6 Straightforward Steps To Protect Your E-Commerce Website

6 Straightforward Steps To Protect Your E-Commerce Website BY SUSAN MELONY . Available from <http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/6-straightforward-steps-to-protect-your-e-commerce-website/> 02/05/2017

Despite popular belief, the secret ingredient to getting the mount out of your e-commerce site isn’t necessarily about your product or site design. In short, it comes down to security. Although it’s crystal clear that we live in an era where today’s shoppers are more comfortable than ever with the concept buying online, the fact remains that spammers and scammers seem to be around every corner. Likewise, consider the common hesitations which plague today’s online shoppers such as…

The widespread epidemics of credit card and identity fraud.
Orders taking forever or not arriving in the condition promised on-site.
Dealing with returns and poor customer service from smaller e-commerce stores.

As a result of these fears and concerns, every e-commerce business owner should strive to build their stores on a safe and secure foundation that ensures a positive experience for their customers. But where do you start?

1. Never Neglect Your Network
You won’t get very far in the world of e-commerce if you aren’t operating on a secure network day-by-day. For starters, a network vulnerability scanner is a must-have regardless of where you’re running your business from. Such scanners help ensure that you aren’t opening yourself or your customers up to potential threats. With so much emphasis on security on-site, network security is so easy to overlook but is crucial to protecting you and your customers’ well-being.

2. Select A Trusted E-Commerce Platform
Given the wealth of trustworthy e-commerce platforms out there such as Shopify and Woocommerce, it always pays to rely on a platform with a certain degree of name recognition. Many modern e-commerce platforms have built-in security measures and therefore will provide users with more protection versus lesser-known storefront solutions. Rather than risk a seemingly shaky or unknown platform, it’s perhaps worthwhile to pay for some peace of mind for your business’ store.

3. Secure Checkout Is A Must-Have
There are plenty of reasons why a customer might drop out of your e-commerce funnel; however, at a sketchy checkout is a surefire way to turn your potential buyers off. Investing in an SSL certificate is an absolute must regardless of what you’re selling as means of building trust and letting your buyers know that you’re looking out for their best interest. After all, how can you sell to anyone if they can’t trust you?

4. Don’t Forget DDOS Protection
Brute force attacks have been on the rise in recent years. Meanwhile, site downtime and lag related to DDOS attacks could potentially bring down your site and ultimately hurt your bottom line. Although such breaches may seem like they’re reserved for bigger brands, DDOS protection represents another layer of security that modern e-commerce stores are expected to have.

5. Keep Your Customer Records Squeaky Clean
Most security snafus related to data breaches have to do with customer data. Rather than needlessly hang onto sensitive customer records, make it a point not to store your customer’s credit card information which is often the target of attacks.

6. Lock Down Your Legalese
Finally, sometimes the most important aspects of your store have less to do with tech and more to do with your on-site copy. For example, every e-commerce store should boast disclaimers and clear expectations regarding payments, shipping and your return policy. For example, you can get a good idea of what your site needs with Shopify’s terms and conditions generator.

Keeping you e-commerce site safe should be a matter of “when” not “if”.” By setting up your site with these tips in mind, you can keep your storefront running smoothly rather than having to worry about a security slip-up.