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Increase Sales Using A Smartphone-Enabled Website

By Steven Johnson in Featured

“This is the time for us; now is the time for us to get behind this… We understand that the new rule is “Mobile First.” – Eric Schmidt, Google CEO

“One-third of all Google searches via the mobile web pertain to some aspect of the searcher’s local environment.” – Diana Pouliot, Director of Google Mobile Advertising

By 2013, Google expects that 50% of all internet traffic will be from mobile devices. The smartphone industry is growing faster than any segment of technology in history.

It is mandatory to have a smartphone-enabled website in order to have mobile searchers find you. A lot of effort and funding is going towards “find a business near me” technology. If you owned a restaurant, wouldn’t you want to reach the Blackberry user that performed a search on their phone to “find restaurants near me?”

Would it not benefit you to reach those with GPS that use Google maps? Practically every business and service can increase revenue by having a smartphone-enabled site. The applications are far-reaching. Virtually any product or service that relies on direct consumer contact would be able to saturate the market and reach consumers anywhere and everywhere.

Mobile sites are designed to provide the best possible viewing experience exclusively on handheld devices, including iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Kindle, etc. All pages must be scaled to read easily on a small screen. Most content is presented to facilitate thumb-scrolling, the most accepted method of reading content on a mobile device.

The number of “hallways” are reduced to help keep the viewer organized. The navigation buttons are placed where they are easily accessible. Since many devices do not have clear “back” buttons, these are provided on the site where appropriate. Flash is never used, as Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, has banned it from the iPhones, citing performance and bandwidth concerns. All websites must have detection and redirect scripting that senses which device is being used and sends the customer to the best site optimized for their device.

Over 70% of the world’s population now has a mobile phone, that’s over 5 billion mobile subscribers, and in places like the US, it’s 9 in 10 people.

So why aren’t more businesses optimizing their websites to mobile phone technology? Most website design firms have not pushed website owners because they know that the websites they have already created have not delivered the ROI the owner hoped for. Therefore, it is difficult for them to go back and revisit them about adding another piece of technology.

Since it is new technology and one whose full potential has not been realized, many smaller design firms have not taken the initiative to learn the new programming language. Many are waiting for technology which is expected to launch in a few years that will enable smartphones to access the internet and websites to display as automatically as desktops do now. Then there will be no need to learn the programming modifications.

Savvy business owners are reaching out and finding web developers to get to their target market where they live- on their smart phones and on the go.

For businesses wishing to gain a competitive advantage, a smartphone-enabled website now presents one of the most high impact means of expanding a client base and securing greater sales volume. Look at your competition. Lead your marketplace and establish your company where your prospects live before they do.

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Wetcatwebs.com, Inc. is a cutting-edge website design, development and marketing firm specializing in web strategies and smartphone applications that produce sales results. We deliver a powerful online presence and supplement it with smartphone-enabled sites to bring tremendous exposure. Find out more about SEO and generating qualified leads at => http://www.wetcatwebs.com

Your Site and the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011

By Chip Cooper in Featured

On April 12, 2011, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and John McCain (R-Ariz) announced proposed legislation that could become the first federal privacy and data security law. If passed into law, The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights will have a huge impact on how personal information is collected, used, and shared by eCommerce websites. And penalties for failure to comply could be high, very high.

The Way It Was – And Still Is

A little background information is required for perspective.

Prior to 2000, the Internet was essentially like the “wild wild west” in terms of privacy and data security. Essentially, there was no regulation. Generally speaking, except in California, privacy issues were not high on the radar screens of government regulators.

In 2000, California became the first state to have an agency dedicated to promoting and protecting the privacy rights of consumers. In 2003, California passed the California Privacy Protection Act of 2003 (OPPA), which was the first state law in the nation regulating operators of commercial websites on online services to post a privacy policy. OPPA in essence became a de facto federal statute because it applied to any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world), and no commercial website would want to attempt to screen out California residents from participation in its services or the purchase of its products.

Why Pay To Get More Traffic To Your Website?

