Now you’ve chosen which version of Magento you’re going to be using it’s time to find yourself some hosting. I’d advise against just picking any old hosting package to run Magento on as it can be very temperamental. Depending on the scale of your site, this includes both visitors and products you’ll have, there are two realistic options available to most of us, shared hosting and a dedicated server.
A shared server is exactly what it says on the tin, your hosting package is plonked on a server somewhere along with more customers from your hosting company, this can be anything from 20 to 100 other people on there with you. This can sometimes impact on performance as when it comes down to it a server is just a computer, it has a processor, ram and hard drives. Too many people accessing any one site on your server can cause problems for the performance of other sites on there, not good when it’s your sites performance being affected. The alternative to this is a dedicated server, this is relatively the same deal, you end up getting your hosting package on a server somewhere out there. The only difference this time is it’s your server! You’ll be the only website hosted on there with all the power of the server backing your website alone. the only caveat to dedicated hosting is the cost, these things can cost anything from £40($70) a month right up to £400($700) a month and beyond.
The one question you need to answer is, can you justify the cost? If you’re upgrading to Magento from another cart then you’ll have a rough idea of how many products you’re site will be hosting and how many visitors you’ll be getting per day. If either of these is in the high 1000s then you’re probably going to need a dedicated server. If you’re just starting out in the ecommerce world and your not sure of either of these figures then you’re best off going for a shared host, for now, just to test things out cause it’s most likely the case if you phone up your shared host after a few months and ask to get an upgrade, they’ll bend over backwards to help you out.
There are a lot of hosts out there that claim to be 100% Magento compatible but some times it’s not the case! The first thing to do when you’re looking at any hosting package is to check and double check their system config matches the Magento system requirements if it differs even slightly then you’re best off looking elsewhere or you’re going to be spending a long time on the phone to their support. There are a few good Magento hosts around including Simple Helix Hosting who offer a one click install service for Magento (that can take save you some time) there’s also United Hosting based in the UK and a few more great ones dotted about the place. I’ve always found with web hosting, Magento or not, that sometimes the smaller companies are better to deal with. At the moment I’m working on a site hosted at Internet Supermarket, their hosting packages are compatible with Magento and are quite stable and quick when dealing with larger websites. The one reason I like smaller hosts is the support, these guys are never more than a phone call away (during office hours that is) and they’re second to none in terms of helping you out to get things on track.
Just like buying a house one of the most important rules in choosing good hosting is Location, Location, Location. Where a server is physically based can greatly increase your chances of getting those high ranks on Google for your store. If for example your target market is in the UK then you’re ideally going to want a .co.uk domain and a server based in the UK, same goes for the US a .com domain and a server located somewhere in America. Now if you’re in a niche market then this may not matter as much as you’ll probably climb pretty quick on Google via on-site and off-site SEO but if you’re entering into one of the larger markets i.e. clothing retail then this could help you alot along the way.
Once you’ve found a selection of potential hosts you should start to compare them, support response times, get reviews from online spots like HostJury, WebHostingTalk etc just to make sure the host you’re going to pick is one you can stay with for a long time. If you’re unsure of a host make sure they offer some form of 30 day trial service or cooling off period just so you’re not trapped into paying them for the next year.
Once you’ve found the right hosting for your website, it’s time to start installing Magento!
Other Posts in this series:
Complete Magento Starters Guide
Magento Starters Guide : Which Version?
Magento Starters Guide: What Hosting?
