Is Shared Hosting Good for Ecommerce?
Yes, shared hosting for ecommerce is good. According to Statista, since 2021, over 2.14 billion people are shopping online. So, definitely web hosts are trying to help customers launch new ecommerce websites every day. Any reputable web host will allow a range of ecommerce plug-ins to be added to your website.
One of the most popular ecommerce solutions is WooCommerce, and it’s a plugin that works with WordPress, which many shared hosts include in their one-click installation feature. In fact, this solution is probably a far easier and faster way to launch an ecommerce website.
Many shared hosting plans can handle tens of thousands of monthly store visitors, so it should be quite a while before you’ll need to upgrade your service.
What Should You Look for in Shared Hosting
Cost
Shared hosting is normally cheap. However, if you see some introductory offers that are too good to be true, it’s probably best to avoid them. The reason is that the price could skyrocket after your intro period ends.
Uptime
You’ll need a host that can guarantee 99.99% uptime or your business may suffer.
Security
Make sure security is something your shared hosting provider has as a priority. If they don’t mention anything on how they handle security, you may want to steer clear of them.
Good reputation
Make sure your shared web host has positive reviews and can be reliable. There are a lot of great hosting review sites and blogs out in the Internet, that can give you idea on what others are saying.
Customer support options
You’ll want a platform that has 24/7 support. Issues can arise at any time of the day or night and you’ll need a timely resolution.
Does Shared Hosting Affect SEO?
Shared hosting can affect SEO only if certain things occur like:
Poor IP reputation
Malware
Sluggish servers
Poor IP reputation
Poor IP reputation can result in Google blacklisting every single website that is hosted on a server. This is not something that is at the shared hosts fault, but occurs because of users who either spammed others or didn’t update their site’s software, and had malware. This can be fixed by stopping the problem, cleaning where the issue occurred, and then reporting back to the different companies that determine what an IPs reputation score is.
Malware
No one wants to visit a site that has malware that could infect their computer or steal information. While the shared host provides security protocols at the server level, the individual website owner needs to do their part so not every shared hosting client suffers.
If you’re using shared hosting, and your account is slow, this isn’t usually because of the host, but because one or more websites on the server are eating up the resources. You can resolve this by upgrading your account to a hosting plan that allots you more resources.
Again, these reasons, why they can affect SEO, each of these problems can be resolved with some effort. Your shared web host can sometimes help guide you through fixing them, so your SEO isn’t affected permanently.
Is Shared Hosting Secure?
For the most part, shared hosting is secure. All web hosts are required to have some security solutions in place at the server level. However, in most cases, security problems like malware across a shared server only occurs because one or more hosting customers weren’t diligent in keeping their website’s software up-to-date.
For example, if you’re using WordPress on your shared hosting account, and it is infected with malware, your site could possibly affect others on the same server. keep CMS and other website software, like WordPress secure.
Lastly, most shared hosting companies offer in-house malware scanners, and even offer to regularly monitor your website’s security.
How much traffic can shared hosting handle?
With shared hosting, you’re sharing resources with other websites, sometimes thousands, so what does that mean in terms of how much traffic can your account handle? Well, this really depends on how much traffic every website is using, and the behavior of those visitors. If there’s a lot of website calls to a database for things like complex forums, or ecommerce stores, then your site or others might be slower.
Typically, shared hosting can handle about 3,000 visitors a day or about 100,000 visitors in a month. This is why smaller websites do well on shared hosting accounts. If you have a large website with hundreds of pages, posts, products, and images, plus a lot of web traffic, then shared hosting isn’t ideal for you.
What is Shared Hosting with Dedicated IP
Now, most shared hosting means that your website is sitting on the same server as hundreds of other sites, and you share an IP. However, you can also have shared hosting with dedicated IP. The benefit of this is that you’re not sharing the same IP that others are on. You don’t know what those people are doing with their sites, whether it’s something good, or they’re doing something bad, like spamming people.
When a website’s IP address is reported for things like spam, phishing or malware, it can hurt the IPs reputation score. In return, it would trickle down and hurt everyone on the same server, and cause things such as your email delivered to another’s spam folder, or in some cases, blocked. Your web host does it’s job on keeping their end secure and to keep your server’s IP address safe.
Not all web hosts offer options like shared hosting with dedicated IPs, but Verpex does. If you need that added layer to keep your site’s reputation score as pristine as possible, so your emails aren’t blocked or sent to the spam folder.
Other Types of Web Hosting
Dedicated hosting - In using a dedicated hosting solution you’ll get your own private server. While expensive, it means you get tighter security and faster speeds. Plus, you can host bigger and bigger websites as your business grows.
VPS hosting - VPS stands for virtual private server and is similar in function to dedicated servers, but really sits as a middle ground between dedicated and shared hosting. You still sit on a server with other businesses, but you’re fully compartmentalized and no one will be dipping into your resources
Cloud Hosting - Cloud hosting pools a group of servers together in order to share resources and optimize website performance. Should one server fail for any reason, websites should stay up and running by utilizing the remaining kit in the pool
Shared Hosting Comparisons
Using VPS solution you’ll get your own private server. While expensive, it means you get tighter security and faster speeds. Plus, you can host bigger and bigger websites as your business grows
We’d recommend dedicated hosting for larger businesses or those looking to create highly customized websites. Small businesses, blogs and new start-ups probably don’t need all of the processing power and bandwidth offered by this type of package so might want to stick to shared hosting.
It might be easier to think of cloud hosting as a beefed-up version of shared hosting. You’re still sharing server space, but there’s more flexibility, and cloud hosting can be more easily scaled. This makes it more expensive, but a better option for growing enterprises.
Summary
For anyone that’s looking to set up their very first website, operate a small business or get an ecommerce store set up as quickly as possible, you can’t really go wrong with shared hosting.
It might not be the fastest or most secure solution, but shared hosting is more than enough to meet the basic needs of any new start-up. What’s more, it won’t break the bank and you’ll be surprised at just how cheap it can be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who benefits most from shared hosting?
Small businesses, bloggers, hobbyists, new startups and people looking to dabble in website development.
Can I host multiple websites?
Yes. Some packages even give you unlimited domains. However, the more you host, the slower your speeds will be.
What security is proved by the data host?
Your host will provide firewalls, antivirus and encryption as standard.
Can I move my site to another shared host?
Yes. Most make it easy to make the switch if you find a better deal elsewhere.
What plug-ins are available with shared hosting plans?
You’ll find advanced ecommerce stores, blogging tools, SEO guides, email management systems, contact forms and traffic monitoring tools to name a few.