By Shirley Crichton in Featured

If you want to get more traffic to your website, you have to understand how to find the best keywords to use, that will bring you the results that you’re looking for. And, surprisingly, just getting more traffic to your site is not usually the prime objective.

What most sites really want is visitors who take some required action, when they get to the website. Whether the action is to sign up to a list, or make a purchase, if the action isn’t taken, then the visit is essentially wasted,

And, getting people who will take action when they get to your site, is the real purpose behind finding the best keywords to use.

Now, you can only know the conversion rate of your keywords, after you’ve been using them and monitoring results. And this is why it’s important to understand the two different types of search results that will lead people to your site, organic searches and paid searches.

Simply put, organic searches are effectively free and paid searches cost you money every time someone visits your site, regardless of whether or not that results in a conversion.

Consequently, when you’re using pay per click methods, it’s possible to pay out more in advertising, than you get back in sales, and this is the reason that you might use different keywords to achieve pay per click leads, from those you use to get organic search results. And here’s why.

1. Using Organic Search Methods

For organic search results, there is no cost per visitor, so by finding keywords with high search volumes, you can increase your chances of getting clicks to your site without adverse results, if visitors don’t convert.

Although a high search volume doesn’t necessarily relate to a high conversion rate, there is no return on investment to consider here. So best to start with these high search volume keywords, to see if they get more traffic to your website.

For any keyword, you also need to consider the competition, that is, the number of other people using it. The more competition, the more search results will be delivered in response to it, and the more difficult it will be for your site or article to appear near the top of these results.

So, you’re looking for keywords with the highest search volumes and the lowest competition.

Then, you can test them, using Google Analytics, to see which ones perform best.

2. Using Pay Per Click Methods

Now there are benefits to using paid search methods and, probably the most common one, is that it’s the quickest way to get more traffic to your website. But, when you’re using pay per click to get visitors to your site, rather than relying on organic searches, you’ll need a different approach to finding the best keywords.

Again, you can use Google’s AdWords keyword tool to tell you the average cost per click and the search volumes of any given keyword, but, you won’t know the conversion rate and the consequent return on investment, until you actually test the keywords. And here’s where the main difference to using organic searches comes in.

High search volumes tend to relate to shorter, less specific keywords or phrases and result in lower conversion rates. OK for organic searches but not so good for paid results.

What’s required with pay per click, are fewer searches, since you pay for each one, but higher conversion rates, i.e. more targeted traffic. And for that you need long tailed keywords.

When you start using these long tailed keywords, you’ll find far fewer visitors, but more conversions. And the reason for the better conversion rates is that people using the long tailed key words are normally looking for something to help in solving a specific problem and, if your site provides the solution, they will be more open to buying.

To find these long tailed keywords, it’s best to spend time on forums and social media sites looking for the questions people are asking, that your product can solve. Check the phrases they’re using. These are the phrases people will be typing into search engines, to find what they need to solve their problem.

And that’s why, when they visit, you’re much more likely to get a conversion.

When you’ve found some good long tail keywords, you need to test them again with Google Analytics. But remember with pay per click, do make sure you monitor the performance and costs closely.

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Shirley Crichton is a UK information marketer, passionate about sharing what she has learned with people new to this often confusing world . To learn more about copywriting and getting your internet marketing business started and profitable, claim your free and comprehensive 95-page report ‘ Online Marketing Made Easy’ at www.ShirleysOnlineMarketing.com and give yourself a head start.

Ten Things I Hope Google Places Fixes in 2011

By Randy Kirk in Featured

In 2010, Google vastly improved the old Google Local Business Center with an upgrade in the name to Google Places, and with maybe 100 changes to the look, the rules, and more. Each change brought happiness to some and misery to others. But the reality is that the product is still as buggy as the beds in Washington, DC.

As a Google Places expert and consultant I rode the roller coaster last year with days of glee and days of heartache. My clients and others who called me were as confused as they could be about Google’s reason and intent. One thing they all knew for sure. They needed to be highly ranked to get the phone to ring or the door to swing. Here is one pundits plea to Google for 10 ways to fix their fantastic tool.

