Choosing an eCommerce web hosting plan can be a very difficult process, especially when one considers all of the aspects that need to be taken into consideration before an informed decision can be made. Perhaps even more difficult than selecting an eCommerce hosting plan, is actually going through the process of becoming acquainted with the hosting account once you have purchased it.

With so many modules and options, it can be difficult to keep your mind on the important issues, such as business expansion and security. The latter of the aforementioned terms (security), may be the single most important factor in creating any business website.

What is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate is essentially a certificate that is placed on your website that lets your visitors know that your site is in compliance with SSL protocol. SSL is a secure method of file transfer that ensures that any information sent to and from a website is encrypted and completely protected from third-party interception. Even more important than the actual security of a website, is the trust and confidence that visitors place in the security of that website. You can have the most secure website in the world, however if you’re visitors are not aware of the security measures you employ, then they are likely to assume your site is insecure.

Do I Absolutely Need an SSL Certificate?

A website without an SSL certificate will undoubtedly be seen in this light by many of its more knowledgeable visitors, and therefore will ultimately suffer in terms of sales volume. To prevent  this from happening, you’ll need to make sure you not only have all of the proper security measures in place, but that you also make this information readily available in your site’s privacy policy and on all checkout pages. If you’re running a site that does not directly process payments or other critical data that contains financial or personal information, then you will not necessarily need an SSL certificate. However, if you are operating an eCommerce sites that sells items and process payments, then an SSL certificate is absolutely crucial to the success and sustenance of your online business.

Obtaining an SSL Certificate

There are several methods that can be used to obtain an SSL certificate. In some cases, your web hosting provider will offer the SSL certificate as an included feature with a  hosting plan. In fact, many web hosting companies do offer SSL certificates along with their standard eCommerce plans. If you are planning on operating several eCommerce websites, then you’ll need to make sure you have an IP address for each of these sites. This is important to note, as many web hosting companies do not allow you to have multiple IP addresses per hosting account. In most cases you’ll need to buy a separate hosting account for each eCommerce site. Although this may be slightly time consuming, it will help you offer a secure website for your visitors.

Dedicated web hosting ha become the standard for many small and medium-sized online businesses, due to its enhanced performance, functionality, reliability, security and support. While dedicated hosting plans are generally better than shared web hosting plans, not all dedicated hosting plans are the same. Each web hosting company offers different solutions for different customer needs, and each web hosting plan should be examined thoroughly before you decide to go forth with a plan subscription. Knowing the features of each web hosting plan provided by each company will ultimately help you make a more informed decision.

Inmotion Web Hosting

Perhaps one of the most renowned dedicated web hosting providers is Inmotion. Inmotion offers a variety of plans to accommodate all of their customers needs by providing dedicated IP addresses, friendly customer service, and easily expandable web hosting packages.

InMotion Support

Having a good support staff on call at all times is extremely important in the web hosting industry, as problems can occur at all ties of the day and night. Inmotion takes this into consideration by offering 24/7 support, 365 days out of the year. The Inmotion support staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and the company has an incredible track record of 99% uptime. That is very impressive, as it means your site stands a very small chance of experiencing downtime at any point. The support staff at Inmotion will go beyond what is asked of them, even helping you set up your websites firewall, add new PHP modules, and aiding in the completion of other extracurricular server configurations.

Inmotion Servers

Inmotion uses nothing but Dell servers, which are known for being reliable servers. Instead of offering low-end servers like many web hosting companies, Inmotion is known for giving its customers access to premium technology and hardware. It is this commitment to quality that has made Inmotion one of the most recognized web hosting companies in the industry.

Inmotion Security

The bandwidth and diskspace offered by Inmotion is virtually unlimited as their network is one of the most reliable in the industry. Each user receives there own dedicated IP address which lets them conduct online business with absolute assurance that their site is safe from the actions of other  irresponsible websites. By owning their own dedicated IP address, users can rest assured that the responsibility of  running a professional and trustworthy website is left in no ones hands but their own.

