Ecommerce Seek

The first security requirement for an eCommerce website is to be able to transfer information back and forth with your customers securely. The second is to protect your customers’ credit card numbers. And the third is, naturally, gaining the confidence of your customers.

Each of the three steps is different but they are all entwined in providing a secure environment for doing business.

Any merchant conducting financial transactions online absolutely MUST ensure that all sensitive information is encrypted. This includes credit card information, personal information, and customer history, among other things.

This encryption is enabled by using the SSL (Security Sockets Layer) protocol. By using SSL, your customers’ information is encrypted when they send it, and it can only be decrypted by those who have the code to do so (your server).

Payment Gateways Offer An Added Level of Protection

Usually, a payment gateway is the intermediary between the merchant and the credit card companies themselved. These gateways process the credit cards, without the actual credit card numbers being transmitted to the merchant.

The merchant gets the details of the product purchased and the amount it was purchased for, but not the credit card numbers. This adds an additional degree of security for the customers, since their credit card number is never seen by the merchant.

The payment gateways follow even higher security standards than the merchant. Their servers are secured even more so than the average ecommerce server. They have multiple firewalls and levels of password protection, and their transactions are usually all handled through dedicated lines that are not accessible by anyone else.

For merchants who aren’t able to use the SSL protocol directly on their website, they can redirect customers to the SSL server of the payment gateway service.

This ensures that the customer’s information is transferred securely and there is no chance of the information being intercepted on the internet.

A system like this works to everyone’s advantage - the merchant is more likely to sell their product because the customer’s information is securely encrypted and the payment gateway gets a transaction fee for the service they’re providing.

Gaining the Customer’s Confidence

From this point, it’s up to the merchant to convince their customers that their website is secure. Merchants need to be sure there is plenty of information on their website about the various steps they’re taking to protect their customers’ information.

Another less technical step that the merchant should take is to offer a professional website that is easy to navigate and familiar to their customers. A shopping site isn’t the place to try to be “cutting edge”. Sticking with what people know and recognize goes a long way towards building confidence.

John Lenaghan writes about ecommerce web site hosting and other website hosting topics on the Hosting Report website. Find out more at http://www.hostingreport.org

Tags: website, secure, web hosting, security, host, server, ecommerce

Tags: ecommerce, host, secure, security, server, web hosting, websiteecommerce, host, secure, security, server, web hosting, website

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When I first got my web site built, I thought I finally had
a presence on-line. Wrong! I soon found out that I needed someone to host my site, and I needed a domain name.

This, I found, was my moment of utter confusion. And my
first thought was - “What have I gotten myself into!?”
I realized I needed the following questions answered before I
could even begin my on-line journey. What do I need in a web host,what is a web host, what is a domain name and - you mean, I have to pay for a domain name as well?

What is a Domain?

A domain name is a unique name that identifies an Internet site.
Thus, if you want to do any on-line marketing you need a unique
name to identify your business - and definitely a name that
identifies or relates to that of your on-line presence.

Do I really need a domain name? Yes. Why? There are
several good reasons:

1. It projects a professional image

2. It’s mobile - you can change web hosts and your domain name goes with you.

3. It takes time and hard work to build your affiliate business - if you don’t have your own name and you want to move to a different web host - all is lost because the domain name is not mobile.

There are many sites that offer a domain name service at a reasonable price. You can go to my site at www.myaffiliateplace.biz/Affiliate_Info.htm and
look under Affiliate Information - here you can get an idea
how much a domain name costs.

What is A Web Host?

A web host is an ISP that offers space in which to store your
own personal Web pages. They utilize a web server, which
is a computer that is permanently connected to the Internet and
can send out your web pages on request.

If you want a professional presence, I would suggest that you
do not go with a free site. Why? With your free site, you
are required to include advertisements of their
choosing on your pages.

There are many web hosting sites and prices to choose from - and all can be very confusing and intimidating when you are first looking at putting up a site of your own. So, what should you consider when choosing a web host?

What to Consider When You Choose a Web Host?

When choosing a Web Host you should consider the following:

1. Does it have customer support available 24/7?

2. How often are backups done? (You should also do your own backups as well.)

3. How much bandwidth do they give you? Bandwidth is the amount of activity on your site (traffic). The more visitors you have, the more bandwidth is used. I recommend at least 2 gigs, with an option to upgrade.

4. How many email accounts do they have? At least 3, preferably more.

5. Does it have traffic stats - to monitor your hits, page views, and actual visitors?

6. Does it have FrontPage extensions? (If you are planning to use FrontPage).

7. Does it offer autoresponders?

8. Does it offer FTP?

9. Does it allow for upgrades? As your business grows, so will your need for more bandwidth.

10. Does it offer SiteBuilder? (If you have no HTML experience/don’t have FrontPage, or no programming knowledge - SiteBuilder can get you up and running.

To conclude, remember your web site is your business, your
domain is your name, and your web host is your home - all
are important factors to your success. And to think, you
only getting started!

To your success.

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and
Marketing. She left the corporate world as a Reports Programmer,
to begin her journey as an Internet marketer. Visit her site at:
http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks,
Web-hosting opportunities and how to info. Visit her blog at
http://myaffiliateplace.blogspot.com for updates and tips.

Tags: how to, domain, affiliate, web hosting, web site

Tags: affiliate, domain, how to, web hosting, web siteaffiliate, domain, how to, web hosting, web site

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The recently ended Christmas/Holiday 2005 sales season is returning some good numbers for retailers, well above figures that some thought would have been unattainable in light of the many hurricanes that wreaked disaster on parts of the U.S. this past year. With consumer sentiment good, early figures suggest that sales climbed at least 4% over last year’s figures with a number twice that amount also being mentioned. Still, the greatest increases have been in an area that has seen double digit growth for years: the internet. With sales climbing 30% over last year’s torrid rates, online shopping is here to stayand growing bigger every year. Have you started your online site yet? If not, why not?

Brick and mortar retailers are discovering that in order to remain competitive, they must have an online presence too. No longer does your customer base have to be restricted to a one or two county area where you live. The internet provides a great way to expand that base to include your entire state, your country, or the world! For example, Wal-Mart not only sells well at the store level, but their online sales do very well too. If Wal-Mart can do it, you can too.

Isn’t an online presence expensive? No, thanks to web sites that are easy to upload and manage. Depending on the company you choose, the web hosting portion of managing a site is negligible. Hosting fees and annual domain registration should cost you less than $125. per year. The better hosts also have extra “somethings” to whet your appetite: like easy to download open source storefronts that can help you set up an online presence.

Speaking of storefronts, OS Commerce software continues to help make an online presence possible for many retailers. With easy to use [and free!] software, everything you sell in your store can be sold online or at least those specialty items with high mark ups, right? With OS Commerce, you can use your existing bankcard relationship to bring in the cash or you can use Paypal, whichever works best for you.

Yes, Holiday 2005 is one for the record books. If you missed out, do not despairyou can get your site ready in time for the Valentine’s Day crunch and begin reaping tremendous sales increases immediately!

Copyright 2006 — Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics including: advocacy, automobiles, aviation, business, Christian themes, family, news, product reviews, travel, writing, and more. Please visit Matt’s blog for absolutely stunning and humorous writings from the master himself!

Tags: win, Amazon, online retail, e-commerce, shopping, Wal-Mart, online shopping, web hosting, web design

Tags: Amazon, E commerce, online retail, online shopping, shopping, Wal Mart, web design, web hosting, winAmazon, E commerce, online retail, online shopping, shopping, Wal Mart, web design, web hosting, win

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