1. Without question the number one fix would be to reconfigure the ranking system or the bot that evaluates the ranking to be far more, dare I say, fair. Ok. How about just? Currently it is common to find unclaimed sites with no website, no reviews, and no citations ranking above sites with solid optimization, multiple reviews from Google and other sites, and citations aplenty. This hurt credibility for Google, and drives businesses, SEO pros, and even consumers crazy.

2. Help the helpless. With Google being so critical to the health of its business clients, why should the rules and nuances of those rules be reminiscent of Mario Brothers. The forum is nice and all, and sometimes Google employees and unpaid consultants give some “cheats” to those who have not been able to decipher the code. Why not have serious tutorials to help companies do it right. Better Google Places Pages would be good for everyone. Facebook Fan Pages is charging for tutorials. Fine. Charge.

3. Enforce the Rules! The first lesson of making a law is that it must be enforceable. I just don’t think that any business has a real name of Best Price Junk Cars Los Angeles. Why doesn’t the bot kill that one before it ever goes live. If Google Places is going to know all about every place on earth, shouldn’t it be a priority not to list a business at an address that doesn’t exist or that is an empty building.

4. Fix the thumbnail pictures. Why is this even an issue? Squashed faces and weird shaped logos don’t do anything to enhance this product. Google plans to change the energy delivery system for the entire planet. Can this be so hard?

5. Title the movies. Who wants to watch random movies? Just give us 30 characters. More would be better. A description would be fantastic. This would help the consumer immeasurably.

6. Improve the look of the Google Place Page. Currently there is no serious reason for the consumer to go to the “page” other than reviews. Maybe there could be template choices for layout, more choices for pictures including products in the top section. And how about bigger or more interesting fonts for the section titles. Currently, it is a bit hard for folks to find the various reviews and citations, even if they want to.

7. Put the link to leave a review on the search page. It could go right under the stars.

8. Stop penalizing those who use Tags. Using mechanical scrutiny for every possible minor rule violation on Tags users while not using the same scrutiny on those who have not chosen to use Tags. I have no experience with Boost, so don’t know if this is also happening with Boost clients.

9. Certify Google Places Consultants. Provide a course or a test or some method for determining who understands the system. Allow the certification # to appear on the listing page so that unintentional errors can be sorted out, and certifications can be lost if the errors are frequent or black hat.

10. Allow businesses to move their places listing from one Google Account to another. There are hundreds of legitimate reasons for this to be done, including the fact that no one who set up Google Places listings in the last two years knew this would be an issue. Many of them are associated with personal emails or multiple businesses.

Google Places is a work in progress. While it may never be completely “finished” and allowed to be somewhat static for awhile, I believe that by 2012, the site will be far less volatile and more predictable for business owners and their consultants.

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Randy Kirk is the president of internet marketing company, Page1Listings.com. Kirk is the author of several business books including Warner Business Books 4.6 star “Running A 21st Century Small Business.” The book is available on Amazon. Page1Listings.com specializes in helping very small companies (1-50 employees) with marketing both on and off the internet. The company specializes in helping companies get highly ranked on Google Places, and also is a low cost provider of help with social networking, YouTube videos, word of mouth marketing, email blasts, press releases, website development, seo, sem, and more.

6 Tips to Quality Directory Submissions

By JD Hoopes in Featured

There are a lot of advantages to directory submission for search engine optimization. Primarily, directory submissions result in one-way links to your site. In addition, if it is a high traffic directory, you can also get visitors to your site through the directory, though I would not count on this kind of traffic.

Of particular value are specialized directories that are related to your site because these provide relevant one way links back to your site. The other big advantage is that as you become listed on high profile directories such as DMOZ, it improves your site’s credibility and facilitates other link exchanges because people are more willing to work with webmasters and sites that are well connected and have a
good reputation.

Below are 6 tips to help you get the most out of your directory submission process.

1. Keep a Log of All the Directories You Have Submitted To

Create an EXCEL spreadsheet or get a lined notebook to write down the directories that you have submitted your site to so you don’t accidentally waste time doing it twice. Plus, this gives you a long list that you can check off in the future when you have other sites to submit.

