The keys to being successful with an online business are diversification, diligence, and persistence. Unfortunately, a single revenue stream is often not enough to create a full-time income, especially if you are depending only one website. Most successful online entrepreneurs continually expand their network of websites by building new sites and entering new niches on a constant basis. Rather than giving up and becoming disheartened when one endeavor does not go your way, you should grab motivation and experience from such occurrences and begin working on a new endeavor. In order to continuously expand your online reach you need to build new websites and have access to your own network of sites.

Diversifying Your Business through Several Websites

In the online world, each website that you own represents a new business opportunity – the ability to penetrate a new niche and begin creating a new revenue stream. With each revenue stream you can significantly increase your monthly and yearly income gradually. Unfortunately, if you operate your entire online business through a single website, you’ll be unable to adequately target multiple markets and optimize your site for keywords that are commonly searched for in search engines. As you continuously explore new niches and business opportunities online, you’ll undoubtedly be registering multiple domains. In fact, the average webmaster registers about 10 domains per year.

Recognizing the Importance of Multiple Domain Hosting

Although the majority of hosting providers offer plans that allow for the hosting of an unlimited amount of domains, it is still important to ensure that your hosting plan includes multiple domain capabilities. It is, however, important to note that although a plan may allow you to host an unlimited amount domains, this does not mean that you have access to an adequate amount of server resources to host more than several hundred domains simultaneously. Each website that you associate with your web hosting account consumes server resources, and therefore places an additional burden on your hosting Web server.

Security and Business Presence

By owning a network of sites you can efficiently build links to your main sites in each niche, and also have smaller websites within the same niche that are designed to funnel traffic to your heavily monetized sites. This can improve conversion rates by allowing you to introduce presell articles and concepts to your site visitors and it can also diversifying your search engine optimization efforts. You will also be able to create more leverage within each industry/niche because you’ll have a significant online presence, which ultimately results in thousands of unique visitors within your control on a daily basis. When new products or services are released in each industry you can take advantage of their popularity instantly using one of your many sites within your network.

If you are planning on selling products or services or accepting payments on your website then you need an SSL certificate. Therefore, it is important to make sure that your web hosting plan includes capability to host a wildcard SSL certificate (at SSL certificate can be used on my website), or you’ll have to purchase multiple web hosting plans in order to gain access to multiple SSL certificates.

Related posts:

• November 7, 2008 – SSL for Your Online Store
• July 15, 2010 – Easy Business Management with Multiple Domain Hosting
• March 11, 2010 – Top 3 Important Aspects of Web Hosting Security
• October 21, 2009 – Four Hot E-commerce Tips that Payoff
• July 15, 2009 – How to Install osCommerce and Activate SSL Through cPanel
• March 6, 2009 – SSL For Your E-commerce Site
• January 12, 2009 – The Essentials of E-commerce
• December 3, 2008 – Keeping Your Profits Intact
• November 21, 2008 – VeriSign Passes a Tremendous Milestone
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Does My Site Look Professional?

Before you begin uploading item descriptions and pictures, or trying to source suppliers for your massive catalog of products, you’ll first need to make sure that your site looks professional. The two biggest factors that online shoppers consider are convenience and trustworthiness. If your site does not appear to be professional, most of your potential customers will leave before ever viewing your products or their prices.

Does My Site Have  a Good Shopping Cart?

The shopping cart is literally the focal point of the shopping experience, primarily because it is the main interface that customers will use to checkout. If the shopping cart has glitches or is outdated and inconvenient, most of your prospective customers will become frustrated and look for another site. Thus, before proceeding with the construction of your eCommerce site it is absolutely necessary to “test drive” your shopping cart to view your site form the perspective of a site visitor.

Is My Site Secure?

Security falls under the second aforementioned important aspect of eCommerce – trustworthiness. If your site is not secured you’ll have a hard time closing any sales online. Regular internet shoppers have been educated to look for sites that begin with HTTPS before providing any credit card details, so it will be fairly difficult to have a successful online business without an SSL certificate. Fortunately, most eCommerce hosting plans come with SSL certificates.

