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Will Your Hosting Service Protect You And Your Customers?

Published Thursday, August 28, 2008 by bloggerblognet4542 | E-mail this post

In the past few years, businesses have moved more and more of their resources online and joined the ecommerce revolution that is making drastic changes to old traditions. Those businesses who want to either retain and, more likely, grow their market share have been forced to embrace new concepts, odd vocabulary and strange processes.

Even selecting a hosting service, so simple for normal website developers, can be a confusing process to newcomers in the ecommerce arena.

By operating both online and in their normal "on the street storefront" method, they have been able to increase productivity and streamline customer transactions. But unexpected stumbling blocks await them, and you, as you wade through the flood of new concepts and processes.

Your most critical concern has to be customer security.

Most businesses that move to the Internet are still operating at a basic level of commerce and, initially, are unfamiliar with online customer security requirements.

If customers using your site and buying your products become victims of identity theft as a result of those purchases, your online business just tanked. The biggest horror stories on the Internet concern identity theft and credit card fraud.

I bet you even know someone it happened to...maybe you were a victim at one time. Customers to online stores are getting more and more wary about shopping online with their credit cards and with very good reason.

The solution to this problem is to have an SSL certificate protecting your storefront, which gives customers a reason to feel safe when making a purchase. SSL stands for "Secure Sockets Layer" and ensures customer safety by providing encrypted communication between your client's web browser and your hosting server. The encryption key is almost impossible to break, so a good level of protection exists for your customers.

A variety of sites offer SSL certificates (Verisign, GeoTrust, Thawte, etc.) and various levels of protection. Many website hosting services provide an SSL certificate for their customers at discount rates, including the technical help for installation. When you're comparing web hosting services, ask about their customer protection policies.

If your hosting service has a good control panel system, installation of your
SSL certificate should be easily accomplished by following their steps. Once
the certificate is installed, the encryption process is called into service whenever a customer accesses a site using the secure protocol..."HTTPS" rather than "HTTP."

The conclusion you need to keep in mind here, as you journey into online ecommerce and put your business in the hands of a hosting service, is that customer safety is your prime goal. Choose wisely.

Dan Thompson is a veteran website designer and has used numerous web hosts in his time. Dan specializes in writing web host reviews, his latest article is a 1and1 Review. You can view Dan's latest web hosting review at http://www.1and1review.info

Blogger BlogNet33934

Will Your Hosting Service Protect You And Your Customers?

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Blogger BlogNet33934: Will Your Hosting Service Protect You And Your Customers?

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