Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am an e-entrepreneur wanna-be. In my research, I have found that good web hosts companies are not so great at hosting e-commerce. Talk about confusing add-ons.  I have currently narrowed down the list to West Host, GoDaddy, Lunar Pages, Yahoo!, and Network solutions.  I need a what-you-see-is-what-you-get company.  This is why I have chosen these companies. Loads of easy to find info with price tags.

Anyone have any opinions?



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Jayme

Jayme28,
My advise would be to first research which ecommerce solution you want to use and then choose your web hosting company.
Remember a web server can handle almost every e-commerce software out there provided that it meets the shopping cart`s specifications. What you need to do is first figure out what type of features you need and that are important to your business.
Once you figure out what your needs are, then you can choose your web hosting company. Makes it easier!



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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

If you want a hosted solution - go with Volusion
I meant to say, these guys have a ready to use e-commerce solution, this is NOT a web hosting company.

As far as web hosting, I would recommend Liquidweb, Elief or Lunar Pages.

@nuevolution: I hadn`t thought about choosing the software first then the hosting. Makes sense though.  Any suggestions on which software to look for? I need a shopping cart, merchant account, and customer account stuff (login/password, make comments, shopping list/shopping list, e-mail this to friend, etc). Thanks for you time in responding!

@infilta:  I will definitely check out Volusion.  Haven`t seen Liquidweb or Elief in top hosting reviews but will check out.  Lunar pages is on my radar for sure.  Thanks for the suggestions!



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Jayme

Jayme,
Elief is kinda small and I guess it`s pretty new. It`s here in L.A. and I host my studio`s web site there: http://logistetica.com/. It`s fast and I get great service. Plus it`s cheaper for me then the same package with Lunar Pages. Liquidweb might not be in the charts as well as some other higher end hosting companies because what I see in the Top ratings is usually those big guys like GoDaddy or Bluehost or Host Gator who have like a million accounts and no real customer service. I`ve had (and still have) a managed dedicated server with Liquidweb and I am really happy with them. When I call tech support I wait 1-2 minutes and sometimes I get a rep almost immediately. And if I ask them to do something they do it very fast and I never paid anything on top of the monthly fee. These guys have shared and VPS hosting too but it`s just a bit more expensive then average. By the way, I have all of it here: "Choosing a good web hosting company" - I mention some of my good and bad experiences with the mentioned companies and some others.

Btw I don`t promote any of them, I recommend them `cause I used them and I think they are good.

Also, here`s a useful link - better then top hosting ratings (I don`t know how objective they are, I suspect a lot of them get a commission when they refer new clients). Here you can talk with IT people who discuss hosting as well as reps of a lot of these hosting companies: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/

@infilta: thanks again for the great information.  I wondered about the top hosting lists.  I will check out your references and do more research on what software I want for e-commerce.  Are you into the NBA finals? The Lakers are getting their butts kicked.


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Jayme

Nope, I`m not into NBA. I`m into water spots and aerobatic planes

Jayme - I have been hosting all my websites on GoDaddy and I have only very high marks for their customer service.

For me, I have a very small and closed market for my products, so the PayPal  product suits my sales very well.  It`s free, but the per-transaction is slightly higher than you would pay for a merchant account.  (Which typically has a monthly service charge).

Do the math on your projected sales volume and decide if you will need the services of a big e-commerce company with direct banking connections, or a smaller e-commerce provider like GoDaddy.

Either way, you still have to qualify for a merchant account.  Not unlike a credit application.

Things to avoid:
Long-term contracts.
"Required" hardware purchases.  If the e-commerce company requires that you buy or lease their terminal equipment, go somewhere else.  (Unless you also have a storefront).  They are just pushing the $15 terminals marked up to several-hundred dollars.



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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

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