Good hosting with a properly configured server is the foundation on which you build your web store. Choosing the right hosting provider brings with it necessary questions and plays a crucial role in the success formula, especially for web stores and B2B portals. Hosting is often an overlooked aspect that is thought to be something you can just 'take along'. In this message, we would like to explain a little bit about why good hosting is absolutely essential and why good hosting providers cannot be price fighters.
Since your website, in the case of an online store, is not only a business card but also directly generates revenue, it is wise for web shops to critically consider the following matters:
Ensure enough space
Specifications for the various hosting packages initially include disk space (amount of images and media), data traffic (total of the requested data), and sometimes pageviews per month. In the case of web stores, most storage space is used by product pages with accompanying media. If you use multiple images per product, it is advisable to estimate the necessary disk space in advance. Web stores that, in addition to many products, also have a lot of visitors, need to pay extra attention to sufficient data traffic.
Speed has been very important since 2010 for the ranking of search results, is Google’s advice.
Speed is key
‘Speed is important’ has long been Google’s advice. Since 2010, speed has officially been included as a ranking factor by the search giant. His decision was based on studies that show that users click and order less as the waiting time increases. Both directly on your website and indirectly through marketing channels such as search engines, a fast web shop leads to a higher conversion. Speed improvements can initially be achieved by properly configuring the web application used. This can involve optimizing your template, CMS settings, and the use of caching. Caching serves content that is often requested faster. This can be individual images or sometimes entire pages. Caching extensions are available for specific systems. In Magento, Zoom FPC (extension) or Redis or Varnish (caching methods for which various extensions are available) are often used. For WordPress, W3TotalCache or WPSuperCache is a commonly seen plugin. Especially with a system like Magento, a lot of speed gains can be achieved by using the correct settings within the web application. Guido Jansen wrote a handy guide on exactly this topic.
Server-side caching
Caching can also be implemented on the server side. Here your hosting provider comes into play. Popular server-side caching solutions are APC, Varnish, and Memcached. By using different types of caching, a site can be retrieved super fast. Do pay attention to the fact that, especially for web shops, the correct setting of this is crucial. You certainly don’t want visitors to see an outdated shopping cart or incorrect inventory.
Additionally, the servers must have enough capacity and 'headroom' to handle unexpected peak loads on a site. When a server is too full, busy moments can negatively impact the speed of other sites on the server. If you want to ensure consistently high performance for your web shop, a VPS or 'Dedicated Server' is recommended. With such a Virtual Private Server, a part of the server is configured so that only your websites can use it.
Back-ups
Back-ups, if carried out correctly and timely, save lives. This applies to every website, but especially to web shops. Since very variable data is worked with, regular back-ups are important. Many hosting companies offer daily back-ups, but the period that the back-up is retained (retention) varies by provider. It is best practice for a web shop to maintain a retention period of 14 days. This way, back-ups from up to two weeks back can also be restored. Handy if you discover an error that has been visible for a few days.
Want to measure the speed of your site? Check at http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/
Conclusion
When you really want to get the most out of your web shop, you choose a hosting company that has enough experience with the system your store is built on. Especially for optimally running large web shops, this is a plus. There are companies that specialize in Magento, OpenCart, and web shops implemented in WordPress or Joomla!. In many cases, the speed and security of these specialized hosts are better than the all-round providers.
Our preference
We prefer to host all customers of Epartment on our own hosting platform 'Epaflex'. This is a professional hosting platform that is 100% optimized for Magento and related ERP integrations. If you are not a customer at Epartment, we cannot assist you further. Epaflex hosting is exclusively available. Want to know more? Call 085 401 4722 or send an email to support@epartment.nl.
