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Apter1315
02-04-2016, 06:04 PM
I'm starting a small online business. I'm looking to see what is the best company to use as a host? Who should I use for a merchant company? I will have around 150 products to sell on my website. Only 25-35 transactions per month. Looking for advice:)

Harold Mansfield
02-04-2016, 09:27 PM
How tech savvy are you?
Completely lost? Or do you have some basic understanding of design and can learn the basics of publishing software?

Do you need something that is done for you like a site builder where you just have to drag and drop, unload photos and write the words?
Or do you want completely control, self hosting, and something that is scalable past just the basics that you get with a site builder?

Do you have any examples of sites that you like?
What functions do you want with eCommerce? Will you be doing things like gift ideas? Gift wrapping? Running newsletters? Coupons?
How are you doing order fulfillment and shipping?

And what's the product?

Apter1315
02-04-2016, 10:13 PM
I'm starting a small online business. I'm looking to see what is the best company to use as a host? Who should I use for a merchant company? I will have around 150 products to sell on my website. Only 25-35 transactions per month. Looking for advice:)

We have someone building our website. I'm new to all of this just needing to know what is the best host for a small business and a good merchant. I just want to keep payments on a low side because its still being developed.

Owen
02-04-2016, 10:25 PM
We have someone building our website. I'm new to all of this just needing to know what is the best host for a small business and a good merchant. I just want to keep payments on a low side because its still being developed.

Depends on your needs and budget. If you're looking to pay $10 or less for hosting a month, go with shared hosting. Unfortunately, shared hosting has little to no resources which makes it impossible to handle a lot of traffic on the server. If you're thinking $20 a month, go with Unmanaged Cloud Hosting from QuadraNET. I've been with them for almost a year and have had no issues. If you want managed cloud hosting, which is about $100 a month, go with Rackspace. They're the largest managed cloud company. If you want to spend the most amount and get the most possible space on your server to insure uptime, go with a dedicated server. They are usually $300+ a month.

Apter1315
02-04-2016, 10:48 PM
Thanks for the advice! $20.00 a month is more in my budget. What about a merchant who is the best for the lowest cost?

Harold Mansfield
02-04-2016, 11:58 PM
We have someone building our website. I'm new to all of this just needing to know what is the best host for a small business and a good merchant. I just want to keep payments on a low side because its still being developed.

OK, if they are already building it then what are they building it on?
It must already be hosted somewhere to have a place to build.

Also, how are they building it? On what? Joomla? WordPress? HTML? CSS framework?
They obviously know your needs, what are they suggesting?

You seem to be conflicting or putting the cart before the horse. You can't have a web designer and they have no idea what you want.
You also can't choose a web designer without knowing what you're building. It's not all the same and every web designer doesn't do every possible thing.

If you want recommendations on hosting, we need to know what you're building and how you're building it.
That's also going to determine what ecommerce solution we suggest.

Again, I'm questioning why the person building your website can't answer these questions and what kind of job could they possibly do if they can't?

If you want me to just throw something against the wall without knowing any details then build it on WordPress, use Woo Commerce, get a Pay Pal business account, and host at Bluehost. I have no idea if that's what you actually need though.

The one thing I can say without a doubt no matter what the answer to those questions are is DO NOT host with Go Daddy or 1&1.

If what you want is the cheapest solution without having to know a lot, that includes hosting and provides support then I suggest to look at Squarespace.

Owen
02-09-2016, 12:05 PM
The one thing I can say without a doubt no matter what the answer to those questions are is DO NOT host with Go Daddy or 1&1.
I agree with 1&1 though I don't think I can agree with GoDaddy. A lot of my clients host with GoDaddy and I have no issue with it. I do not recommend GoDaddy VPS though, I had huge issues with that.

MyITGuy
02-09-2016, 09:01 PM
I agree with 1&1 though I don't think I can agree with GoDaddy. A lot of my clients host with GoDaddy and I have no issue with it. I do not recommend GoDaddy VPS though, I had huge issues with that.

I'm with Harold on both 1&1 and GoDaddy. While you may not see any issues, there are huge security holes/practices that can put your site/data at risk.

Harold Mansfield
02-09-2016, 10:45 PM
I'm with Harold on both 1&1 and GoDaddy. While you may not see any issues, there are huge security holes/practices that can put your site/data at risk.

