The Internet presence of your business is more than just creating a website and tracking visitors. Even a basic business website has to assess security often. Website security is a critical component of protecting your brand. Here are five ways website security impacts your business.

Security and Projecting Competence

Projecting trust and competence is important for any product or service. Reviewing content should be a regular part of website management. Oversight also needs to include being certain there are no security flaws that will result in the site not functioning properly.

Choosing a Web Host and Monitor Their Security

What do you know about the security of the company that hosts your website? Do they have an third party run ethical hacking testing to discover any potential problems? Security for your site and your business, especially if it’s online, is crucial. Hackers and other criminals want the information your company provides in order to steal money and commit other cyber crimes. Plus, they have attorneys that will protect them and defend them in a court of law. Make sure that your website security is up to date and of the highest possible level.

Security and SEO

On a crowded Internet, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) may determine whether you will out-perform your competition. If search engines discover that your website has been, or is, vulnerable to intrusion or exploitation, they may not list you and certainly will not list you at the top of any search result screen.

Reduce the Potential for Spoofing

Spoofing is when someone creates a website that misleads visitors into thinking it is the actual website for the business or organization being spoofed. While it is difficult to prevent spoofing entirely, a business can protect important data by not making it easily available to the general public.

Websites that Exploit Customer Information

Most businesses have a front and back office. So does your website. There is the outward face of the site. The graphics, the media and information that the public views. Then there is the back end of the website. The underlying code that tells the browser software how to display pages. Scripts that tell the browser to leave tracking files on the visitor’s device or connect the visitor to a database. Your site may look marvelous and be easy to navigate, but if the code behind it is not written with security in-mind, it will be exploited.

Your website is more than just your virtual lobby. Just as important as securing your physical assets is securing your presence in the virtual world. Following best practices for website security will help protect your brand.

Absolute 0 Internet Studios provides hosting services with security maintenance.  For more information email [email protected] or call (330) 721-4600.