Also, while I generally don’t recommend paying for directory inclusion, keeping records will help you to know how much you are spending and better decide if it is worth the cost.

2. Compile a List of Directories Before Starting

There are thousands of directories out there. Fortunately, others have already compiled lists of directories for you so that all you need to do is search out these sites and sort their lists by high page rank and the niche directories related to your website. Start with these and, if you still have time afterwards, then expand your list. With literally thousands of directories (most offering little value), however, you want to start with the ones that are likely to give you the most success.

3. Choose the Right Category

Selecting the most relevant category is of key importance in directory submission. With every directory, there is a webmaster deciding whether your site is going to contribute to their business. If your site is not going to add value to their directory, then your submission is on a fast track to the garbage bin, and the fastest way to end up on this track is to submit to the wrong category. In addition, while not all directories allow you to submit to high level categories, if it is possible, you want to be on pages with the fewest clicks from the home page. The closer you are to the home page, the greater value that link back to your site will be.

4. Build Your Title Wisely

Most directories allow you to build a title for your site. This title becomes the hyperlink back to your site and so the keywords used in the title will be the keywords that Google deems important on your site. If you want your blog to rank well for ‘dance shoes’, then there is little point in titling your submission “Lilys Blog.” Once you have built a keyword relevant title, you will then want to vary it between submissions so that the link building appears more natural to the search engines.

5. Build a Keyword Relevant Description

While the description is less important compared to the title, the keywords help to determine the relevance of the link and also act as your pitch to potential customers browsing the directory. Write three short descriptions (15-25 words) and three longer descriptions (30-50 words) and vary them with each submission depending on the guidelines of the directory. Also avoid excess use of capital letters and punctuation as overt overuse of both can get your submission rejected.

6. Stretch Out Your Submissions Over Time

The search engines do not like to see abnormally large bursts in the number of links to a site as it generally suggests that artificial link building is being done. The search engines want natural link building and the more natural you make it look, the more value you will get out
of your links.

By following these tips, you should be able to enjoy a good return on your time investment into directory submissions.

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Distributed by the Internet Business Assistance program, where you can start an Internet Home Business with the help of an experienced internet business owner. Our goal is to help you build a successful online business without your business ever losing money. Learn more at
http://www.yourbetterbuy.com

The Progression of Mobile Technology

By Tomer Harel in Featured

People who were born over twenty five years ago have watched the development of the technological age. DVDs, computers and cell phones were developed during their lifetimes. The parents of these people remember using pay phones and dealing with party lines on their home phones. Today, these ideas are so foreign that they are only remembered through old movies and sitcoms.

Lars Ericcson was the first man to have a phone in his car. He would keep a regular phone in his car and attach it to phone wires when he wanted to make a call. In 1926, trained operators in Europe would assist luxury train passengers in making calls through a radio mobile phone as they traveled from Hamburg to Berlin. Even back then, people were attempting to communicate while mobile.

In the 1950′s, real people began to use radio telephony mobile phones, and they were able to dial directly without the use of an operator. In 1956, the Ericsson Company built the first commercial mobile telephone system for Sweden. With the phone set weighing nearly ninety pounds, however, people did not own personal phones. Prince Philip of the United Kingdom had the first personal mobile phone built into the trunk of his Aston Martin back in 1957.

The handset weight was reduced to half of its original size in 1965. Bell Labs researchers had the very first mobile phone conversation on a Motorola mobile phone in 1973. Finally, in the 1990′s, Finland developed one of the first networks which used digital circuits and was able to increase signal strength between the phones and the networks.

Cell phones became more appealing for personal use as they were built in smaller sizes. As cell phone companies gained more customers, they built more towers with more far-reaching capabilities. Cell phones were then able to communicate with others and get information from the internet.

In addition to the cell phone evolution, laptop computers and notebook tablets are also products that have been able to tap into newer and faster means of communication and information. Applications that were once only on a wired PC are now available through mobile networking. Mobile technology is no longer the exception, but the expected.

