Web
Hosting for E-Commerce Sites
Web Hosting for E-Commerce Sites
If you’re going to pursue an e-commerce site, hosting is
going to be an issue. Here’s a primer on web hosting for your
site.
E-commerce web hosting is the technology of storing, servicing
and maintaining files for one or more web sites selling products
or services online. Web site owners who pay for a web host (generally
on a monthly basis) upload their web pages to a shared or dedicated
web server through an ISP (internet service provider).
The web host should ensure a fast and consistent connection. Experienced
web entrepreneurs desire flexibility, security and high performance
from an e-commerce host. An e-commerce web server also stores information,
images, videos and just about any other content that can be retrieved
from a web site. Security is a priority for e-commerce web servers.
E-commerce web hosting can be divided into two major components,
the site and the host (where the site is stored for access on the
web). Web hosts are computers that offer storage space and Internet
connectivity.
Web hosts make your web site work with and connect to the Internet.
E-commerce, or web commerce, allows people to buy goods and services
online. On the Internet, one can buy almost anything, at any time.
E-commerce web hosting must support e-commerce software. Often
a web host will provide the tools that handle online transactions
and sales. In other cases, the web business owner is on their own
to ascertain e-commerce software.
Common tools that are provided with e-commerce web hosting are
shopping carts, business account services, SSLs (secure socket layers),
secure transactions, web promotion applications and advertisement
packages.
While choosing a web hosting company for your E-commerce business,
it is helpful to decide how much data storage is required and the
data transfer rates you require for your site. A web host is the
physical location of a web site, so you must be confident in the
connection and security of the hosting company.
Doing some research to make sure that data reaches the end-user
quickly and efficiently can payoff in a big way. Backup systems
should be in place so that data is routed even if there is a router
failure. Web hosts should be able to accommodate a client’s
web traffic (measured in volume of data transfer) in peak hours
as well.
Security is a major issue for E-commerce transactions. Private
information needs to be kept safe from unauthorized parties. SSL,
from Netscape, helps a lot with secure transactions. SSL is an encryption
technology that encodes a message that a receiver decrypts by using
RSA security.
For integrity and authentication of messages, digital signatures,
or certificates, are required. Digital signatures ensure that sensitive
information is not picked up by any other party, by posing as a
legitimate e-business or in any other way. A digital certificate
is a document, issued by a certificate authority, which recognizes
a legitimate online business.
To ensure security, many web companies store confidential information
on offline disks or on a separate PC. E-commerce web hosts should
also maintain multiple backups of vital information. SSL uses PKI
(public key infrastructure) and digital certificates to ensue privacy
and authentication. Bear in mind that security can be an expensive
and complex business.
In short, when selecting an e-commerce web host it is often best
to look for a pre-packaged solution that allows you to create a
shopping cart, an online catalog and a secure credit card transaction
and storage system. Selecting an e-commerce web host with a broad
range of tools and a solid reputation is an important step for just
about any e-business.
About the Author Halstatt Pires is with
the Internet marketing firm MarketingTitan.com
- a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company providing
search engine optimization services and offering automated web site
systems through BusinessCreatorPro.com.
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