Anyone who owns an e-commerce website knows the importance of having a quality web host. In the world of e-commerce if your website is down, you are losing money in lost sales. Your infrastructure is just as important as the products your store sells.

Eventually there will come a time when your current hosting package is just not enough to meet the needs of your growing website. Most likely it is time for you to switch your website to a dedicated server.

A dedicated server is exactly what it sounds like – it is your own personal server which is used only for your website. Upgrading to a dedicated server gives your website more disk space and 100% of the server resources, such as RAM and the processor. In a normal shared hosting environment multiple websites are stored on the same server. This means they all are competing for the same (limited) server resources. This setup is fine to start out with, but as your site grows a dedicated server might be needed.

How do I know if it is time to upgrade?

Fortunately, your website will tell you when it has outgrown your current setup. This means that you will see signs such as website slowness, bandwidth warnings (automated emails sent from your host when you are using too much bandwidth), longer page load times and decreased sales. All these signs suggest it is time to move up to a dedicated server.

Most store owners are shocked to find out that upgrading to a dedicated server costs anywhere from $200 to $500 per month. Before they were only paying $60 a month and everything seemed fine. The reason dedicated servers costs so much are because you are renting an entire server which costs $2,000 to $5,000. You also are paying for the tech to manage and take care of any customizations or problems which might arise. Also with a dedicated server you are getting increased bandwidth to support your growing website. The more bandwidth you use, the more it is going to cost you. Bandwidth costs money – there is no way around it.

If your time has come to upgrade to a dedicated server, you should not see it as a negative thing. Actually it is just the opposite. It means your store is growing in traffic – and in e-commerce, more traffic means more sales. Look at the monthly costs as an investment and peace of mind for the future growth of your website.

The big e-commerce websites online, such as Amazon.com use thousands of servers to keep the operational. Imagine their hosting bill!

So now that you have decided you need to upgrade, which host should you use?  

When it comes to hosting high traffic and high sales volume Miva Merchant stores, you want to choose a hosting company who specializes only in Miva Merchant. This ensures your store and your server will be setup correctly and optimized for your needs.

One of the best Miva Merchant Dedicated Server hosts around is DotComHost. I recommend them to all my clients and they have some of the best support staff in the industry. Click here to visit DotComHost.

About the Author: Brennan Heyde is an e-commerce consultant working in San Diego, Ca. He specializes in online marketing and SEO for e-commerce.  Have a struggling e-commerce website? – Contact Brennan today for a site analysis.