Make your Online Shop the Safest It Can Be

Starting out an online based business venture is daunting. There’s loads of talk of viruses, security, hackers, Trojans and trolls. If you’ve got a talent such as crocheting sock puppets, making nappy cakes or making homemade candles in the shape of items of food, then why not make it available on the internet? If you want to put it up on the web for all to see, you need to be confident in your internet security software to start with. Protecting your Intellectual Property such as the designs you have saved for your products on your computer is massively important. When there’s just one of you, it’s difficult to think of everything, so getting an all-in-one package to do this for you is a great idea.

Once your own computer is safe, you need to think about your customers. They want the peace of mind and confidence in your online shop to actually buy your products. If you’re not securing your website, and they are savvy enough to know to look for the padlock symbol – and who isn’t these days – then this will quickly result in a lost sale. HTTPS is straightforward and if you renew SSL certificates every year (or every two if you buy two years at a time) then that is one thing that you can tick off your list on making your customers feel warm and fuzzy when they click that “Buy” button next to your banana-shaped strawberry-scented candle.

Lastly, you need to make sure you backup your most important files. Things such as order history, invoices, customer lists and accounting are irreplaceable, and you absolutely cannot afford to lose this sort of information. Have a daily backup plan in place to back up things that change often, and ensure you keep a copy of backups for as long as your business needs them – most commonly for three or four weeks. Act early to avoid that crushing feeling of losing that all important work!