Does My Site Have Convenient Navigation?

If it is difficult to navigate your site and find a particular product then it will be nearly impossible to have a high sales volume. Most people shop online because they are looking for a good price on a particular item. If your site does not have a properly organized product catalog and a good on site search engine, then finding the right product will be inconvenient for your customers.

Can I Accept All Major Payments?

The concept is simple – the more payment methods you can accept, the more potential customers you have. Only accepting credit cards can greatly limit your sales volume, especially in modern times as online payment processors are becoming increasingly popular. It is important to ensure that your site can accept money orders, credit cards, debit cards, and payments through online payment processors like PayPal, MoneyBookers, and AlertPay.

Related posts:

• January 22, 2010 – Tips for Increasing Profits in E-commerce
• April 8, 2009 – Open-source Shopping Cart Options
• November 21, 2011 – The WePay Surge: Why They May Dethrone PayPal
• October 5, 2011 – What to Look for in Your Shopping Cart Software
• July 29, 2011 – Is SSL Essential for eCommerce Sites?
• June 24, 2011 – Preventing e-Commerce Shopping Cart Abandonment
• June 20, 2011 – eCommerce Shop for Specialized Web Hosting
• June 13, 2011 – An Expansion of eCommerce Web Hosting in the United Kingdom
• May 12, 2011 – Essential Shopping Cart Attributes
• April 6, 2011 – Using Free Shopping Carts for Your E-Commerce Website

SFTP

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is an updated secure variation of FTP(File Transfer Protocol). Basic FTP is not fully secure, in that the files being transferred could possibly be intercepted by an outsider. In fact, the perpetrator can even change the data within the files, and view the files discreetly without disrupting their path. With SFTP you’ll have an extra layer of security since the files will be encrypted using government standard 128-bit encryption.

SSL

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is extremely crucial for any ecommerce site. With SSL all private information such as credit card/bank account information, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses are kept private. Without this kind of security measure in place, you and you’re customers are being left susceptible to credit card fraud and identity theft. In many cases the credit card information can be stolen instantly, and online purchases can be made before the cardholder even knows what hit them. Aside from the lack of security that is associated with not having SSL enabled on your server, you’re also going to lose business. Every site with SSL enabled receives an SSL certificate which is then placed on the checkout page. Many customers look for this when shopping online, and will refuse to shop with you if you do not have this certificate.

Data Backups

Many people realize the importance of backing up their personal computer, however the importance of backing up your websites files is often overlooked. A lot of work is put into building a website, as I am sure you are probably aware of, and you may find it shocking to learn that all of this information can be wiped out and lost forever in just one hour. If you do not backup your data, this data loss would be permanent, and you would literally have to start back at square one! If you want to keep this from happening then you will need to make sure you choose a web hosting plan that automatically conducts routine server backups.

Overall Network Security

When choosing a web hosting plan, the above factors are definitely of great importance. However, there are many more important aspects to consider in regards to overall server and network security. To ensure the safety of your website and your online business, you’ll need to choose a web hosting solution that is reputable and known for having top notch security.

Related posts:

• March 6, 2009 – SSL For Your E-commerce Site
• February 25, 2011 – The Benefits of Using Multiple Domain Hosting for E-Commerce
• October 20, 2010 – Web Hosting Security – Difference Between SSL, TLS and SSH
• July 15, 2009 – How to Install osCommerce and Activate SSL Through cPanel
• November 21, 2008 – VeriSign Passes a Tremendous Milestone
• November 7, 2008 – SSL for Your Online Store
• September 1, 2011 – Premium Web Hosting and Security Features Available in the Public Domain
• July 29, 2011 – Is SSL Essential for eCommerce Sites?
• April 13, 2011 – Using Captcha Scripts to Prevent Spam
• March 18, 2011 – Securing Windows for Web Hosting Safety

1.) Make Use of Encryption

In order to protect the monetary transactions occurring on your site, you at least need to have an SSL certificate with no less than 128-bit encryption.  This security tool can be installed and managed by a third-party vendor such as VeriSign or you can choose to handle the configuration yourself.  What SSL does is scramble the data being sent over the internet in a code that is unreadable to hackers.  Thus, when sales on your website are made, the financial details of your customers is encrypted, securely transmitted and then decrypted by your payment processor.  By placing an SSL certificate seal on your website, you can calm the nerves of consumers and encourage them to shop your store in confidence.

