Web Site Hosting
Q: How do I make my site
available to the public?
A: Across the country, computers are set up and
kept running 24 hours a day to keep web sites on the internet active
and available. Known as web servers, these machines run special
software that waits for other internet-connected computers to request
a page of a web site hosted on that machine and it promptly serves
it up. These computers can handle numerous simultaneous requests
and are often designed to do nothing but host web sites.
The software that makes this possible almost always one of two
possibilities: either Apache or IIS. Apache is a web server software
package that runs on UNIX-based machines. IIS (Internet Information
Services) is the Windows flavor of web hosting. Each is a very strong
hosting platform, but there are some differences to note:
Hosting companies usually offer Apache hosting for cheaper than
IIS hosting. This is because Apache is a free, open-source solution
and Windows costs money to license. Apache is thought to be slightly
more stable but these days the difference is negligible. IIS has
some built-in tools and services that thought to be easier to use
than their Apache counterparts.
To be able to host a site, there are a few things that are needed.
First, the server itself is usually a fairly powerful computer -
more so than an average new desktop machine. It needs to be able
to handle potentially hundreds of simultaneous requests and deliver
peak performance 24 hours a day. Along with this, a high-speed connection
to the internet is required. This connection is usually in the form
of no less than a T1 line.
Most hosting companies have many servers available both shared
with other clients and dedicated to individual clients. They also
usually maintain multiple connections to the internet in the form
of T3 lines.
When bringing your web site to the Internet, you should consider
some of the advantages of using an out-sourced hosting company as
opposed to hosting the site yourself. For large companies that can
afford a technical staff to make sure all the services remain running
properly, hosting a web site in-house may be a practical solution.
But for most companies, it is smarter to use a dedicated hosting
company to handle all of the connectivity, downtime, and other issues
that arise when keeping a web site ‘live’.
Q: What are some of the
features and costs of different hosting packages?
A: Most mainstream hosts offer many similar features.
Whether you choose an Apache or IIS hosting package, you can expect
such features as email accounts, usage statistics, and built-in
server components. There are limitations to consider for different
packages that include storage limits (the amount of data you can
keep on their server) and transfer limits (the amount of your content
they will server over their bandwidth). Your site’s needs
will determine which of these factors will come into play when deciding
which hosting package to choose.
Q: What about an online
shopping cart?
A: I included this with hosting as many times,
a pre-built shopping cart solution will include (or necessitate)
hosting. Also, certain hosts offer a shopping cart module in addition
to hosting.
Providing visitors with the ability to order/purchase items from
your web site can be accomplished in a variety of ways:
- Email order form - not actual shopping cart
- Paypal shopping cart
- Custom shopping cart
- 3rd party shopping cart
Email order form
Ease of implementation: Easy
Cost: Minimal
End-user experience: Not an actual shopping cart
This idea basically uses a single form (or series of forms) to
gather information about the products the customer is interested
in, the customer’s personal information, and shipping/payment
information. There is no actual cart to go back and forth to. The
submission of these forms is sent to an email address where the
‘order’ is then processed offline.
Paypal shopping cart
Ease of implementation: Very easy
Cost: Minimal
End-user experience: More cart-like but some drawbacks
I suggest looking at the paypal site and looking at their demonstrations
(http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/xcl/rec/sc-intro-outside).
It basically is an easy way to have a ‘shopping cart’
on your site but because it’s not actually integrated into
the site, it doesn’t convey a high level of professionalism
(in my opinion). I feel the drawbacks of using this are:
- No custom look for the cart - only a graphic for the
store logo.
- The checkout is through paypal - it doesn’t require
the user to set up a paypal account (like it used to) but I think
users are turned off when they realize their checking out through
paypal.
- Merchant will need to receive all online payments through paypal
(some merchants use it anyway).
Custom shopping cart
Ease of implementation: Medium to difficult
Cost: Mid to high
End-user experience: Excellent
There will need to be some decisions made about how feature-rich
the shopping cart would be. More requirements would drive the Ease
and Cost up. Some things to consider when building a custom shopping
cart:
- Allow customer log in - customer have same profile with user
name and password
- User must be able to change profile
- User has to have forgot password capabilities
- User can have access to order history
- User could build a wish list or favorites list
- Stock considerations - do items go on backorder? Can
they be ordered while out of stock?
- Shipping integration - what methods and costs are available?
- Multiple shipping addresses - allowed? Stored?
- Are there any regional considerations in determining shipping
costs?
- How are international orders handled?
- What logic may need to be in place to dissuade fraud?
- Payment handling
- ERP integration - is it possible to update a backend
inventory/accounting system in real time?
3rd party shopping cart
Ease of implementation: Easy to Medium
Cost: Low to high
End-user experience: Depends
There are MANY 3rd-party shopping carts available out there. Some
of the same questions you ask yourself when considering a custom
shopping cart (above) should also be asked here as well to insure
a potential solution has all the features that are desired. Some
are entirely web-based and remotely hosted while others are actual
software you install and run on your server. The large variety of
options in this arena makes it difficult to recommend any single
one. Each has its advantages and they all have varying degrees of
customizability. Some are designed to be integrated into existing
site while others have you basically rebuild your site and offer
to host it for you. There are other factors to consider when choosing
as well such as what kind of databases and languages they use.
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