With digital business and e-commerce on the rise, individuals and entities with small business ideas are trying to make their mark and thinking about how to start an online business.
How to start an online business without money and how to start a home-based small business are two of the most common questions asked at many networking events.
Developing a website for a startup small business is necessary to educate your audience, discuss your product values, increase brand recognition and drive sales.
To develop a small business website, you initially need to choose a domain and secure web hosting. After that, enhance your website to improve your internet search engine rankings and boost traffic.
Things You Need to Know Before Starting an Online Small Business
However, before starting an online small business, there are a few things that you must understand.
First, understanding the business model that you want to pursue can help you get an overall view of the company’s products, business strategies, and future planning and preparation.
Second, research about the risks and challenges associated with starting an online small business. These risks and challenges can be divided into two categories: financial and managerial.
Lastly, identify the benefits of starting an online small business, although most of them are built with a low start-up cost.
These benefits include the opportunity to work from home, the ability to be your own boss, and the opportunity to start and grow a business from scratch.
One of the starting points for online business owners, especially small business in Singapore is to build a great website for your company
Having a website is a fantastic way to make a fantastic impression and provides people the convenience that you’re a genuine business.
Showcasing your brand name to your prospective clients is among the most vital things that you can do.
Build and also handle your website so it becomes part of your business identification and also branding.
Related article: Things to Do Before Starting a Business in 2022
As we know, Singapore is a rewarding place for global and local entrepreneurs to start their own businesses considering the business environment, security, law, and order in the country.
Exabytes Singapore has a vast experience of providing small business web hosting, web hosting for business sites and helping digital business entities register a .sg domain.
If you are an individual pondering how to start a small business in Singapore for their digital business or small business ideas which need an internet-based solution, Exabytes can help you create an online presence for business.
Here are the top 10 factors you should consider when choosing web hosting for tour business sites.
1. Web hosting provider’s datacenter
A good web host will always be homed in a data center which is a minimum Rated 3 (Tier III) facility or more. Such datacenters guarantee an availability of multiple internet service providers.
This network diversity augments a website’s local and global outreach by providing a hosting platform with lightning-fast speeds.
Physical security, internet security and central management systems along with 24x7x365 monitoring should be a default feature.
2. Hosting infrastructure
Business web hosting providers should have hosting platforms in place with essential infrastructure to manage the load that comes with e-commerce stores with online payment systems.
Business hosting providers should work with branded hardware only. Every server should be a high configuration server with powerful multiple processors, redundant storage and ample server memory.
These are the most fundamental elements necessary to ensure there is no lag or performance issues with the hosting of these e-commerce sites.
3. Sales service
For those who are starting a small business in Singapore, or an online business – getting the most accurate and reliable sales information and service is of vital importance.
A successful digital business venture depends heavily on a good business hosting plan.
It is important to look for a web hosting provider who is interested in understanding your needs, your e-commerce store design and its requirements and then suggests a plan which would be the best for you.
Avoid dealing with a hosting company who are pushy, ignorant, and not interested in investing time in understanding your business website.
4. Customer service
Transparent billing, zero hidden cost, easy payment options, multiple payment gateway choices and availability of customer service staff during full business hours are all the basic services one should get from a good hosting provider, including a dedicated account manager.
5. Access to customize software and installations
An online business website is a complex system to run with multiple software installations, customizations and integrations involved in ensuring a highly available online store.
The ability to control implementation of security patches, software updates and upgrades to ensure 100% compatibility is inflexible for online business website owners.
They must have the power to install any CMS, integrate multiple payment gateways etc. on the go.
To ensure an online business idea is flexible and adapts to customer demands, an ecommerce website owner must evaluate the level of administration and operations access available with a business web hosting package before signing up.
6. Small online business hosting plan details
The best business web hosting Singapore plans will offer storage on fastest SSD. The websites should be hosted on Ultrafast Lite Speed Server.
To ensure there is zero data loss – a daily, weekly and monthly backup should be available to be restored from the hosting control panel.
Options for additional backups should also be made available for customers who want to retain backups for a longer time.
Features like unlimited FTP accounts for multiple people to work and maintain the website, unlimited email accounts for managing several functions and operations together, a plethora of content management system (CMS) options to pick from.
7. Security options
Online business website should be able to protect its own data and the identity of customers who make online purchases.
One should look for a business hosting plan which offers SSL certificates and other encryption mechanisms.
Exabytes offers multiple levels of security and encryptions on its servers by default.
Customers can also opt for buying an extended validation SSL certificate to ensure maximum protection for their online store and payment gateways.
8. Managed services
A flourishing online business demands more time on business administration and operations side. Business owners have very little or no time to manage tech support issues.
Entrepreneurs looking to buy a business website hosting plan should always look for a hosting provider who offers managed services.
24x7x365 tech support should be available to perform the smallest and biggest of tech functions, installations, changes et al. without batting an eyelid.
9. Hosting control panel
Control panels are the first and most used management interface of any hosting account. Email creation, FTP accounts, add-on domains, sub-domains and all other day to day activities are performed via a control panel.
An easy to use control panel which aids a business in running their online ecommerce business and product website is most essential for an entrepreneurs and companies to focus on their actual business.
10. SEO and marketing solutions
Look for a web hosting provider who can offer multiple digital solutions including SEO services Singapore, marketing add-on with a chat bot and support desk, local business listing service and marketing tools is what exactly would resolve multiple issues.
These are extremely beneficial for anyone looking to start a small business in Singapore, setting up a digital business, an e-commerce store, and trying to evaluate small business web hosting.
Exabytes Singapore provides world class business hosting supported by Tier III data centers with the widest range of add-on digital services, marketing tools in South East Asia.
Get a professional business web hosting consultation with free lifetime domain from Exabytes today. If you have any further inquiries, please feel free to let us know or click the button below to learn more.
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Related article: When Should I Create A Website for My Business