Mobile applications are as varied as one can imagine. In 2010, Windows Mobile had over 18,000 applications while Apple had over 85,000. There were over 2.5 billion applications sold by Apple in 2009 alone. By the year 2013, the number of applications available is expected to quadruple.

Those who are not interested in technology for one reason or another are confused as to why so many people are interested in their mobile devices and the many applications that are available. Creating less distance between people, businesses, employers and even countries, mobile technology has made the world a smaller place. Having the ability to perform so many tasks, from playing games to banking, with one simple device has become a way of life for most people and it looks as though the trend is going to continue.

Some mobile applications are for personal interest, such as games, music players, social networking and shopping. Other applications are for communication purposes – email, instant messaging, and image viewing. Many applications are for information, such as maps, GPS, the weather, financial updates, searches and web browsers. Due to these applications, people are able to communicate and have both personal and business relationships with people all over the world.

People of all ages and stages of life are tapping into the ability of mobile applications by doing their banking online, staying in touch with friends and family through emails and pictures, shopping for clothes and other items, and communicating with their employers and employees. The days of waiting for the mail to come are over. The turn-around rate increases at an amazing speed when emails and documents are received through a mobile device.

While some skeptics say that the mobile age is just a phase, the truth is, more applications are being designed every day. Due to the increasing number of devices and applications, some companies are even working to integrate them, making it easier for people to use various mobile devices with more applications. The more people learn how to make these apps work for them in their everyday life, the less chance there will be of ever turning back the clock.

High-speed mobile networking is the newest advancement in mobile technology. This is only increasing mobile speed and the ability to get more work done, at a faster rate. Technology can’t move fast enough for what people hope for in their mobile devices. The faster the better; the more efficient and helpful the application, the happier people are. The mobile application era will continue to expand, giving people more mobile options and showing them the advantages of communicating and working in a mobile society.

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Looking for a way to create and deploy cross-platform applications? Look no further. The Worklight Mobile Platform enables businesses to reach and engage their customers, partners and employees on a variety of mobile environments. Visit our website today to learn how our “write once – deploy everywhere” platform can save you time and money and boost your business. http://www.worklight.com

Does Google Spam Still Work Post-Panda?

By Jill Whalen in Featured

It’s been more than 5 months since my open letter to Google lamenting the state of their search results and how web spam was getting the best of them. And it’s been a mere 3 months since I wrote about how much Google (and Bing) loved anchor text spam.

Since that time, a number of very public search result adjustments have been made by Google. JCPenney (one of the companies I referred to in my February link spam article) was publicly outed by the New York Times and subsequently penalized by Google. It took Bing a bit longer to respond, but the JCPenney website seems to be missing from there now as well.

Also in February, Overstock.com was outed by the Wall Street Journal for providing discounts for .edu websites if they would add keyword-rich anchor text links to Overstock.com. Their penalty seemed less severe than the JCP one as I continued to see Overstock.com pages show up for numerous competitive keyword queries at Google. Recently they claimed that they removed the offending links and their penalty has been lifted (it’s not clear how they know this for sure).

And then came the much talked about Farmer / Panda Google Update, which may or may not have been in response to all the negative press that descended upon them. While many sites lost a large percentage of their Google traffic due to the update, it has certainly not stopped all web spam from working.

Do You Know As Much As Google Knows About Your Website?

By Steven Johnson in Featured

Google knows that to retain their reputation as a superior search engine they must provide results better than anyone else.

What can YOU confirm in regards to how prospects navigate your site? Do you have website statistics installed so that you can see the same things Google does?

Google knows exactly how long you stay on a website, effectively your “vote”, in helping Google determine relevancy for future searches. Google knows how popular your site is by how many sites have a backlink to your site, in effect, the internet’s “vote” for your site. Google knows how relevant your site is; they “read” the content like a human.

Putting site analytics in place will give you the exact data you require. For instance, how many unique visits your site has received, where they came from, who sent them, how long they stayed, what they viewed, and which pages caused them to exit. Once you gather these analytics, patterns will be evident.

