PUBLISHED: APRIL 14, 2020 – ARTICLES: HOW TO SECURE YOUR ECOMMERCE WEBSITE WITHOUT SACRIFICING DESIGN

With experts predicting that cyber security breaches and hacking will result in cyber-crime being responsible for than $6 trillion in economic losses across the globe by the end of 2021, to say it is important to secure your eCommerce website would certainly be an understatement.

Ensuring you have up-to-date security in place to protect you and your customers is a challenge enough, but doing so without making your website robotic or slow can be even more difficult, and here are some tips on how.

Be Sure To Use Reliable Tools & Platforms

Off-brand shopping certainly has it’s time and place, but not in, or anywhere near, the world of cybersecurity. Utilizing trusted, recognizable tools to protect your site is a must-do, and there are plenty of options, depending on what your needs are.

Wix always ranks high for website creation, and offers a lot of options for customization, but once your site theme is set, it’s not able to be changed. The list of reliable web building and hosting sites is pretty long, but each has caveats like Wix. Many advertise their commerce functionality and security offerings very overtly, so be sure to shop around and read a lot of reviews.

Prioritizing Design & Security From A Customer UX Will Light The Way

There are very few eCommerce fields where owners don’t care if their customers are aesthetically pleased or not. Lucky them. For everyone else, style, verbiage, and usability are almost as important as securing the eCommerce site. One thing that web designers forget isNthat no mention of security is not a good thing. You don’t want 50 pop ups telling your customers they are secure, but a nice, big disclaimer about what kind of security programs you use not only ensures customers, but it deters hackers as well.

Make Sure Your Site is Updated With Latest Design & Security Features

Few fields evolve faster than those which are tech-related, and even if you have a doctorate in cyber security, constantly educating yourself on new trends in protecting you and your customers’ information is the only way to stay current with hackers.

A lot of this educating will result in having to upgrade and add new software, so be prepared to set aside some time and money each month. Performing vulnerability tests on your software is a good security blanket for ensuring you haven’t missed anything. This, of course, also involves regular updates on you vulnerability testing software as well, but no company is too small for hackers (some of which are automated), so stay at least current, and preferably ahead.

Offer Two-Factor Authentication For Both Internal & Customer Passwords

Two-factor authentication (2FA) offers another three-fold benefit for your website. Most importantly, it makes it much harder for automated hacking services to access your site. It also deters human hackers from trying to access your customers’ information, and it also ensures those same customers that their information is protected. 2FA is, simply put, a better means of ensuring your site visitors are who they say they are without sacrificing much page space.

Educate Your Staff

One means of bolstering your website security that will have zero effect on the design and style of your website is simply educating your staff on secure access practices and encouraging them to do weekly or monthly digital security exercises (changing passwords, disconnecting from old networks, etc.) will add yet another layer to your cyber security.

Ultimately, even if a boost to your eCommerce site did cause issues in your branding or web design, it would have to be heavily considered given the importance of security (note the $6 trillion mentioned in the opening paragraph). Luckily, staying educated on hackers and their new processes isn’t very hard to do, and with that knowledge and a strict dedication to a few simple processes, top-of-the-line web security can be achieved without making your website look like something from 2004.

About Michael John

Hi my name is Michael and I am here to help you create a website that works. If you require any help building your website please contact me. I am the owner of www.2createawebsites.com and would like to help you get online. View all posts by Michael John →