Here’s the deal…
When you’re starting with your brand-new e-commerce startup, you want to feel things out while keeping the costs low. You’re probably using shared hosting options or looking at some, and you’re right to do so because of the low prices.
However, somewhere along the way, when you pick up more traction and start growing your customer base, you’ll realize that you need more performance, better security, and more access. This is the perfect time to start looking for a managed VPS hosting option and doing research on different providers. For example, Hosting Facts has put together a useful review of managed VPS hosting options.
But, maybe you’d be better off going with a managed VPS hosting right from the start?
What are the main benefits of VPS hosting?
Virtual Private Server Hosting (VPS Hosting) is a mix between the cheap shared hosting and more expensive dedicated hosting.
Instead of sharing the server resources with other people and businesses, you’ll get dedicated resources because the servers are isolated from each other. The VPS servers don’t pack as much punch as dedicated servers, but they are more cost-efficient than dedicated servers and a reasonable next step in your e-commerce startup life.
Some of the main benefits that a managed VPS hosting will give you over other hosting solutions are:
Higher security
You’ll get a unique IP address, and you can add security certificates that you aren’t sharing with other users.
Higher performance with guaranteed resources
The VPS servers are isolated from one another, meaning that the allocated resources are only for your use.
Full root access
Since you’re not sharing the server with anyone, you can modify your server as you need.
Instant resource provisions
Your server is ready for use instantly, and you’re able to add more resources as soon as you feel like it.
Better pricing than dedicated servers
VPS hosting isn’t as cheap as shared hosting, but it isn’t as expensive as dedicated hosting.
Managed VPS for Your E-Commerce Startup
E-commerce platforms survive by delivering a quality service for their customers. As a startup, you can’t afford to let potential customers leave just because the website loads slowly, or that it’s missing some modern programs you want to use. Of course, when you’re just starting, you want to keep your budget as tight as possible, but that doesn’t mean you should go with the cheapest option.
There are some clear benefits to choosing VPS over shared hosting.
E-Store security
There’s nothing worse than trying to shop online and seeing a security message pop up on your screen. Would you continue and insert sensitive information to a page that prompts a “Back to Safety” button? Of course not, and so aren’t your potential customers.
Many shared hosting companies are keeping their prices low and costs down by implementing a shared SSL certificate. It means that your domain isn’t directly connected with the certificate and can prompt a security warning to your visitors that the connection isn’t secure.
You won’t have this problem with a VPS hosting service as you’ll get a dedicated IP address, and your SSL certificate is directly linked with your domain.
Guaranteed resources
Your e-store visitors will expect their experience to be smooth, fast, and available. There are numerous reasons why people drop out of their purchases, and you want to make sure that performance issues aren’t one of those reasons.
Your chosen performance specifications are your own when using a VPS service. You’ll get your selected number of CPUs, the amount of RAM, and the amount of disk space that you’ve chosen with your plan. You’re not going to share them with anyone else, and that provides your e-commerce site with stability.
The managed VPS hosting will also provide you with network monitoring and instant provisioning options. These safeguards guarantee maximum uptime, so your e-store will always be available to accept potential customers.
Managed Server
Even though you might have technical staff on board with your company, you’d probably want them to focus on developing your e-store rather than managing the server. By choosing a managed VPS server, the service provider will take care of all the daily monitoring, updates, and upgrades. However, from time to time, you might want to customize the programs that run on your website.
Also, you might want to take a look at ScalaHosting’s Unmanaged or Managed VPS guide.
Migrating your website to VPS hosting
It might make sense to opt for a shared hosting plan at the beginning of an e-commerce project because of the lower prices for web hosting. The cheap hosting plan allows you to build a working prototype on a relatively small budget. However, once you’re ready to go live, you might want to switch to VPS hosting and migrate all of your websites there.
ScalaHosting helps you with website migration
When you’re looking to switch your hosting plan from shared hosting to managed VPS hosting, then ScalaHosting will help you migrate your websites to their servers without any extra cost. Provide the login details to your old hosting server, and ScalaHosting transfers all of the sites to your new server and verifies that they function correctly.
Further Online Store Development with VPS
Even if you’re getting started with shared hosting or VPS hosting, as your traffic grows, you’ll need additional resources. VPS hosting solutions offer a flexible resource addition options where you can add power or fast SSD disk space to your hosting plan. Usually, these resources will be directed to you momentarily after you’ve requested them.
The ability to tweak the performance of your server on-the-go is a great benefit when growing your e-store.
In Conclusion
VPS hosting offers great flexibility when it comes to building your online store. You’ll benefit from higher performance and stability as well as getting more security to minimize the risk of losing potential customers.
It’s reasonable to get started with the cheapest e-commerce hosting options out there, but there will be a time to upgrade to a better solution. However, this upgrade may come with additional costs that you can avoid by starting your e-store development with VPS hosting right from the start.
Of course, there are hosting providers like ScalaHosting who offer seamless website migration to their servers to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Are you using a Virtual Private Server or have migrated to one? Let us know in the comments about your experience.
This article Is written as a guest post by our partner, Hosting Facts. Hosting Facts reviews hosting providers for different hosting options, mainly based on their performance, features, pricing, and customer support experience.
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