Most website owners know absolutely nothing about the data regarding their site, making it impossible to make sound decisions concerning improvements. A few keep track of hits received by using a counter, but that is not nearly enough data to determine an appropriate alteration.

In order to make proper modifications, you need to know about site visits. For example, which days of the week does the site receive the most hits? What would be the reason?

Where was the traffic created, through referring sites, search engines or direct visits? Which keywords were typed to locate your site? Which websites directed them to you?

Do you make it simple for visitors to bookmark your site?

Which path brought in the most traffic? Do you capture visitors’ attention with information which has significance and is interesting? What was the number of pages viewed?

Which pages were most popular? What was the length of time the page was viewed? Which browsers are most popular?

Internet Explorer? Firefox? Is your site presenting correctly on each and every different browser? Is there support for your features, like Java?

This is case in point of the least amount of statistics you will require. Next, you should find out how many visits you are receiving from returning traffic vs. new ones. Of the new ones, how many people immediately clicked off your site? (This is your bounce rate.) A significant bounce rate tell you that traffic is finding your site revolting or that you are bringing in the wrong audience. For those visitors who return, are you revising information to keep your site interesting and fresh? Does anyone visit from smartphones? This is the highest growth market in the Internet’s history. Which smartphones are being used most; for example, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and have you optimized for smartphones so that users have the best viewing experience?

Google knows, so should you.

If you do not have analytics installed, go to Google and they will provide the information on how to do so. If you cannot make the time to examine and investigate the data, employ someone who will. If you do not know what Google knows, it will cost you time, lost revenue and overall ROI on your web presence.

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Wetcatwebs.com, Inc. is a cutting-edge website design firm specializing in effective web and smartphone strategies that produce measurable results by delivering a powerful online presence and tremendous exposure. Find out more about SEO and generating qualified leads at => http://www.wetcatwebs.com

Don’t Drop the Ball with Your Google Ranking

By Resource Nation in Featured

For anyone who is anyone on the Internet, their Google ranking is of importance to them. So, what are you doing to improve or unfortunately diminish your Google ranking when you stop and think about it?

While this isn’t brain surgery, obtaining and maintaining a positive Google ranking can be tricky if you’re not careful.

The site engine looks out for a number of red flags when assigning rankings, so compile a list of what to do and what not to do in order to make your site’s ranking keep increasing and not declining.

Here are some no-no’s to avoid as you look to ascend the Google rankings:

First, it is never a good idea to put too much duplicate content on your Website, as this can lead to penalties or even a ban. Don’t copy and paste large volumes of text from your pages, and especially avoid violating copyright issues by grabbing content from other sites.

It is important to produce your own content and if you’re having someone write a large amount of text for you, make sure they’re not just cutting and pasting from another venue. This is especially true in that you do not utilize trademarked names of products produced by the competition in your keywords. Doing so not only causes headaches, but can also lead to lawsuits.

Secondly, having mentioned keywords, it is important to use keywords that relate only to your site, making sure not to repeat the same term over and over again. If you’re looking to drop in the Google rankings, spam every keyword possible and watch your status plummet.

Another no-no is to improperly use links in an effort to get more views to your site. Keep in mind that Google is not a big fan of things like link exchanging programs, paid link placement and other tactics to try and maneuver your current ranking. If you or someone tied to your Website puts together an artificial web of links, expect to pay the price for it in more ways than one.

Website owners can improve their Google page rankings by swapping text links with other related sites, and by being sure their Website is noted on key directories.

Another faux pas is having your site deliver a virus or Trojan around the Internet. The penalty for doing so is having Google delete you from their index in order to protect other Internet users.

The best line of protection here is to review any software you may be distributing to be sure it doesn’t have any issues; along with making sure your server is secure. The worst case scenario is that your server is not secure and can be hijacked by hackers who will pass along bad software in your name.

Now don’t get discouraged by reading this and thinking there is no true way to improve your Google ranking. The first step here is to find out if your web page has indeed been indexed by Google.

