Page 154 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

1 46 Your Idea, Inc.

what is known as "abandonment." The visitor will leave the website
without purchasing, and you may lose a customer.

In order to be secure, websites need Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
technology and certification. This technology allows for encryp­
tion of sensitive information during an online transaction. VeriSign

(www.verisign.com) is one of the largest companies to offer this Inter­

net infrastructure. According to their website, they protect over 1
million web servers with digital certificates. The certification can
cost around $1 ,500 for a year and $2 ,700 for two years and then

needs to be renewed. Authorize.Net (www.authorize.net) is another

well-known company that issues SSL certification.
This service is costly, but without it, the savvy consumer will

move on. It is one of those things that online buyers look for right
away on a website.

You can tell that a website is secure if:

1 . The URL starts with "https://" (http:// is not secure).
2. There is a yellow padlock icon on the right side of the

address bar (in Internet Explorer).
3. The company that issued the SSL certificate has a shield or

an icon featured on the website that can be clicked to verify
the authenticity of the certificate.

Your web deSigner can handle this during the building of the site
or even later if you decide to add e-commerce down the road.

DIY Website Options

If, after reading about all the facets your website should have,
you still want to attempt to do it yourself, you can find lots of direc­
tions and services to help you. How extensive your site design and
function can be depends on your interest level, your technical abil­
ity, how much time you have, and your budget.

Patty Civalleri of I-Take MultiMedia (www. 1take.com) says that

entrepreneurial types sometimes favor DIY options because they