You know something about web hosting? You won’t know how important it is until a few issues crop up. When they do, you’ll be usually staring at the ceiling since things like NameServers, “A” records, and CNAME can all seem like a different language. Even if you knew some of this, actual work is a lot more complicated.
Trouble is that you won’t have to dig your head into this until something has to be done like changing settings, modifying DNS information, and probably migrating websites from one host to another.
But that’s just about web hosting. There’s a lot more to websites than just that. Think about this: you didn’t know better and a developer built a website on core PHP. You’d need the developer again and again for every little change you’d need on the website. If you have an ecommerce store or if you’d like to tweak the website to align it with your marketing strategy, you’d spend days just collaborating with your develop to get things done. Plus, it’s likely to be expensive.
In case you never had to face any such issues, you are blessed. Getting into this is a nightmare. That’s why, you ought to do this even before you think “website”:
Find a reliable host
Now, let’s get this straight off the bat: reliability here refers to people behind the hosting company and not the brand, the popularity, the type of hosting, or the servers they use to host your website. When it comes down to it, the hosting price won’t matter. The plans are more or less the same. It’s the people behind your hosting company that you’d need.
Look for their expertise, web smarts, and willingness to walk the extra mile (hosting and managing servers is a hard job).
If you look to pay peanuts for hosting – and not give importance to this single point here – you’ll get even worse than monkeys.
eCommerce Engine, CMS, and other integrations
From the start, think digital marketing. The ecommerce store is just the beginning. Your business depends on the website or store, of course, but you’ll realize that your days go deep into marketing too. Talk digital marketing and you’d need a blogging platform, ways to easily integrate social media buttons, ways to include opt-in forms and feature boxes for email marketing, etc.
Again, depending and developers for making changes is a nightmare. Look for the right combination of systems that already come integrated like Adobe Business Catalyst or CMS systems that allow you to make updates yourself such as ecommerce websites hosted on WordPress or full-service solutions such as Shopify, Big Commerce, and Vend.
The key is this: you’d not have to depend on developers for most things, unless you need a major overhaul or do something that you (or your team) can’t do.
Where are the keys, Champ?
I have many friends who are into consulting and they all tell me the same thing: most companies have no idea where critical information like hosting details, cPanel details, and files are located. They don’t have access to this information. Developers or hosting resellers usually keep all this information with them (and never bother to let their clients know).
You don’t keep your car keys with the dealer, do you? Where exactly are your banking passwords and login info? You get the idea?
Have you ever been through a development, hosting, or a similar nightmare as an ecommerce business owner? Share your story with us.