There is a good chance that the site’s Googlebots have indeed crawled your spot without your knowledge. In the case where one of Google’s spiders indexes your site, it will record a snapshot of each page and then place it in its cache.

The goal from the start is to have a clean and useful Website that will ascend and not descend when it comes to Google rankings.

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Dave Thomas is an expert writer on voip phone systems based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as voip phones at Resource Nation.

How to Enhance the Security of Your Web Server – A SPN Exclusive Article

By Steve Cheng in Featured

Running an online business like an ecommerce web site can be pretty hard at times, especially when you’re the only person working on it (which is not so uncommon these days) and you have to take care of everything, including customer support, sales, and the maintenance of your server.

Of course, there are a lot of various automation tools that can really help you and increase your productivity by taking your hands off the most mundane tasks, but not everything can be automated. Customer satisfaction is very important, and there’s nothing worse than having their security and privacy compromised.

Hackers and other shady people are always on the look for weaknesses and security holes that would allow them to gain access to important information like SSN and Credit Card numbers, which they can later use for their own profits or to damage a person’s reputation (most often the credit score is affected).

Even if they don’t find a way to break into your site’s database or server, they can still harm you by leaving broken software and ports or overloading your server’s resources and bandwidth using Denial of Service or other similar attacks. That’s why you must implement at least a couple of security measures that will stand between you and the offenders. Here are the most important ones:

Firewalls. Even though most servers have software firewalls installed and enabled by default, most of the times, they’re not configured properly (or at all, for that matter). That’s why one of the first things you need to do when receiving a new server is configure the firewall for your specific purposes and make sure it is not vulnerable to any external threats.

The best way to go about it is to lock down all the ports which you know are not used by anyone except you and allow external access only from a few trusted IPs. This is the single most important step you can take. For example, every single day, there are hundreds of bots scanning for open ports and trying to break in using general passwords and usernames, and limiting all ports to only a few external IPs will completely eliminate that threat.

Your MySQL, SSH, VNC and sometimes FTP ports need not be accessible by everyone. You can and should limit access to them only from your own IP addresses. This way, only you will be able to access them, and anyone else will get an “access denied” error, which will most probably make them mark your server as secure and move on.

You can also find or create your own list of bad IPs (of spammers and hackers, for example) and fully block their access manually. This is a good way of dealing with immediate threats, but it’s hard to do in the long run, as there are countless infected computers that attack others without the user’s permission.

Another thing you should consider installing or ordering is an external firewall. These are better suited for high loads (they do not tax your server’s CPU or RAM) and are even less vulnerable (software can be exploited and modified, hardware can’t). But you need to make sure that it will not limit your bandwidth (if you have a 1Gbit connection, a 100Mbit hardware firewall will slow it down considerably). Most of the times, a good, up to date software firewall should be enough.

DDoS Protection. DDoS attacks are very nasty things that can easily overload your server, cut off access to real users and make you lose money as well as spend more for bandwidth. Fortunately, they’re pretty easy to stop using a properly configured web server. There are a lot of instructions out there on how to configure Apache and other servers to cut or completely remove the chance of a DDoS attack, and you should implement them as soon as possible. It only involves changing the number of concurrent half open connections and time outs.

In addition, you could benefit from a separate DoS detection utility that can detect (obviously) and stop DDoS attacks in a matter of seconds from their start. The most advanced ones can also cut off access from attacking IPs for a limited or unlimited amount of time, effectively blocking any DDoS attack attempt in the future.

Data Encryption. If you are dealing with sensitive information (both yours and your users’), you absolutely must use encryption protocols for those purposes. You must use an SSL encryption with a real valid certificate for all outgoing and incoming connections and keep the user data stored in encrypted and password protected databases that can’t be accessed by anyone on the outside.

Implementing the above security measures will reduce the chances of your sites being attacked and exploited by 90%. The rest consists of being careful and installing the latest stable updates for all the software on your server. Stay safe!

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Steve Cheng is a web publisher that writes anything relating to website management and how to make money online.

© Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. Jayde Online, Inc.

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