Comparing Business Hosts

In order to compare business hosts, you will need to make an initial decision concerning whether you are going to operate a stand-alone site or join an electronic mall. Let's look at how these two choices differ.

Factor	Stand-Alone	E-Mail
Domain Name	Usually able to register your own unique domain.	Typically under the domain register to the E-mail.
Search Engine Registration	Up to you. You will need to take responsibility for registering your site so that it shows up.	May be difficult to have your site registered or to have customers go directly to your site without first going to the E-mail Main Page.
Banner Ads	You are free to solicit and display banners as an additional source of income.	You will probably be required to adhere to whatever the E-mall's policy is.
Shoppig Cart software	You will need to obtain and install.	Usually supplied by the mall for use by all tenants.
Receipt of payment	You will need to obtain a merchant credit card aaccount to accept credit cards.	Varies. Some will require you to have a merchant account while others will receive payments under the E-mall's account and pay the merchants; Check costs.
Transaction security	Your responsibility.	Typically supplied by the E-Mall.
Additional advertising for your store	If you want to advertise anywhere, you will need to purchase space.	Malls usually provide some advertising space for their tenants; You may be asked to pay extra for 'choice' ad placement. In addition, the merchants in a mall may pay a small stipend for the mall to leverage the resources of all the tenants to place advertising for the mall.
Web development and design	You will usually be responsible for all aspects of this, with some hosts offering design and development services at an additional cost.	Many malls offer free design and development templates which can help you get started quickly.

Primarily, an e-mall provides an existing electronic commerce structure where people already go to shop. For some people, being in a mall brings credibility to businesses which they may not know by name. The malls also provide some infrastructure support in the form of security protocols, shopping cart, and transaction software. In short, locating in an e-mall is less effort but with less flexibility.

Whether you are going to be in a mall or operating a stand-alone site, you will want to determine whether or not you will need some sort of database connectivity in order to allow people to search for and choose a broad range of products.