In 2020, we live in a world almost completely unrecognizable from the one we inhabited even say twenty short years ago.
Of course, one of the great things about living in the modern age is that there have never been so many opportunities to break away from the dreaded 9-5 and launch our own business.
Not only are there whole new industries emerging all the time to meet the demand for the increasing presence of technology in our lives, but that very same technology also makes it incredibly easy for anybody who wants to get a piece of the action.
Indeed, starting an online store in 2020 is often as simple as coming up with a great idea, getting our hands on some stock, and setting up an eCommerce website on a reliable hosting company.
Maybe it’s an idea that appeals to you but you haven’t yet done anything about it, or maybe you’re all ready to get started and are now at the stage of finding the best eCommerce hosting provider for your new site. If that’s the case, here’s our guide to the top four.
InMotion Hosting
We love InMotion for their eCommerce packages tailored to new startup stores and small businesses.
With outstanding reliability and cost-effective pricing, the Los Angeles, California based company set themselves apart as one of the top providers in town.
At time of writing, their dedicated SSD Shared eCommerce plans started from as a first-term price of $6.39 per month.
For that price, you’ll enjoy unlimited disk space and unlimited monthly data transfer, free data backups and support for two websites.
You could also choose the $8.49 per month package which allows up to six websites, or the $14.95 option which allows for unlimited websites.
To be honest, the more we look into it, the more we’re inclined to recommend the basic $6.39 Launch plan as this should more than cover everything you need if you’re only starting a single website.
If you’re planning to launch multiple stores however, one of the larger-scale options may be better suited as these also support additional SQL databases and other features required for a multi-site set-up.
All plans come with a free one-year domain registration, and they’ll even transfer your online store from your previous hosting provider free of charge.
Of course, the obligatory free SSL certificate comes as standard, so there’s no need to worry there.
Plus, if you’re not entirely happy, SiteMotion offer a ninety-day refund policy, which is easily one of the best web hosting money-back guarantees around and, of course, there’s always 24/7/365, US-based support on hand if you run into trouble.
iPage
Another top choice for those making their first forays into the world of eCommerce, iPage frequently gets rave reviews for its low-cost service and functionality.
The iPage Essentials hosting plan, which currently costs only $1.99 per month for the first term matches InMotion in terms of unlimited storage and monthly bandwidth allowance, and there’s also support for major shopping cart platforms like AgoraCart, ZenCart and Shopsite.
If you’re starting your online store on a CMS like Magento or even WordPress with WooCommerce support, you’ll find their available through one-click installation.
Speaking of one-click installation, iPage also make it incredibly easy to integrate PayPal into your online store if you’re planning to use that as a payment method.
On the whole, using iPage to start an online store is incredibly easy, but if you’re having trouble, they do offer quality 24/7 customer support so that you’re never too far away from getting the help you need, when you need it most.
As with most host companies, this one also offers additional services such as SEO support to help you build organic traffic and get those customers flocking in.
Bluehost
Bluehost may be best known for their WordPress packages, but that’s not all they do. In fact, they’re easily one of the best eCommerce web hosts around right now.
While all of Bluehost’s plans come with eCommerce essentials like a free SSL certificate, domain name, and unmetered bandwidth, it’s their $13.95 per month Pro plan which represents the best value for money for online store owners.
Yes, this may be a higher price than you’ll find with other hosts, but in our experience, Bluehost delivers some of the best uptime and overall performance around, vital for keeping your website up and running so that customers can buy from you.
The Pro Plan also includes unlimited sub and parked domains, a dedicated IP address, domain privacy and CodeGuard Basic for essential site backups.
Of course, while we’ve kind of glossed over Bluehost’s WordPress credentials here, that may be doing them a bit of a disservice.
After all, if you’re planning to start your online store using the popular WooCommerce plugin for WordPress, then this is undoubtedly one of the best options to go for.
HostGator
Much as with Bluehost, you’re looking at the Business Plan if you’re planning to launch an eCommerce store with HostGator.
The good news, is that said plan is more or less designed specifically for online stores.
With it, you get unlimited storage and bandwidth, instant backups, support for unlimited domains and your own toll-free support number, all for a reasonable $5.95 per month for the first term.
That’s just for starters.
You also get a free dedicated IP address and a free Positive SSL by Comodo, ensuring a stronger level of encryption between your website and your visitors than you’d get with some of the other SSLs offered by Hostgator’s competitors.
Add in their 99.9% uptime guarantee and support for leading eCommerce platforms like ZenCart and osCommerce, and you’re looking at a really solid option that should definitely be in contention when choosing the best eCommerce web hosting package for your new online store.
What’s your favorite eCommerce web hosting solution? Join in the conversation and let us know on the Web Design DIY Facebook page. Alternatively, send your burning questions about starting an online store to us on Twitter @WebDesignDIY and we’ll do our best to answer them in an upcoming blog post.
