Reliability
Experience has taught many online entrepreneurs that reliability is the most important factor in deciding where their web sites will be hosted. There are a number of companies that offer business and personal web site hosting for as low as $3.00 to $4.00 per month. It's great to have such a low monthly cost structure but if your web site is down for any length of time it costs you more than you save. Thus reliability trumps hosting cost regardless of how efficient your online shopping cart is or how low the prices of your products are.

Uptime reliability is a fact that cannot be taken lightly when you establish your eCommerce business. Consider for instance hosting companies that claim to have a 99 percent uptime. This means that you could be down for 3.65 days every year! How much money does your eBusiness lose in that amount of time?

Support
User support is critical in establishing your web site as a successful eCommerce business. The most important thing to look for is timeliness of response. If the company does not have a 24/7 support system then find another one. This may be critical because your site, your online business may encounter unforeseen issues at any time. Being able to get the problem resolved in a timely manner is critical. Remember, time lost is profit lost. Your online business cannot afford to wait for the business week to start so that someone can fix the problem when they get around to it.

Accessibility
Accessibility is the other criterion that is significant for eCommerce web site hosting. What type of access do get to your web site? Can you upload files directly or do you have to send the files to the hosting company first? How easy is it to setup emails, folders and other features that you need to use? Is the system that the hosting company uses compatible with your online shopping cart?

These are important questions that you must know the answers to before you decide which company you host your web site with.