eCommerce shops are extremely popular amongst SAHM’s & WAHM’s and more and more women in particular are opening shops to generate extra income for their family. Sadly though many are caught in eCommerce hosting nightmares which they unwittingly fell into.
We’ve had an amazing amount of people wanting to move to Little Hero Hosting and have their website re-designed by Little Hero Designs but have been upset to learn that their eCommerce software has them trapped into hosting they cannot move from. Worse still they are paying an insane amount of $ and are given little to no control – ie no cPanel.
When considering an eCommerce shop there are some questions to consider.
- Does the software only work on their provided hosting or can you move if needed?
- What do I get in my price & what can I do?
- Can you add a blog if needed?
- Can you access the MYSQL & file system?
- Can you FTP?
- How do you update the software?
- Can I create email addresses
- Can I make server based backups?
- Does the host have script installers?
- Can you try different software to find what is best for you?
- Is the price comparable to regular hosting?
If working with a eCommerce website designer/developer and they recommend certain software or hosting ask why, if they only offer one type of software ask them why and what it means by asking the above questions. On the design side, are they a “one trick wonder” whose shops all look amazingly similar. Sadly there are a lot of these “designers” popping up all over FaceBook offering what seems like an attractive deal but once you start looking into the details there are multiple issues.
Please research very carefully before committing to any “package deal” – this includes designers who say you can only use their “approved” hosting, you should ALWAYS have the freedom to use the hosting provider you choose and not who the “designers” say. Sadly it often turns out that the prices are over inflated – quite often so the designer gets a good “cut” and you don’t get any control at all.
We’ve had clients having to re-design an entire site because of the eCommerce hosting nightmare they have found themselves in and the limitations of the design. More than one client have been ripped off by “designers” who use “approved” hosting only to find out that they are paying far more than they should be and worse still with no standard hosting features available. Some have found that they can’t access their hosting because the “designer” controls it under their own package. One client even had to contact the designer/host just to make a new page!
While it may appear to be an attractive deal and convenient to just use one of these packages please understand the potential consequences and avoid these eCommerce hosting traps. It might take time to organise and do your research but you will be grateful you have in the long run.
