BlueHost e-commerce consists of many features to assist you in creating your business website. This BlueHost e-commerce article reviews what e-commerce options you have when hosting your website with BlueHost. Find out if BlueHost has the e-commerce features you are looking for.
BlueHost E-Commerce Introduction
A newcomer to e-commerce web hosting might not realize how extensive the e-commerce possibilities at BlueHost are because—while some of the possibilities are out in the open in the features list, others are obtained through less obvious means.
BlueHost E-Commerce Features List
In the ‘E-Commerce Features’ list, BlueHost fronts its shopping cart collection: Agora Shopping Cart, Cube Cart Shopping Cart, OS Commerce Shopping Cart, and Zen Shopping Cart. The appearance of these, along with an SSL Secure Server, Password Protected Directories, and OpenPGP/GPG Encryption show customers that BlueHost has the basics for e-commerce covered.
The four listed shopping carts are open-source software that BlueHost makes available through SimpleScripts. If you go to the SimpleScripts listing—either on the SimpleScripts website or via BlueHost, you’ll find that Magento and TomatoCart are also available, as well as two premium (paid) e-commerce options and a link to a special offer at Stamps.com, an approved vendor of United States Postal Service postage printing to help emerchants get started with package shipments.
BlueHost E-Commerce—the Hidden Possibilities
BlueHost e-commerce websites, besides being based on any of the shopping carts listed above, can also be created in other ways through systems that—on the surface—reveal no clear and obvious connection to e-commerce or online shopping.
• BlueHost E-commerce sites can be developed through content management systems (CMS) and their free or paid add-ons.
Drupal is one of the content management systems offered by BlueHost through SimpleScripts. Drupal e-commerce is a collection of add-on modules—free and open-source, just like Drupal itself—that allow the Drupal user to build-an online store. The package includes a shopping cart, the ability to charge taxes and discount product prices, capability to sell shippable items, downloads, or customized merchandise, inventory management, auctioning potential, and more. Details are here: http://www.drupalecommerce.org/
Another possibility for turning a Drupal site into a store is via the Ubercart module, another open-source shopping cart. http://www.ubercart.org/
Joomla! and Mambo—two other content management systems—also have add-on shopping carts. http://www.ubercart.org/ http://www.php-shop-system.com/
• BlueHost E-commerce sites can also be developed through blog software and their free or paid add-ons.
WordPress blogging software, offered by BlueHost through SimpleScripts, has a number of available themes and plug-ins that convert a blogging site into an online store. http://www.instinct.co.nz/e-commerce/
Choosing a BlueHost E-Commerce Solution
Which of these possibilities should you choose? Well, that depends both on how you want to control your website, whether you already have familiarity with any of these platforms, and whether you want to do your development using code or using an interface that doesn’t require a lot of (or any) knowledge of coding. The best approach is to go to the product websites, look at samples of what people have done with the software, and try out any available demos or look at screenshots of the environment. Other considerations are likely to be the frequency of updates, the level and type(s) of support available, and the cost.