We write a lot about picking the best website host, but how do you find the right eCommerce hosting for your business?
Yes, you can run an eCommerce website on any website host, but picking a company with the right optimizations for this type of hosting will ensure your site is faster and more secure. Let’s look at the different options for eCommerce hosting and how to choose the right one for your store.
What is ECommerce Hosting?
ECommerce hosting is web hosting optimized for running an eCommerce website. While this term can refer to hosting for various eCommerce platforms, when we talk about eCommerce hosting at Pressable, we’re often referring to hosting for WooCommerce sites.
We’ve fine-tuned our servers to run WordPress and WooCommerce with the best performance. After all, Pressable is part of the Automattic family, the company that develops WooCommerce. While other eCommerce plugins will also work beautifully here, we’ve worked with WooCommerce the most.
ECommerce Hosting Options
The type of host you pick affects your site’s performance. ECommerce hosting is typically offered in one of four configurations: shared hosting, VPS, dedicated server, or cloud hosting.
Shared Hosting
Small businesses often use shared hosting because it’s the most affordable. In this setup, your site shares a server with several other websites.
This approach isn’t ideal for eCommerce sites. If one of the other sites on your shared server experiences a surge in traffic, it could slow down or even crash your website. We cover more of the risks of picking cheap hosting in our e-book on why cheap hosting actually costs more.
VPS Hosting
Hosting with a VPS, or virtual private server, is an upgrade from shared hosting. Your site still shares a physical server with other sites but has dedicated resources.
If shared hosting is like having shared green space with your neighbors, VPS is like having a fenced-in yard. If your neighbors have a party in the shared space, odds are their guests will spill over into the space you’re using. If you have a fenced-in yard, it will keep your neighbor’s guests from standing in your yard, but if their yard floods, the fence won’t keep your yard from getting soaked too.
VPS solves some but not all of the changes presented with shared hosting. It’s still not the ideal solution for eCommerce sites.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting gives you exclusive use of a server for your website. This option obviously avoids the problems with shared and VPS hosting, but it comes with a premium price tag.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud host offers the best performance at the best price for eCommerce websites compared to shared, dedicated and, VPS hosting.
Pressable’s cloud-based platform eliminates single points of failure. In the rare event that one server goes down, others pick up the slack and continue delivering a fast web experience for your visitors. View this diagram to see how our server setup works.
How to Pick the Best ECommerce Hosting for Your Store
No matter your store’s size, you need a web hosting service you can trust. Here’s what to look for when evaluating hosting companies.
Scalability
Can your host grow with your site and handle huge influxes of traffic? During the holidays, most store owners wish for a viral Black Friday over a white Christmas.
One of the benefits of using a cloud-based system like Pressable is that it can instantly scale up to meet the demands of large traffic spikes. You don’t have to worry about your site slowing down or crashing if your traffic increases — overnight or over a year.
Security
ECommerce websites store incredibly sensitive information about your customers and business. You need a host that offers top-notch security. Pressable keeps your data secure behind a state-of-the-art web application firewall that blocks DDoS and other malicious attacks. Pressable also offers malware detection and removal.
Automatic Updates
One of the ways you can ensure your site is secure and fast is to keep it updated. Pressable’s managed WordPress hosting service includes automatic updates of your WordPress core files and WooCommerce.
Speed
A slow-loading site can kill your search engine rankings and drive away customers.
Online shoppers expect the speed and convenience of Amazon and other retail apps. If your site takes too long to load or your checkout page times out, shoppers aren’t patient enough to wait it out. They’ll leave and find a store with a faster site.
Pressable uses a unique NVMe server infrastructure for blazing-fast loading times. We consistently rank top tier in the Review Signal WordPress Hosting Benchmarks ratings.
Reliability
If your site is down, you’re losing business. Every second counts. You need a host you can rely on.
Pressable offers a 100% uptime guarantee in our SLA, so you can always rely on our network.
We’re also there to support you when your site goes down for non-server-related reasons. Our automatic backups can save the day if your site crashes because of a code error or security breach. You can restore your site in one click.
Ease of Use for Developers
You also need a host that will support your developer’s needs. Pressable now includes SSH access, so developers can use the WordPress command line interface. We also offer a staging environment so developers can edit, test, and debug your site in a test environment without impacting your live site.
Make the Switch to Better ECommerce Hosting
Pressable’s hosting service is the perfect solution for building your WooCommerce store. Our eCommerce hosting includes the speed, security, and reliability you need.
If you’re ready to start building your store, pick a WordPress hosting plan and sign up today.
If you already have a store but are unhappy with your host, we’re here to save the day. All new Pressable accounts receive free migrations. You can utilize our easy-to-use migration plugin or let one of our experts handle the entire migration for you.
Either way, we’ve got you covered so you can worry less about what’s going on with your host and focus on growing your business.
Amanda Tsourakis
With over a decade of experience in the tech industry, Amanda's experience demonstrates her sales expertise. Her commitment to building, training, and guiding high-performing teams has been instrumental in driving Pressable's success. Amanda's extensive background in sales and marketing, coupled with her sharp business acumen, has made her an invaluable asset to the tech community. Her ability to identify and foster talent, combined with her passion for developing winning sales strategies, has propelled her to the forefront of the industry. When she's not expertly navigating the tech sales landscape, she loves spending quality time with her family, loves travel and adventure, lounging pool/beach-side, playing tennis, working out, and meeting people/making friends all along the way!
