Why a CMS is Essential for Doing Online Business in the 21st Century

Whatever your market niche, a content management system, more commonly referred to as a CMS, is an essential tool for your online business.  While there are seemingly infinite choices when it comes to selecting a CMS, each offers the ability to simplify the task of managing the daily operations surrounding your website.  The top five industry and user favorite CMS systems include: eZPublish, Joomla!, Drupal, WordPress.org and Movable Type. Understanding CMS Software The overall concept of a CMS is to provide for a system which separates design from content, yet function cohesively to publish both creations together.  A reputable CMS should bring four core functions to your online venture: Content creation, content management, publishing and presentation.  Within each of these four categories is the ability for storage, organization, creation, publication and development.  Although typically used for blogs, a CMS proves to be just as useful for developing and maintaining websites, e-commerce, as well as marketing a product or service.  Most CMSs are an Open Source software system that’s based on PHP and requires a MySQL database. Many online business owners opt for a CMS because of the ease and convenience it offers when developing or updating a website or blog.  In fact, users aren’t necessarily required to be proficient, or even understand, HTML coding or other advanced programming languages.  CMS content may be viewed as online news and entertainment articles, instruction manuals, how-to guides, and informative brochures in a wide array of formats including web content, e-documents, as well as data, media, audio and video files. Benefits of a CMS Besides making the task of managing a website much less complicated, a CMS also offer other valuable benefits.  One such perk is offering built-in applications such as blogs, contact management, databases, forums, calendars, mail forms, newsletters, search engine, product management and a site map for easier navigation. Security is another benefit of utilizing a CMS.  The basic security features include: login history, content approval, e-mail verification, SSL compatibility and session management just to name a few.  Commerce capabilities are another huge CMS advantage.  Those seeking an e-commerce venture appreciate features such as affiliate tracking, shopping carts, wish lists, inventory management and pluggable sales’ transaction data information.  Finally, support is yet another benefit of using a CMS.  The power players in the CMS industry understand with the fluidity of code being updated, users must have quick access to dependable support options. As a user, you can expect to find readily available online manuals, commercial support and training, online assistance, professional hosting, and the developer community.

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Why a CMS is Essential for Doing Online Business in the 21st Century

Steps for Marketing an Ecommerce Business on Facebook

Facebook today is what Google AdSense was a few years ago; an excellent method of reaching millions of consumers to purchase your online products and services. Social networks update instantly, therefore, sales, promotions and other information can be communicated to fans immediately. Although this article focuses only on steps for Facebook, it is important to utilize all channels for internet marketing including AdSense and Twitter. There are 10 steps to marketing an Ecommerce business on Facebook: Create a Facebook page Create an alias Create content Communicate with fans Add a shopping cart Advertise Send emails and updates Acquire a Facebook badge Add a “Like” button Add a “Recommendations” box The first step is to create a Facebook page for your business. This means you will establish a digital post within the network. Creating a page is simple as many tutorials on the subject exist. When creating the page, make sure to distinguish yourself from competitors and appeal to potential Fans. One simple method is to create a “Welcome” tab which is similar to a homepage button on a website.

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Steps for Marketing an Ecommerce Business on Facebook

Warning: Using Amazon.com to Dupe Sellers

Season shopping generates tremendous additional traffic to ecommerce stores. As a result, many cyber criminals see this as an opportunity to scam the unsuspecting public. Online shopping is simple, fast and convenient. Sites like Amazon.com are popular places to complete your holiday shopping list. To capitalize, some hackers have created customized, fake receipts for their users. The users take these receipts and bring them to Amazon stating they never received their product, thus asking for refunds. If sellers are not quick to check the fake transaction, they could ship the items out to these cyber criminals without them every paying for the merchandise.

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Warning: Using Amazon.com to Dupe Sellers

