Most small-to-midsized online retailers don’t own their own web servers. Instead,these companies rent space on servers at data centers around the globe—a practice we commonly call “web hosting.”
An online merchant’s web host can have a significant effect on business success. For example, does the host guarantee that your site will always be up and operational? Does the host offer support as you develop new features or add third-party solutions? You get the idea.
Hosting provider, Crucial Webhosting, which is based in Queen Creek, Arizona, has a simple mission when it comes to helping online merchants, “we want your business and we are willing to do what it takes to earn your business” and to “keep your business.” This sort of genuine customer focus, along with a lot of technical savvy, led me to award Crucial Webhosting four and a half out of a possible five stars in this “The PeC Review.”
The PeC Review is my weekly column devoted to introducing you to the products or service that I believe can improve your ecommerce business. This week, let me tell you why I think Crucial Webhosting is a great hosting choice, particularly if your store runs on the Magento Commerce platform.
A Tale of Hosting Woe
I want to be upfront and tell you that this week’s PeC Review is the result of experiencing some generally great customer service when I migrated a few Magento-based stores that I run to Crucial Webhosting last month. I had been experiencing way too much downtime at my last hosting provider (the company even “lost” my site for a day), and wanted a change. So I packed up my virtual goods and moved.
Easy Migration, Easy Start Up
If you are just starting an ecommerce business, Crucial Webhosting not only provides stable containers, but the company also makes installing and setting up an online store a snap.
For example, Crucial Webhosting specializes in hosting the popular Magento Commerce platform, so installing Magento requires clicking a button.
The company also has customers running ecommerce platforms like Interspire, Zen Cart, OXID eShop 4, CRE Loaded, PrestaShop, osCommerce, VirtueMart, FatFreeCart, and CubeCart to name a few. And, within reason, Crucial Webhosting should be able to support just about any licensed cart.
When it comes to migrating an existing site, it could not be easier. When I opened my account at Crucial Webhosting, the company volunteered to migrate my store for me as a service. I provided their technician with some information about my old account and voila, he migrated my store, site files, and database in a matter of minutes. No effort at all on my part.
Fast Technical Support
Within a few minutes of migrating my site, I reassigned the DNS and customers were arriving at my virtual shelves as if nothing had happened.
Of course, I could not leave well enough alone. I took the opportunity to make some site upgrades and launch a new store—which runs on the same backend and database as my other stores. While I consider myself a good web coder, setting up web servers can be a challenge. So more than once, I had to ask Crucial Webhosting’s team for help or advice. In every case, they responded quickly—even at 2 AM—and were generally very helpful.
Pricing
Crucial Webhosting is also competitively priced. Shared hosting plans start at $20 per month if you prepay. Dedicated or semi-dedicated containers, which I recommend, range in price from $99 per month to $250 per month with additional discounts for pre-payment. For containers, the company does charge a $100 set up fee.
Summing Up
Crucial Webhosting offers great customer service, stable containers, and reasonable prices. In some ways web hosting is a commodity, but when a company genuinely focuses on making customers happy it moves beyond price and into service. And service was the primary reason I awarded Crucial Webhosting four and a half out of a possible five stars in this The PeC Review.