Save Money on Your E-Commerce Business

4 Ways to Lower Costs for Your E-Commerce Business

Use a Low-Cost SSL Certificate Until Business Picks Up

Savings - $45-$75/yr.

Please focus on that last portion: Until Business Picks Up. And note that this option is ONLY possible if you're not required to be PCI compliant.

An SSL certificate is really important when you're collecting customer details; however, if you're only using PayPal and/or Square, you don't have to worry about compliance because you won't be accepting credit card details on your own server. PayPal and Square have their own secure servers, and you're essentially using their secured environment to capture credit card details.

Some people opt to use a free SSL, like Let's Encrypt. Others opt to use very low-cost SSL, like RapidSSL. Earth Girl servers are equipped to install Lets Encrypt from the cPanel in just a few clicks. It's a really fast way to secure your site at no charge.

The difference is this - paid SSL Certificates have a warranty (e.g. $10,000 USD) should your customer's card details be compromised on your server. Free SSL Certificates don't have this warranty.

When business picks up, whether you have a merchant account or not, be sure to add a paid SSL. It just makes your customers feel more comfortable shopping with you.

Use an Email Handler Instead of Webmail

Savings - Approx $5-$15/mo.

When it comes to web hosting there's no choice of where you store your software files, database, and images. Those have to reside on your hosting account. You do have a choice of where your emails are stored, and emails with attachment can take up a ton of space.

Many of our customers use Gmail to handle their Earth Girl email, you'll find a tutorial here: https://earthgirl.host/using-gmail-to-handle-earthgirl-email/. Our customer support team would be happy to help you get this set up if you're having any issues.

Once you have Gmail handle all of your emails, your webmail usage will decrease and you may be able to lower your hosting costs.

Decrease Your Product Line

Savings - Approx $5-$15/mo.

This really only applies to stores with around 1000 products. All of those images can add up, so removing products and their images can save a ton of space.

Check out your traffic stats in Webmaster Tools, or Analytics, and figure out which products get the least amount of traffic - then remove them. Make sure you remove the associated images, too, because we have two goals here. The first, make your site more manageable. The second, decrease the amount of space you're using so you can use a smaller hosting account and save some money.

This also gives you a chance to really focus on the popular products and vendors, keep your inventory updates manageable, and write your descriptions from the heart.

Be Cautious!

Canceling or Putting in Maintenance Mode

Just like a brick & mortar business, it can take up to five years to start seeing true profits and it's constant work. The benefit a B&M store has in a community is visibility. Your website, along with your online advertising efforts, is your visibility online. If you take your site down, your visibility is gone. So, don't terminate your site or put it in maintenance mode, you'll kill your SEO ratings. Only terminate if you truly know you're done.

Transferring to a Different Store Software

Unless you're using Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Bonanza, or a similar venue that basically brings the traffic to you, changing your software won't help. I know that some big e-commerce platforms show testimonials from people who claim the software boosted sales, but I promise it's a little far-fetched. The first thing you'll notice after making a change is that your SEO rankings will plummet. This is because your URL structure will change entirely and Google/Bing will need to re-index you. It can take months to recover from a platform switch if its not done correctly.

Additionally, once you switch to a hosted platform (Shopify, Big Commerce, Magento, etc.) the site is really no longer your own. It's not easy to transfer to another host down the line, or tweak to make it unique. These options are great for some people, not so great for others, so be sure you weigh the pros and cons.

Transferring to a Different Host

Some people switch hosting companies to save money. While I'm always sad to see a customer go, I will always promote you doing what's best for your business. When it comes to hosting, you definitely get what you pay for, so be very mindful of the "big store discount" mentality. It comes with a price - including slow load times, poor service, and basically being treated like a number.

Bottom line, I want you to know that there are ways to save without shutting down completely. Open a ticket and ask for me, Amber, directly to go over your hosting account to see if there's anything that could be changed to save money on the hosting end. And consider all of the options I've outlined above.

 

 

 

 

About Earth Girl Hosting

Earth Girl Hosting offers web hosting for any type of website, including WordPress, OpenCart, Joomla!, Drupal, and more. Free SSL, free daily backups, 24/7/365 North American support by phone & ticket.

1 Comment

  1. […] an ecommerce business sounds like a piece of cake in theory, but it isn’t. In fact, it is just as time-consuming and […]

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