‘Tis the Season to Prevent Online Fraud

Whether you’re a small business with an online presence, or a multi-million e-commerce enterprise, online fraud doesn’t discriminate.  Even as individual protecting personal investments, with the holiday upon us, it’s imperative to remain vigilant to prevent online shopping fraud.  Regardless of your angle, as a website owner you should lead by example, and provide visitors with adequate information to protect them from becoming a statistic of online fraud. The Survey Says… A web host industry report recently out from Webroot, a leading Internet security service firm, offers troubling results for most web host security analysts.  According to the recently conducted survey of over 2,660 participants, over 50% plan to do at least half of their holiday shopping online.  The number of online holiday shoppers increased from 38% in a similar survey conducted last year.  Perhaps online merchants are capitalizing on the convenience of customers being able to shop from home or taking five on a quick lunch break, combined with the alluring Black Friday online only specials. High Ranked vs. Trusted Websites An interesting find in the Webroot survey indicates that 59% of the participants would rather trust the top listings generated from an online search engine rather than typing in an established company’s website, compared to 38% in 2009.  This is troublesome for website owners because if their respected search ranking isn’t listed within the first couple of pages of displayed results, potential customers will never even land on a trusted site.  Furthermore, fraudulent sites have taken advantage of some online shoppers’ naivety to become a high ranked website, yet be a scam in every other sense of the word. Weak Wi-Fi Hot Spots With the increased number of online holiday shoppers, comes the increased potential for online fraud.  Often busy individuals take a break from a hectic schedule to “browser shop” using a personal laptop hitting a local Wi-Fi connection; however, often these enthralled shoppers don’t realize they are connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi hot spot. A caveat: submitting any credit card or other financial information is a very risky transaction unless via a secure connection.

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‘Tis the Season to Prevent Online Fraud

How to Research a Reliable Reseller Host

When searching for a reliable reseller host your best tools are to utilize the vast resources of the internet or even by personal experience. By conducting solid research you will be able to arrive at the best decision to fit your business model and hosting needs. Visiting forums, message boards, review sites and engaging in conversation with those that have previous utilized your host are great places to start. There are three primary suggestions on how to research a reliable host including: Visit industry websites Contact experts on the subject Utilize Twitter By visiting websites and forums specific to the reseller hosting industry you can gain excellent insight into the various aspects of different companies. Also, there are several specialty sites that post industry news and company reviews. Forums are one of the most popular mediums as they allow customers to appraise hosting companies and share experiences with each other. By contacting experts on the subject of reseller hosting you have access to someone that is much more knowledgeable than yourself.

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How to Research a Reliable Reseller Host

The Overlooked Connection Between Computer Viruses and Site Security

Most site owners are very paranoid about the possibility of their site being stolen or hacked, and are therefore insistent on using a web host that utilizes top notch encryption technology and other security measures. For  a web host, a single lapse in security can result in the loss of entire networks for days at a time, so the level of security upheld is very high. In fact, there are governmental organization that regulate the security measures used by web hosts and mandate certain levels of security be maintained at all times. All of this makes the web hosting industry pretty safe in regards to fending off hackers. However, most people don’t realize that the security of their own computers hard drive plays an incredibly important role in the security of their web sites and hosting account. The following information discusses the connection between computer and web site security, while also providing tips on how to ensure the safety of both your computer and your hosting account. How Hackers Get Passwords Contrary to popular misconception, hackers do not spend their time trying to compromise the integrity of massive web hosting networks in order to take control of entire servers,. Instead, they use thousands of individuals ‘drone’ computers to complete tasks like this for them

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The Overlooked Connection Between Computer Viruses and Site Security

Shared Hosting vs. VPS

Depending on your need, there are many different types of web hosting plans available for various business and personal requirements, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The least expensive option is always the most popular; however, shared hosting may not be suitable for all businesses especially high traffic websites. Therefore, most large websites employ a dedicated server. Between shared and dedicated hosting is virtual private server (VPS) which is significantly less expensive than a dedicated server and provides many more options for growing online businesses than shared hosting. Within a VPS, each web hosting account is assigned their own operating system so users can individually configure one account without disrupting the others. Over time, a VPS can significantly reduce costs of ownership. There are five primary advantages to using a VPS account over a shared host including: Unlimited websites Customizability Security Performance Scalability The first benefit is the ability to manage an unlimited number of websites

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Shared Hosting vs. VPS

The Relationship Between eCommerce Web Hosting and Internet Security

Every day, tens of thousands of online transactions take place that cumulatively amount to millions of dollars in eCommerce. In fact, many economical experts believe that the rise in eCommerce is partially responsible for the sustenance of certain economies in the recent recession. As global communication is being facilitated by use of the internet on an ever-increasing basis, online business transactions and digital databases are becoming the backbone of every industry, from banking to wholesale trade. Most people don’t realize that the majority of retail and wholesale transactions that occur on the internet are mediated by payment processing services that are mediated by eCommerce hosting plans. Thus, eCommerce hosting plays an important role in the overall security of the internet. The following information outlines the connection between eCommerce web hosting and the security of the internet. Payment Processing When you make a purchase online, you’re actually giving your card number or payment details to a secure payment processor that deposits the funds into the merchants account on your behalf.

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The Relationship Between eCommerce Web Hosting and Internet Security