2.) Check Your Buyers

Although you don’t want to look as if you are suspicious of everyone, the prevalence of credit card payments increases the probability of a customer using someone’s financial information without their knowledge or approval.  To minimize situations like this, you should check the identity of your customers.  This can be done by not only obtaining their name and credit card number, but also their home address, telephone numbers and the security code located on the back of the actual credit card.  By doing so, you can better assure that the financial details submitted actually belong to the individual making the purchase.  If the card comes back as stolen, you could end up playing a role in helping authorities track down the criminal.

3.) Research Your Merchant

To ensure that financial information will not be stolen following the transaction, it is imperative that you run a thorough check of the merchant account provider processing your credit card payments.  You can start by reading reviews to learn if they have a history of fraud or security issues.  Don’t hesitate to speak to the company directly about the security measures they employ and most importantly, to make sure you are completely confident in their services.  If you have any doubts about the provider, follow your instinct and move on to the next option.

Security is a hot topic in seemingly every industry these days.  If you are using the internet as a medium for your business, these certainly are not times when you can just sit back and simply hope for the best.  Hackers and their attacking mechanisms grow more advanced everyday, so it is critical that you take the appropriate actions to keep both you and your customers out of harm’s way.

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• November 21, 2008 – VeriSign Passes a Tremendous Milestone
• November 28, 2011 – Bit-Defender Internet Security Review
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• April 25, 2011 – Bux4Real Attacked by Hackers
• February 25, 2011 – The Benefits of Using Multiple Domain Hosting for E-Commerce
• January 20, 2011 – Locking Your Online Business Using Website Encryption
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osCommerce Installation

- Login into your cPanel account and click on the Fantastico icon at the bottom of the main page.

- Navigate to the “E-commerce” section and click on the “osCommerce” link.

- Next, click on the “New Installation” link.

- Now you must go through a multi-step process in order to define the installation location:

Step 1: Choose your domain from the provided drop-down menu.

Step 2: Enter the name of the directory where you want osCommerce to be installed.

Keep in mind that the “install in directory” field is the one part where several users make critical mistakes.  Enter a single phrase of the new folder that will be created for the osCommerce application.  If you try to add dashes, the installation will fail every time.

Step 3: Return back and double check the information you entered in the above field.  If you want your customers to access your store when visiting “http://yoursite.com,“ you would then leave the “Install in Directory” field blank.  On the other hand, if you already have an existing website, you want to enter a given directory name in that field.  For example, if you decide to use “store” as the name of the directory, customers would access your osCommerce store by visiting “http://yoursite.com/store”.

- After entering the required information for the installation destination, enter a user name and password for your osCommerce administrative area.

- Next, enter the name of your store, an owner name, and valid email address.

Activate SSL

Once you have the installation destination squared away, the proceeding steps are self explanatory.  The SSL process deserves a little more detailed explanation.

- Set the “Use SSL” option to”Yes”

- Enter the hostname for your secure server.

If you have a dedicated IP address and SSL certificate for your website, simply enter your domain name in the next field.  If not, just use the server name entered above.

- Choose the information you want to require from your customers.  You will see that these options are pretty straightforward and can be either set to “Yes or “No.”

- After entering the information, click on the “Install osCommerce” tab.

- Lastly, on the next page click “Finish installation”.

You have now successfully installed the osCommerce shopping cart program equipped with an SSL certificate for security.  Now all you have to do is the click the provided link or type the appropriate URL into your browser to log in and set up your online store.