Inmotion Guarantee

Aside from the above features, Inmotion also offers a money back guarantee on all of their web  hosting products, which gives you a good idea on how much they believe in their ability to please and support their customers with quality services. Any web hosting company that does not offer such a guarantee is most likely not confident in their ability to offer the same level of service. By knowing that you are opting into a risk free endeavor with no obligations, you can be assured that your money is being used to fund a quality service that will provide your website with the resources needed.

Having a capable Content management system is one of the most important parts of maintaining and operating a website successfully. A good CMS will facilitate and expedite the process of uploading, organizing and editing content on your website within a centralized- user-friendly interface. Having a tool like this at your disposal will boost the overall productivity of your business, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the business, such as marketing and advertising.

It should be noted however that not all content management systems are the same. Each CMS has a list of features that differs slightly, and the user interface of each CMS also varies greatly. In this review we’ve outlined the key features of a commonly overlooked, yet very useful CMS – Cushy CMS.

Implementing Cushy CMS

Using Cushy CMS with your website is a simple process that can be set up in a matter of minutes. You also don’t have to worry about the risk of using a software that you may not enjoy, as the software can be tried for free with full functionality. This means you can use the software on as many websites as you’d like, and as many computers as well. Cushy CMS is an unlimited free CMS solution that is easy to use, and can be installed by even the most novice user.

Ease of Use

Aside from being free, one of the best aspects of the Cushy CMS is it’s user-friendly visually appealing content creation/organization module. In fact, the process is so simple, it is explained in less than three minutes on the official Cushy CMS website. Users can add content, optimize pages and create search engine friendly websites with a few clicks and some simple editing. The learning curve for the Cushy CMS is almost non-existent, as even the most novice user can add photos and text to their web pages with very little effort.

Branding Cushy CMS as Your Own

Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of this CMS i that it can be redistributed as your own CMS solution, for whatever price you’d like. The only catch is you’ll need to purchase the Pro Plan for $28 a month to re-brand the software and resell it. Aside from having reselling rights, you’ll also have access to any future upgrades of the software as well. The Pro Plan also offers a plethora of features that make re-branding and customizing the software simple and fun. For example, you can change the color of the user interface, and you can even use whatever domain name you’d like to sell the CMS. With the Pro Plan users also have access to RSS feeds that let you easily track page changes and other site updates. The pro plan also includes direct email support, and compatibility with 12 different languages.

Conclusion

Overall, Cushy CMS is a very capable content management solution for both the novice and experienced user. Any web designer looking to create their own CMS for their clients should definitely consider Cushy CMS because of it’s reselling capabilities.

The domain market is a massive and thriving industry, filled with eager buyers looking to capitalize and procure a valuable domain name while they are still available. Just as there is a sea of buyers looking for good domain names, there is an entire ocean of domain sellers, and some of them make their living off of selling domain names. The art of buying a domain name specifically to sell it is called domain speculation. There are entire companies that specialize in domain speculation. Some sites even go for hundreds of thousands of dollar, based on the name alone, with no active site included! Considering it only costs about ten dollars per year to register a domain name, domain speculation may be the best investment you could make.

The following tips will help you be successful in the domain speculation industry.

Do Not CyberSquat

Not to be confused with domain speculation, cybersquatting is an illegal practice that often results in lawsuits. Cybersquatting is the act of registering a domain that has been trademarked by another company, in the effort of extorting funds from the owner of the trademark for the domain. However, many times cybersquatters will focus on a domain name that has not yet been trademarked, but instead is a likely target of a particular company. For example, if your company name is RandomDomainCo INC., and your website name is RandomDomain.com. The cybersquatter may buy domains like TheRandomDomain.com, or even misspelled variations like RadnomDomain.com. If you want to start a successful domain speculation business, you should steer clear of dirty tactics like this.

Don’t Be Greedy

Being greedy is a sure way to fail in any business, especially in the domain speculation business. If you’re aiming to make thousands of dollars off of each domain, you’re probably going to be let down. The goal is to make money fast by selling as many domain names as possible. This means you’ll need to focus on realistic goals, rather than high value short .com domain names that are nearly unattainable.  You may even have the bankroll to buy a very valuable domain name in hopes of selling it, but before you jump to a conclusion, you’ll want to make sure you’re not overpaying, as you may never see a return on your investment.

Domain Swooping

Perhaps the best way to procure valuable domains is to snatch them as soon as they expire. There are currently more than thirty million domain names that have been purchased and are now expired. Some of these domain names are excellent, and some of then once housed profitable domains that may even still have live backlinks online! The most valuable expired domains are the ones that have just recently expired, as the marketing efforts of the previous owner may bring instant traffic if the website is resurrected in time. If you can manage to find a domain that has recently expired, has plenty of backlinks, and is still receiving plenty of traffic, you may be able to capitalize on it and sell it for a lot of money instantly. As I mentioned above it is not wise to depend on situations like this, but it is optimal to keep your eye open for such instances.

The single most important feature a web hosting plan can have is a good encryption service. Without proper data encryption, all of the information sent to and from your website can be intercepted by hackers and other cyber criminals. If you run an online business, this can prove to be especially dangerous, as there is important information being transferred on your web server daily, including credit card numbers, bank account numbers, addresses, phone numbers and other information that your customers entrust to you. If this information is intercepted you may be held liable, and ultimately your business could be dismantled.

What is Encryption?

Encryption is the transformation of plain information into encrypted information which cannot be viewed by an outsider without a special key that unlocks the encryption. When data transfers through an encryption service it is scrambled in a seemingly arbitrary fashion. By the time it reaches the other side of the portal, the data is completely unrecognizable and cannot be used by any third party without the key that is custom generated during the encryption process. The encryption services uses a computer algorithm to create a random cipher which prevents hackers from accessing the encrypted information. Many people also use the term decryption to refer to the process of deciphering the information for the end users usability. Over the years the standards for encryption has changed notably.

WEP

WEP – (Wired Equivalent Privacy)  is an algorithm that has been deprecated to effectively secure all IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Since wireless networks broadcast their messages utilizing radio waves, they are susceptible to intruders, even more than conventional networks with wires attached.  When it was first released, WEP  proposed to provide  completely confidentiality similar to that of a conventional wired network. However, in 200 various crucial weaknesses were noticed by professional   cryptanalysts, and it is now a widely accepted fact that a  WEP connection can be hacked easily obtainable software in a very short time period.

WPA

In response to the aforementioned weaknesses of WEP, WPA was created.

WPA/WPA2 – (Wi-Fi Protected Access)  is a program that provides certification, developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to represent complete compliance with all security protocol instilled by the Wi-Fi Alliance. These protocols are specifically designed to maintain safety in all wireless networks. The WPA protocol enables safe functionality of IEEE 802.11i standard, but was initially meant to an intermediate security measure to temporarily substitute WEP while 802.11i was being prepared. The later developed WPA2 established an advanced protocol that is now seen as the full standard in data encryption.

Conclusion

Having the proper encryption services to protect your online website is absolutely imperative, especially when running an online business. Knowing the nature for encryption services and what the industry standard is will help you make the right decision without having to experience costly trial and error mishaps. Using only thee best encryption services will keep your business from suffering, and will prevent you and your customers from being victimized.

Many webmasters have resorted to using hosting multiple domains to increase their business’s outreach. While using multiple domains to diversify your traffic stream may seem to be an appealing option, the same outcome can be reached using a single domain. How you may ask? Well, with each domain you have the option of creating sub-domains. In this article we will discuss how sub-domains can accomplish the same results as multiple domain hosting, with no additional monetary investment.

Sub-Domains

A sub-domain is a secondary domain to your main domain. An example of a sub-domain would be subdomain.domains.com.In this example, “domains.com” is the primary domain, and “subdomains.domain.com” is the sub-domain. You’ve probably noticed that many websites have a support sub-domain setup for customer support purposes. The reason why sub-domains offer the same advantages as multiple domain hosting, is because the search engines view these sub-domains as separate websites. Sub-domains can have their own separate search engine ranking, thereby allowing you to capitalize on a wider range of keywords for your niche, much in the same way multiple domain hosting would.

Dominating Your Niche with Sub-Domains

Sub-domains give webmasters the ability to create multiple websites within a single domain. Each sub-domain is then centered around a particular keyword, thereby improving the search engine ranking of that particular sub-domain, and ultimately your entire website. Remember that sub-domains are seen as independent websites by search engines, which means that any links that point to your main website from your sub-domain are seen as backlinks! Backlinks are links that point to your website’s URL from other websites. Using sub-domains to create backlinks for your main website is a good way to create what is known as a “link farm”. The SEO benefits reaped from using sub-domains is almost unlimited, as you can have as many sub-domains as you’d like, each one focusing on a particular keyword. For example, if your niche is “electronic pets”, then you could create several sub-domains called “ElectronicDogs.ElectronicPets.com”, or “ElectronicHamsters.ElectronicPets.com”. Now whenever an individual searches for “electronic hamsters”, your site stands a good chance of receiving a high page rank!

Using Sub-Domains Correctly

Using sub-domains to boost your site’s search engine ranking can be a very simple task, as long as you use a bit of common sense when doing so. The key to using sub-domains correctly is to make sure each sub-domain is very relative to the main domain. Meaning you want to make sure your sub-domain is relevant to the niche of your main website. Creating a sub-domain centered around electronics attached to a main domain that concerns dog grooming would obviously not be beneficial.  Setting up sub-domains only takes a minute or so for each one, and most web hosting services allow you to set up sud-domains at no additional cost. For this reason, you should not be afraid to experiment with sub-domains to see what works best for your particular situation. Try gathering 20 relevant keywords t your niche and then set up a sub-domain for each individual keyword. The setup links to your main website on each sub-domain and place relevant keyword rich content on each sub-domain. Wait one week and check your search engine results. The key to enhancing your search engine optimization abilities is to practice with trial and error.

Often times when we think of ecommerce, we think of all the complexities that could be involved. Shopping carts, merchant accounts, payment gateways, integration between systems, auto-responders and virtual terminals are just a few of the aspects of ecommerce that could give you a migraine. The ecommerce maze is certainly confusing enough to cause some extremely busy entrepreneurs to shy away from internet sales altogether.

Years ago, there were very few options for selling your wares via the internet. You had to have good credit to get a merchant account. The merchant account funds were funneled through a business checking account and there were hefty fees associated with each account. Some banks even imposed charges for every transaction on a business checking account! There were also merchant fees that were duplicated with the necessity to have a payment gateway and a payment processor to make your system work. Even with zero sales for the month, you could easily spend nearly two hundred dollars per month for the gate way fee, the statement fee, the recurring billing fee, the web hosting fee plus a shopping cart fee. On top of the fixed fees, you still had to pay a percentage of each sale. Fortunately, in recent years, things have become a whole lot simpler (and cheaper).

If you are looking to accept payments as an individual, a small business, community group or association, you may want to start out by investigating one of the “easy ecommerce” options that are available today. With just a standard checking account and a third-party payment service you could easily take payments via email. You could write a short, informative email and then place a link within your email to allow people to make a payment for your product or service. You might even allow people to donate to your cause or your organization. For a more professional and customer-friendly option, a website, blog or social media page is the way to go. It allows you to provide more information about the items you are accepting payment for. With a website, blog or social media page, you can get as creative or fancy as you like. You could include an informative article, audio or video for visitors to digest before a purchase is made.

