based platform that is more expensive but better for larger companies.
How to Grow Your eCommerce Business
Once the website and server are set up, your business will be ready to go. However, there comes a point when you may want to grow your business and let potential customers know you’re open for business.
For this, you may require eCommerce Marketing Specialists. This is a service that promises to increase traffic to your website and increase sales, by using specialised online marketing techniques such as SEO or social media campaigns.
By using these services, you can get your business off the ground and start to turn a profit.