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• January 14, 2011 – Free Ecommerce Solutions
• January 12, 2009 – The Essentials of E-commerce
• November 21, 2008 – VeriSign Passes a Tremendous Milestone
• April 6, 2011 – Using Free Shopping Carts for Your E-Commerce Website
• February 25, 2011 – The Benefits of Using Multiple Domain Hosting for E-Commerce
• September 28, 2010 – Ecommerce Site Building Checklist
• March 11, 2010 – Top 3 Important Aspects of Web Hosting Security
• December 7, 2009 – Top Three Control Panels to Consider When Choosing a Web Host
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What is an SSL Certificate?

Secure Sockets Layer or SSL, is a security protocol that enables encrypted communications between the customer’s web browser and the server your store is hosted on.  This is accomplished by what is known as a handshake, a process where the server’s identity is confirmed and a secure connection created.  SSL typically offers 128-bit encryption, formulated by an algorithm which generates a key that is virtually impossible to crack.  An SSL certificate shows that your site is secure and safe for shopping.

How to Get a Certificate

SSL certificates are offered by entities known as Certificate Authorities, with the most popular being GoeTrust, Thawte and Verisign.  For the most part, these authorities provide certificates that give you the same level of security.  A single certificate can encrypt the data traveling between the server and each of your customers’ web browsers.  The average online storefront can get adequate protection from a basic SSL certificate.  You also have the option to purchase additional services to strengthen the level of security.

Installing the Certificate

Although many web hosting providers offer SSL certificates as add-on products, you typically have the freedom to incorporate one purchased from a third-party vendor as well.  In most cases, you can learn how your SSL certificate is to be installed via the instructions in the control panel software or by contacting the host’s technical support department.  Some of the most advanced control panels even allow you to incorporate an SSL certificate directly from the interface.  Once installed, the certificate is automatically enabled.  You will know it is activated when noticing “HTTPS” in front your URL rather than “HTTP”.

Designing for SSL

The design of your site is very important when implementing an SSL certificate.  In order for your web pages to be viewed as secure, all scripts, graphics and media elements must be deemed secure as well.  You have probably visited web sites where a warning displays stating that some of the elements of a particular page are not secure.  These messages are prompted when external elements of a web page are not called using the HTTPS protocol.  In many cases, the certificate is valid and secure but the page isn’t designed properly for SSL.  All the external elements of your page must be called using links that include the full URL.  One simple graphic that doesn’t use HTTPS will generate a “not secure” error.

Conscious online shoppers are increasingly looking for SSL certificates and if you don’t have one, you are missing out on a lot of business.  You can have some of the most beneficial products online but if no one feels safe buying them, they will hesitate to proceed with the transaction.

Related posts:

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Chris Babel, senior vice president at VeriSign, notes that consumers need a greater level of assurance that the sites they visit online are safe to do business with.  The milestone of one million active SSL certificates demonstrates the firm’s presence in the industry.  Babel went on to state that VeriSign will continue to collaborate with its industry peers and help customers find most secure places for making purchases online.   Already responsible for securing more servers than any other internet security company, the VeriSign Secured Seal has become the most trusted of all on the web.

SSL certificates issued by VeriSign include VeriSign, GeoTrust and Thawte, all of which help to safeguard consumers against fraudulent websites by providing and validating information about the owner of the certificate. Consumers can learn the identity of the person they are dealing with and if the certificate holder is the legal owner of the domain name.  Most of all, these SSL certificates encrypt the customer’s personal information during internet transactions.   When a consumer visits a site equipped with such a certificate, their browser will display a padlock icon as well as HTTPS in the address bar.  This enables visitors to browse a web page with a greater level of confidence, helping them to feel comfortable about dealing with a legitimate site.

The most widely recognized of all, the VeriSign Secured Seal gives indication that a particular web page is protected with a brand of SSL certificate issued by VeriSign itself.  Throughout the world, this seal represents trust and security, one that has become a common fixture to validate leading online merchants, financial institutions and other prominent businesses on the internet.

A recent study conducted by TNS Research shows that 79% of online shoppers in the United States are familiar with VeriSign’s Secured Seal, trusting it more than other mark on the internet.  This seal is viewed well over 150 million time each day, thoroughly tested and proven to help boost online transactions by as much as 31%.  The study also reveals that the VeriSign Secured Seal can be found on more than 90,000 sites in over 140 countries across the globe.

Since the late 90s, VeriSign has been providing services for a reliable internet infrastructure to secure the huge world of networked computers.  Countless of times each day, its trusted SSL certificates and recognizable seals help businesses and consumers from worlds apart engage in secure E-commerce transactions with the utmost confidence.

Related posts:

• March 6, 2009 – SSL For Your E-commerce Site
• July 29, 2011 – Is SSL Essential for eCommerce Sites?
• July 15, 2009 – How to Install osCommerce and Activate SSL Through cPanel
• September 1, 2011 – Premium Web Hosting and Security Features Available in the Public Domain
• February 25, 2011 – The Benefits of Using Multiple Domain Hosting for E-Commerce
• September 28, 2010 – Ecommerce Site Building Checklist
• March 11, 2010 – Top 3 Important Aspects of Web Hosting Security
• July 17, 2009 – Securing Your Business Website in Three Easy Steps
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• January 13, 2009 – How to Find Secure Shared Hosting

What is SSL?

Secure Sockets Layer or SSL, was introduced in 1994 and has been declared as the standard for securing E-commerce transactions.  SSL is a protocol that encrypts credit card numbers and other sensitive information by scrambling the data so it can not be accessed by eavesdroppers.  More than likely, you have visited a few sites protected with SSL encryption as it is typically indicated by a URL that starts with HTTPS opposed to HTTP and a padlock icon located on the top or bottom of the web page.  SSL works with a browser such as Firefox, encrypting the online transaction with 40-bit or 128-bit algorithms.  However, a browser can’t fully secure these transactions on its own so you must do your part as a business owner.

SSL Certificates

As the administrator of an E-commerce site, one of the most powerful security tools in your arsenal is an SSL certificate.  This mechanism lies on a secure server with the sole purpose of encrypting data and identifying you as the owner of a legitimate website.  The SSL certificate will tell potential customers who the certificate holder is along with the name of the CA (Certificate Authority) and the country it was issued in.

SSL certificates generally come with 40-bit or 128-bit encryption schemes.  Because the 40-bit variation has been proven as vulnerable, you should certainly invest all of your efforts in a 128-bit certificate.  While there are many ways to go about obtaining this level of encryption, VeriSign, a leading SSL certificate provider, reports that one needs a server-grade cryptography certificate in order to enjoy full 128-bit protection.

There are essentially two ways to get a valid SSL certificate: purchase one from a legitimate Certificate Authority or self-sign it yourself.  Though self-signing saves you the time and money of using a reputable vendor, it actually defeats the purpose of having such a mechanism in the first place.  While the data may be actually encrypted, a self-signed SSL certificate could also trigger a warning in the consumer’s browser, indicating that it isn’t recognized as legitimate.

Even though some people feel comfortable on certain sites and proceed anyway, several more click away as fast as they can.

It’s no secret that a website that establishes trust and security is more likely to profit than one that doesn’t.  Recent studies conducted by Verisign reveal that easily identifiable SSL certificates have a direct impact on increased internet sales.  The research found that fewer shopping carts are abandoned when consumers feel more comfortable with certificates that appear to be in good standings.

The internet is all about anonymity and if you can’t prove who you say you are, it will be hard to establish trust with your visitors.  With SSL encryption you can ensure integrity and the security of your online transactions.  As scams and other exploits are a common thing, SSL has become a tool you simply can’t do without.

Related posts:

• September 1, 2011 – Premium Web Hosting and Security Features Available in the Public Domain
• February 25, 2011 – The Benefits of Using Multiple Domain Hosting for E-Commerce
• December 3, 2008 – Keeping Your Profits Intact
• July 29, 2011 – Is SSL Essential for eCommerce Sites?
• June 24, 2011 – Preventing e-Commerce Shopping Cart Abandonment
• March 3, 2011 – Three Ways Web Hosting Providers Secure E-Commerce Transactions
• January 16, 2011 – Web Hosting in Today’s World
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