By now, you might be thinking, “This is easy. I can do this!” You’re right! Here is a quick overview to show you just how simple it is to do things the “easy ecommerce” way:

1. Determine what you intend to sell and what you will charge for it. Do online research for your market if you are uncertain about the going rate.
2. Write a brief description of 200 words or less for your product or service. Be sure to note the features and benefits of what you have to offer.
3. Using a simple template, create a website page, blog or social media page to house the payment link for your product or service. Remember to also create a “thank you” page for the customer to be taken to after their purchase is complete. If you are selling digital goods, place the download link or other special instructions here.
4. Open a third-party payment processor account. There are many to choose from. Be sure to choose one with the features that are important to you.
5. Add your product or service details to your payment processor account. An email link and/or the html embed code will be created during this stage.
6. Test the link or web code to make sure it looks like you want it to and works just the way it should.
7. Now you’re ready to take that information and add to your website or send out to your list via email.
8. Monitor your sales and fine tune your customer service process. Most of all, enjoy making money the “easy ecommerce” way.

There are still many companies who use the traditional ecommerce/merchant account system. It definitely has its place in the market. However, it’s nice to know that there are lots of options for people who are not quite ready for the traditional route.

Drupal is one of the most popular CMS solutions on the market, along with Joomla and WordPress. All CMS give you the ability to choose templates for your website, and most of them have the same features in terms of design function, however Drupal seems to simplify the process of using themes with your website, even more than the average CMS.

The beauty of Drupal is that the design of your entire site can be controlled within one central database. Although the process is fairly simple, to fully take advantage of Drupal’s design features, there are a few things you should know.

Choosing Your Theme

Obviously the first thing you’ll want to do is select several themes that would fit your website. You can find themes in many places on the internet, such as third party websites. Simply do a web search for website design templates and themes, and you will find a huge selection to choose from.  While selecting the themes it is important to note whether or not the theme is supported by the version of Drupal you’re using. If you’re having trouble finding a theme that suits your needs, then you may want to hire a web designer to assist you in creating a custom made template.

You can find web designers that are willing to work for a relatively low price on many of the freelancing sites and forums online. Make sure you only work with reputable freelancers, as this presents the least amount of risk possible. You’ll also want to hire someone that is familiar with Drupal’s compatibility, and you’ll need to make sure they are wiling to make revisions if you are not satisfied with the template. Designing a website has to be a collaborative process that involves team work and trial and error. Make sure you theme matches the goals of your website as well. For example, you wouldn’t a soccer theme on a site about American football.  Once you’ve selected your theme, it is time to install it.

Installing Your Theme

Now that you have the theme of your dreams, it’s time to get it up and running on the world wide web. The first thing you’ll need to do is go through any README files or other support documentation that was included with your theme, as they may contain important information regarding the correct installation of your theme.  Once you’ve become familiar with the installation process, you can upload the them to the correct location. Usually this location will be: /sites/all/themes/yourThemeName. (Note that your user name and hard drive precedes the previous file path.)

Now you’ll need to log into your site as an administrator to finish the process. You can access your site’s administrative interface by typing: “thenameofyoursite.com/admin”: in the URL address bar in your browser. Once you’re in the in the administrative interface, locate the Site Building area, and the click on Themes. You should see the theme you uploaded on the list. To set the theme as your default theme, simply check the appropriate boxes. You can make this theme your default theme by checking the radio box. Once you’ve finished clock on Save Configuration to finalize the process.

It seems as if the entire world has shifted their focus towards Google and has forgotten about the once ever-so popular Yahoo. Although Google has taken over the search engine industry, there are still a huge group of internet users that use Yahoo loyally, and excluding them form your marketing campaign can be extremely negative towards the growth of your online business. Even if 90% of your traffic is coming from Google, are you willing to throw away the other ten percent due to an oversight in your marketing venue?

