As an e-commerce business owner, there are many things you have to think about when launching your business online. 

• Which platform to use? 
• Which web agency should we use? - hopefully Wind & Kite! 
• How should we market and advertise our products? 

But one of the most important and underthought-of considerations that can be easily missed by e-commerce businesses is considering which web hosting company to use. 

Wind & Kite is aware that this isn’t the most exciting or glamorous part of e-commerce, but it can really affect how a business operates and can be a real headache for owners when it goes wrong. 

So what is web hosting and why is it so important? 

Web hosting is a set of one or more computers (“Servers”) which deliver the code your developers write to your customers. When you type your website’s domain name into a browser, you’re actually calling the server directly.

Web hosting affects your entire site's performance, no amount of good programming can redeem a server being slow to respond to your customer's requests.

It’s also key to your reputation and profit. If your site goes down, no money can be taken, and in the worst case, it can lead to serious damage to your reputation.

Finally, security is key to your business's success. Data breaches can cause irreparable loss of trust to customers, and huge fees from card issuers and bring the site back to operation. A good web hosting company will provide you with advanced security against cyber threats, as well as backup services in case something goes wrong.

So, with that in mind, who would Wind & Kite suggest to our clients? There are some really great hosting companies out there, and dependant on your needs we can help recommend the best fit for you.

• For Magento experts in hosting, we recommend Corefinity
• For sustainable and green hosting we recommend The Positive Internet Company