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Informative Articles

Email - Is it Still a Promotional Tool?
Email, don't you just love it? What a tool: you can contact anybody in the world without spending a dime on postage, paper or ink! All the above are the reasons email is such a formidable tool to promote your business, stay in touch with your...

Evaulating Web Site Performance
Setting up a website is the very first step of an Internet marketing campaign, and the success or failure of your site depends greatly on how specifically you have defined your website goals. If you don't know what you want your site...

Google's PR Explained
An Introduction to PR The complexities of Google's PR (Page Ranking) System have grown more difficult to understand since the Hilltop Algorithm was introduced. This beginner's guide to the PR system explains the basics of what PR is, what it does,...

THE ABCs OF SEO - Search Engine Optimization
If you want to be found in the search engines, it is important that you add search engine optimization to your action list. In a nutshell, search engine optimization--or SEO for short--is the process of making your web pages "search engine...

Yahoo's Back!
I was all set to write an article predicting the future of search engines, when Yahoo dropped Google and replaced it with its own engine. Now that's big news. In less than twenty-four hours, Google went from about 79% of the market share to...

 
Security Issues Everyone Should Know About Online Shopping

While there is no foolproof way to ensure that no one will EVER access information you don't want them to, there are several very effective steps that you can take to minimize the risk.

When passing sensitive data like credit card numbers, addreses, or social security numbers over the Internet, be sure that the connection you are using or implementing is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL is a commonly-used protocol for managing the security of message transmissions over the Internet. Essentially, SSL works by using a public key, or password, to encrypt data that's transferred over the connection. The receiving software, usually a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, decrypts the message into meaningful information for the intended recipient. The encryption of the data prevents unauthorized access while the data is being transmitted over the network. (By convention, URL's that require a SSL connection start with https instead of http.)

Another step that can be taken to minimize the risk involved with transmitting information across the Internet is to use several different e-mail


accounts, each with a specific purpose. To limit your exposure to unwanted spam and potentially dangerous viruses, the e-mail address provided by your ISP or Web host should only be given to trusted parties, such as family members, friends, co-workers, and business associates. If you frequently fill out online forms that require the use of an e-mail address, use a "throw-away" address, such as one that can be obtained from Yahoo! or Hotmail. This will help stop your primary e-mail account from being flooded with unwanted mail, and it might reduce your exposure to viruses as well.

Several other key preventative measures to safeguard your personal information include checking your credit reports regularly, paying by credit card for online transactions (instead of ACH bank account debits), and searching for your name at a good search engine, like Google, to find out what information about you is online.

About the Author

Alan is the lead developer for InfoServe Media, LLC (http://www.infoservemedia.com/), a Web development company that specializes in Web site design, hosting, domain name registration, and promotion for small businesses.