You may be under the impression that all search engines follow the same rules when ranking websites but this is simply not true. Yahoo’s search engine standards vary slightly from that of Google’s so it is important to consider the difference when designing your website. The best approach is to build a website that appeases all of the major search engines, including Yahoo. The following information will give you an idea of what Yahoo is looking for.

Link Organization

When it comes to indexing of your website, Yahoo’s crawlers pay extra attention toward the internal structure of the site. Google focuses more on external links such as backlinks, which also matter  for Yahoo optimization, but not as much. In fact, it is possible to have  high ranking site in yahoo with hardly any backlinks! However if your site has  a disorganized internal link structure, then you are going to have a very hard time making it to the top page of Yahoo’s search results. This means you’ll need to devise a site map and submit it to Yahoo for maximum success.

Anchor Text

Instead of simply posting URLs, it is best to use anchor text containing keywords. Anchor texts that contain keywords will enhance your Yahoo SEO efforts by double. Make sure the keyword used in the anchor text is relevant to the page you are linking to.

Keyword Optimization with Title Tags

Of course this trick works with all search engines, but it is extremely important in Yahoo. By putting primary keywords in the main title tags of your web pages, you’ll find that many of your pages gain a very high page rank quickly. Yahoo pays very close attention towards tags of all sorts including meta tags.

Search Engine Optimized URLs

Make sure all of your site’s URLs contain relevant keyword. If you are using a good content management system then this step will be done automatically. A good way to optimize URLs to be search engine friendly is to place dashes between words on key phrases. For example, instead of using the URL “ example.com/lookatthislink” you could use the URL “example.com/look-at-this-link.” Using this simple trick will boost your search engine ranking in Yahoo greatly.

Quality Content

Yahoo places a high priority on the quality of the content. This means that stuffing your content with keywords and writing about anything will not work, in fact it will be very detrimental towards the ranking of your web page. To be successful ion Yahoo you’ll need to use quality content with the correct keyword density and placement.

Most of the security risks on the internet today are the result of faulty programming and exploitable code. Many developers do not place security high on their list of priorities, as they’re often rushed for deadlines that they must meet in order to finish a paid project. Sadly, most of the security flaws within their programs are not discovered until the flaw has been exploited and the program is the cause of a compromised site or network. Of all the programming types, PHP is the most common, and is said to be the most useful. PHP is also easier to use than any other programming tool, and as the popularity of PHP programming increases, more new programmers are becoming interested in using PHP. This  influx of inexperienced programmers designing web applications has resulted in an internet full of unsafe websites.

Web Applications and Security

Web applications enhance the functionality and productivity of websites in a variety of ways, and have therefore become very popular amongst website owners. Unfortunately, website owners don’t realize how much of a risk they’re taking by installing and using these applications. Web applications are installed directly into your control panel, which makes them part of a your administrative interface. If a hacker can gain access to your user interface, they can basically do whatever they’d like with your website, including deface it with questionable or inappropriate content. In fact, some web applications are designed by hackers specifically for this purpose. Before you install a web application you should make sure it is from a reliable source, and only install applications that are absolutely necessary towards the progress of your site. If possible, try to work with professional developers to have your own web applications made.

BruteForce

Another way hackers can gain access to your administrative interface is by sending requests to your website’s server repeatedly in order to receive certain information. Many times this information will be something as simple as a password or nickname. They use the information returned to see if they’re guessing the right password without having to wait for a long time. This method is incorporated into hacking programs called Bruteforce programs. These programs repeatedly input information into your sites login fields, in order to guess a correct username and password.

Since the process is done remotely, the hacker will need to know when they have successfully logged in to the account in order for the program to stop sending information. If they fail to realize they are logged in, then the program will continue sending login information which will reverse their success. Hackers avoid this pitfall by getting your site to send them a line of code when they have successfully penetrated the user area of the site. To prevent this from happening you’ll need to change a few settings in your administrative interface to restrict HTTP requests from unknown sources. You can also limit the amount of requests per a certain time frame, to stop the Bruteforce program from receiving information from your website repeatedly.