As Trump would say, "YUGE!". Just about every hacked website call I get is on Go Daddy. Every slow loading, plug ins not working, mail function not working, email issues...basically most of my "Something just isn't working right" calls, are Go Daddy. That's bad enough, but it's never their fault. It's always your fault, your computer, your website, your ISP, or you just don't know what you're doing.

I've even pointed out infected files with the tech on the phone looking at the exact same thing, and he didn't see it. Overall, especially when it comes to hosting WordPress, they're horrible and their answer to everything is buying upgraded services. Which don't get you any better support.

My big problem with them is that if you aren't going to fully support your dirt cheap hosting plans then stop selling them, or get realistic about what you can provide for the price.

Owen
02-10-2016, 08:55 AM
As Trump would say, "YUGE!". Just about every hacked website call I get is on Go Daddy. Every slow loading, plug ins not working, mail function not working, email issues...basically most of my "Something just isn't working right" calls, are Go Daddy. That's bad enough, but it's never their fault. It's always your fault, your computer, your website, your ISP, or you just don't know what you're doing.

I've even pointed out infected files with the tech on the phone looking at the exact same thing, and he didn't see it. Overall, especially when it comes to hosting WordPress, they're horrible and their answer to everything is buying upgraded services. Which don't get you any better support.

My big problem with them is that if you aren't going to fully support your dirt cheap hosting plans then stop selling them, or get realistic about what you can provide for the price.

I refuse to use shared hosting. I will only ever use cloud and dedicated servers now. You couldn't pay me $1,000 to use shared hosting on my sites. Clients' sites are another story.

Fulcrum
02-10-2016, 12:59 PM
I refuse to use shared hosting. I will only ever use cloud and dedicated servers now. You couldn't pay me $1,000 to use shared hosting on my sites. Clients' sites are another story.

Why would you be willing to offer an inferior product that you refuse to use yourself? You're in a very cutthroat field where service and quality will set you apart from your competition and determine your level of success as well as the expectations of your clients.

BizAdvisor
02-10-2016, 08:23 PM
For crying out loud man, just get a PayPal account and implement "Buy Now" buttons for each product on your site. From the looks of your online venture, you're better off having PayPal take their cut from your sales rather than having to pay a set amount each month for sales... Or lack their of.

Owen
02-10-2016, 10:11 PM
Why would you be willing to offer an inferior product that you refuse to use yourself? You're in a very cutthroat field where service and quality will set you apart from your competition and determine your level of success as well as the expectations of your clients.

I don't offer shared hosting as a product. I'm a web designer, clients usually have hosting ready. If for some reason they don't 7/10 times they decide to go with shared hosting as their sites are very small and don't require much space. Stacktron was a VPS hosting provider, though never did cPanel shared hosting.

MyITGuy
02-12-2016, 09:34 AM
I don't offer shared hosting as a product. I'm a web designer, clients usually have hosting ready. If for some reason they don't 7/10 times they decide to go with shared hosting as their sites are very small and don't require much space. Stacktron was a VPS hosting provider, though never did cPanel shared hosting.

As a designer, this could be a value add for your clients and additional recurring revenue for you (Either offer shared hosting yourself or build a relationship with a reputable provider for the affiliate income)

Not all shared hosting is bad...its those who ignore basic security concepts and oversubscribe servers that make it others look bad.

Harold Mansfield
02-12-2016, 12:39 PM
I agree. Of course not all shared hosting is bad, and in many cases shared hosting is all some people need. I'm just personally anti Go Daddy. Too many years dealing with them now on behalf of clients, and it hasn't gotten better. I can even recite their script by now whenever I have to call them with a problem.

It's like a bar trick that I do with clients.
I tell them exactly what Go Daddy is going to say when they call them, and approximately how many calls it's going to take before someone actually says they're fixing it, and how many calls thereafter before it's actually fixed.

HSteele
02-17-2016, 06:55 AM
I'm using DreamHost. Its price something about $90 per year, don't remember exactly. It's fully suits me.

journalist55
03-02-2022, 10:40 AM
it depends how you want your website to appear but Wordpress and Wix are good website building platforms to start out with!