5 Ways to Operate a Secure Website

When it comes to doing business on the web nothing beats great security for making clients and customers visit, spend time and subsequently money. If they know that you are taking precautions to ensure they are not going to lose their secure data then they will have trust of your websites and your ability to do business.

Step 1.   Make sure your client data is secure by using SSL encryption. Many hosting companies offer this              as an "add-on" service which is well worth the investment. Most people only use it if they are making sales for merchandise but anytime you are dealing with clients fill out forms it's best to               make sure you are using a secured site. Identity thieves lurk around every corner and you won't        just be protecting your clients you will be protecting your company's reputation. After all bad                 news spreads twice as fast as good news and who wants to be associated with a site that has been hacked or that has lost people's sensitive information?

Step 2.   Do regular backups. This will make sure that your website content is secure and that you can      easily perform site recovery should there be a problem with a server.

Step 3.   Check for unusual "spikes" in your bandwidth. If you notice an inexplicable jump then you've    been hacked. Contact your service provider and take steps to have them block your current site   and reload your "backed up" site onto your URL.

Step 4.   Hire a security professional to monitor your sites. It's better to spend money "proactively"          securing your clients and company data then to spend it "reactively" after a law suit brought         about by losing your clients' secure data.

Step 5.   Limit administrative privileges. The less hands in the "cookie" jar the better. Only allow                 administrative privileges to people who are in charge of handling the IT for specific areas on a          website. It may seem silly to have them calling you every 5 minutes for changes to their site or               to order something but it's better than having them download something carrying a virus, worm                or Trojan onto your mainframe and destroying your site or retrieving clients' data for external use.

Taking these simple steps will get you happy and relieved customers and clients. After all can you imagine going to your banking website and not seeing that it's secured? Would you really want your money in that kind of establishment? Probably not.

Well think of your company's website like a bank. Make it secure, show your customers and clients it is and you'll have happier and returning clients.

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI & 65 Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers