SSL and Shared Hosting

An SSL certificate allows you to use SSL protection on your eCommerce site. Once you have SSL protection enabled on your site you can place a seal on your checkout page that let’s your customers know that you are utilizing SSL protocol. Many customers simply will not buy a product or service from you online without knowing that your site is protected via SSL. SSL is a file transfer protocol, and in order to use this secure file transfer protocol you absolutely need an SSL certificate. The problem with shared hosting is that you cannot have several SSL certificates with most shared hosting plans. This means you cannot have more than one secure eCommerce site on your shared hosting plan, even though the plan may advertise “unlimited domains”. In order to secure each online shop you would need a new hosting account for each site, which could become more costly than simply purchasing a dedicated or VPS hosting plan.

Shared Hosting and Dedicated IP Addresses

Another potential downfall to a shared hosting plans in regards to eCommerce is the fact that you are sharing an IP block with other webmasters. This means you have to worry about the actions of websites that you are not affiliated with, as there are some cases when entire blocks of IP addresses can be disabled for spamming and other illegitimate activity. In some cases you may even share an exact IP address with other websites. Even though your sites are not related to these sites in any way, there is a distinct possibility that your search engine ranking could be affected by the action of these sites, since you share an online identity with them. In the world of eCommerce, a lower search engine ranking equates to lower sales and less profit.

Limited Server Resources

Another aspect of shared hosting that makes it generally unsuitable for a successful eCommerce site is the overall lack of server resources. Since you will be sharing a server with other users, your site will not have access to as much bandwidth, disk space and other resources that contribute to the functionality of your site. This means your site’s visitors may have to deal with slow page loading, and you may even have to deal with site downtime.

Encrypt All of Your Site’s Data

If your website frequently exchanges sensitive date such as credit card numbers or bank information, then you’ll want to make sure all of your website’s data is encrypted with SSL or TSL. Keeping your data encrypted ensures that in the event of a security breach, the intruder will not be able to use the encrypted information to their advantage.

Use Secure Web Applications and Forms

Although there are many useful web applications available, many of these tools represent the biggest security risks for companies.  This is because hackers use these applications to gain access to the back-end of your website. Therefore, you should be very cautious about which web applications you use in the administration of your website. Make sure all applications and forms used are designed with secure code.  You should also make sure your website’s users do not have the capability of sending SQL queries, as this is how most hackers execute inference attacks. Avoiding malicious code input from hackers is the first line of defense in preventing an inference attack. You should also avoid using dynamic queries. Dynamic queries allow hackers to send and receive SQL information over the internet in plain text, therefore these queries present a substantial security risk. Many experts recommend avoiding the use of dynamic queries altogether.

Execute Updates Regularly

Keeping your operating system and website updated is an important part in maintaining the security of your online business. Many people don’t realize that maintaining the security of their website is a full time job that needs to be tended to daily. For this reason most security companies update their software as soon as a vulnerability is recognized.  To avoid an inference attack, or any other attack, you should keep you website and operating system updated, and make sure you are ware of any new developments.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

SSL is an encryption protocol that keeps all of your website’s communications, both incoming and outgoing, secure from intruders. The incoming information ( credit card numbers, addresses, emails) is the most sensitive information and can be used by hackers to commit fraud with your customers’ information. For this reason SSL is one of the most important security features, and most online shoppers will not buy products or services form you if you do not have an SSL certificate posted on your website.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP is a network security protocol that facilitates file transfer on both internal and external networks.  FTP is an important security feature because it gives the webmaster the ability to manage site accessibility and send files securely.

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

SFTP is a stronger version of FTP, offering more of a guarantee than standard FTP by using a secure shell to transfer data over the internet and between networked computers. Serious business owners will want to make sure their web host offers this as part of their security package.

Firewall

Nearly every web host is protected by a firewall of some sort, however not all web hosts give the end-user access to the administrative functions of the firewall. If you are serious about the security of your website, then you will choose a host that grants customer access to the configuration of their site’s firewall.

Spam Filter

You may think spam is just a nuisance, however there are many hackers that use spam to plant nasty viruses on your computer. Among the bad things that can happen because of simple spam is phishing (password stealing), and even data loss caused by malicious software. Spam not only threatens the security of your website and the safety of your computer, it also consumes plenty of bandwidth and it clutters your inbox with unwanted messages. A spam filter will solve nearly all of the potential problems that are caused by spam.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

A DDoS attack is very well know yet common attack executed by a hacker with access to multiple compromised computers. This attack is particularly dangerous because it can comprise an entire network of computers in short period of time.  Every website on the server, including yours will be affected detrimentally. In fact it is more than likely that the end-users will be affected the most by this type of attack. It is vital that you make sure your web hosting service has protection measures in place to prevent this kind of attack.

How it all began

osCommerce got its start in March of 2000.  Created by Harald Ponce de Leon and originally called “The Exchange Project”, osCommerce quickly began to grow in both initial popularity and capabilities.  The software is created with PHP and uses MySQL for its database core.  It can be installed on any server that utilizes these two pieces of programming.  For the past nine years, the program has been in the development stage.  Officially, as of March 2009, osCommerce released its production ready alpha product.  This release, Merchant V 3.0, includes a template system, an object-oriented backend and the ability to define the administration user name and password upon installation.  To date, the osCommerce site claims over 12,000 online stores currently using their product.

The current problems

While it is a very good and all-encompassing shopping cart program, osCommerce is not without its issues.  Installation of the program by a novice may prove to be a daunting task as a basic knowledge of MySQL as well as other web server technologies should be at the ready.  The default SSL option is initially and automatically set to “no” which is practically an open door to nefarious entities trying to gather secure information on customers.  Adding new shopping cart products is no simple task either – there are several options and features that need to be dealt with before adding in a new product, quite possibly the quickest way to creating a lot of confusion.  When you do have the program installed and your cart up and running with all of its products, adding any additional modules or templating takes quite a bit of work and may end up breaking the core of the program.  Not to mention the creators of the software do explicitly state that additions to the core are not always endorsed.

One of the best ways to avoid a lot of this hassle is to either have a seasoned osCommerce professional install the program for you or, if your web host has this option, have it installed by your hosting company.

Conclusion

If you are in need of a shopping cart program that is capable of being search engine optimized, fully featured and very robust, osCommerce is a good choice.  However, it still needs quite a bit of work in as far as installation and add-on capabilities before it can be considered a simple ecommerce program of choice.  OsCommerce is ideal for the knowledgeable and seasoned web developer, not for the novice nor the faint of heart.

Space

The first thing to consider is how much web space your business will need.  Think about what you want to convey to the general surfing audience about your business.

If you plan on merely putting out an informational styled web site, you can figure about five pages in total – a home page, an about page, a news page, a contact page and possibly one miscellaneous page.  In this case, your space requirements will be minimal and you can choose a hosting company that offers around one to two megabytes minimum in web space storage.

However, if you will be needing a site that covers several aspects of your business, offers product information and purchasing options, will be disseminating a lot of information to the public, or will grow and expand over time, your best option is to choose a web hosting company that offers unlimited amounts of web space.

Bandwidth

The next thing to consider is how much bandwidth your business web site will need.  Bandwidth, or data transfer, is the amount of data that is transferred from your web site.  This encompasses page views, images, videos, documents and files.

If your biggest concern will be consumers visiting your web site to gather more information about your business, then you can easily work with a hosting company that imposes monthly transfer limits.  However, if you plan on allowing customers the ability to download files or documents or your business site will involve a lot of video embedding, check out the hosting companies that offer unlimited amounts of bandwidth.

E-commerce

If you plan on selling products, e-commerce is a big concern when determining which web host to choose.  Almost every hosting company on the web will offer some form of shopping cart and secured server access (SSL).  Be certain to choose one that includes this within the monthly price and that the e-commerce solution offered is simple to use.  Nothing can cause a headache quicker than when having to deal with the actual manual setup of shopping carts and connections to SSL.  Another item to watch for is hosting companies that allow you to choose from several different shopping carts.  Not every cart program is going to be suited to the type or amount of products your business offers.

Support

When looking at the hosting companies on the web, one important aspect of their services to keep in mind is their support.  Look for companies that have a “one-stop” type of support section.  This should be one easy to find link on their main page that leads you to a section that offers (at a minimum) contact options (e-mail and phone), FAQs, a knowledge base and some form of tutorials.  An even better setup would include a ticket support system, a live chat option and 24 hours a day, seven days a week support.  Even if you’re an old hand at web hosting, knowing you can access support easily and have an array of options to choose from will give you peace of mind.

Extras

Extras to check out would include the types and number of add-on programs available – bulletin boards, social media plug-ins, and blogging software to name a few.  If your web pages are going to be built with PHP, Perl or Ruby on Rails, be certain the hosting company you choose has their sites already equipped with the proper scripting language.  One very popular extra and beneficial to businesses on the web is advertising credits.  Many web hosting companies offer this within their packages.  Decide which places you would be most likely to need advertising (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and choose your hosting company accordingly.

Wrap up

While there are a few things to consider when looking for the perfect web hosting company, it doesn’t have to be a daunting task.  Simply write down your requirements as far as space, transfers, e-commerce, support and extras and you are quickly on your way to finding the hosting company that will fit your business needs beautifully.