Google Analytics allows you to track website statistics like page visits, amount of time spent on individual pages, how much your traffic has changed over different time periods, where your traffic is coming from and what times of day your site is busiest. It gives you tremendous insight into the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and what kind of traffic your site is receiving. Google Analytics is extremely user-friendly and after utilizing its tools, you will be able to create better targeted advertisements and promotions and ultimately create a website with higher conversions.

The Google Analytics module for Miva Merchant is the most current version. It fully supports the new asynchrous tracking code and includes features like on-site search tracking and e-commerce conversion tracking.

The Google Analytics module has been tested and is completely functional with the new Miva Merchant PR7 Wombat. You can even track statistics across subdomains and cross-domain.  With an active Google AdWords account you can also integrate your Google AdWords tracking code with Miva Merchant 5.5.

Take advantage of this free module for your new or existing Miva Merchant store with WebNet Hosting today!

WebNet Hosting is a leading provider and Premier Partner Miva Host located in the Washington, DC metro area. Visit http://webnethosting.net for more details on their managed Miva Hosting plans and e-commerce solutions for your website.

For more information about Google Analytics, visit http://www.google.com/analytics/.

When a shopper provides a merchant website with their credit card they are going to first look for the closed padlock symbol in their web browser indicating that your site is using a valid SSL Certificate.  If your site processes credit card numbers or other confidential information like social security numbers or even addresses then you should be using an SSL Certificate, which encrypts personal information into an indecipherable set of gibberish.

In fact, SSL Certificates are one of the criteria in order to be PCI Compliant.  You will need to make sure your site is utilizing PCI Compliant Hosting as well.  When shopping for a web host, this should be one of your first questions.  If they are confused or don’t understand PCI Compliance then you should move on to the next host because this can put your livelihood at jeopardy.

In order to prove that you are a reputable business you should always put a physical address of your business to prove that you actually exist.  Even if you are running your e-commerce business out of your spare bedroom, you want to make your site look as professional as possible.  It is also always good to have a phone number where customers can reach you in case they have a question or a problem.  Shoppers want to feel confident that if there is a shipping problem or other issue, you will be able to be reached and are honest.

In the e-commerce industry, the PA-DSS has been a major topic lately.  As of July 1^st, all e-commerce payment applications must be compliant with the new Data Security Standard.  Payment applications include software like shopping carts.  It is imperative that as a storeowner, you make certain that your shopping cart is compliant.

Miva Merchant Hosting provided by WebNet Hosting is fully compliant with the PA-DSS and have been premier Miva Hosts since 2004, making them experts in the e-commerce sector.

Each month we profile a client that is operating a successful e-commerce site in our newsletter and blog.  This month’s company is Russell Rhodes,  located online at RussellRhodes.com.   Russell Rhodes is a seller of customized and personalized Christmas ornaments, many of which are original designs.

Russell Rhodes is happy to extend a special offer to receive 25% off all personalized ornaments using the following coupon during checkout:

Coupon code: 25WN0810
Offer: 25% off all personalized ornaments
Expiration: Aug 31, 2010

The following is an interview with Denys Slater, President of RussellRhodes.com:

When did your site launch?  Give us a brief history of your business.
We launched in 1997.  We sell over 2,000 unique and custom personalized Christmas ornaments, many of which are original designs by Russell Rhodes.

How long have you been using Miva Merchant?  WebNet Hosting?
I used Miva Merchant once around seven years ago and I didn’t like it.  I tried it again last year, thought it was much improved and I now use it on over eight websites.    I have been with WebNet for about six or seven years.

If applicable, were you using Miva before you switched to WebNet?  If not, what made you switch?  If so, what made you signup with WebNet?
I was looking for a robust shopping cart software that could handle a lot of custom data fields, as everything I sell is personalized.  Nothing involves just a “add to basket” button.  I switched primarily to leave a suppressive, horrible, unfriendly company called Dydacomp and their shopping cart called Sitelink.

What do you like most about Miva Merchant?
It has the power to handle a lot of customer data input very well via attribute fields.

What do you like most about WebNet Hosting?
The service and help desk have been absolutely amazing.  I have NEVER had an experience even half as good as WebNet Hosting.  WebNet is the fifth hosting company I have used in nine years and I have every reason to believe I’ll never need to go anywhere else.  Seriously, I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to get a technical question answered at 1AM right when I need the answer.  The longest wait time I’ve ever had in the peak of the day has been 40 seconds.  Every need has been met and it’s really the people at WebNet that make it what it is.  PJ and Vincent have been invaluable to me.

What do you like least about Miva?  What are some common problems?
It’s still very “1990″ in terms of uploading data.  You can’t upload categories, headers, footers …  the list is long.  Even when you take into account all the modules out there, nobody makes a module to upload all info (for example: categories).  I have two different modules that upload various parts of categories, but nobody makes a module to import the category images.  So, I have to go hand code the image paths x 180 categories.  Very antiquated in terms of data upload.

What do you like least about WebNet?  What would you change?  What features would you add?
Seriously, the only thing you could add would be a personal masseuse while I am speaking with tech support.  I’m joking, of course, because I don’t have the slightest complaint about anything.  I can’t find one.

How many items do you offer for sale on your site?
I have nine Miva websites with WebNet Hosting.  I’m adding two more over the next two months.  All together, I offer over 5,000 products.

What Miva features do you use most?
All my %^&(* modules.  Without them, I couldn’t use Miva at all.

Which are your favorite modules and why?

I couldn’t live without toolkit and the prod and cat templates.  However, without the other import utilities, I still wouldn’t use Miva.  I simply can’t enter 25,000 pieces of data by hand.

Have you had any third-party development done on your site?
Yes.  I’ve taught myself html and a little php, but I couldn’t find a book on “Miva script” so it was a better use of my time to hire someone.  But even that was difficult.  There were not a lot of “Miva coders” clamoring for my business.  I felt lucky to find two very good ones.

What do you use for credit card payments and what have your experiences been?
MasterCard and VISA.  I won’t pay Amex fees.  I added Paypal and, as expected, sales went up 20%.

How many employees do you have?
Eight of my nine websites are seasonal for the Christmas season.  So from January through August, there’s one employee — me.  From October through December, there are usually about fifteen people working in various capacities.

What are your strategies for SEO?
You’d have to hire me as a consultant.  My main site is PR6 and ranked in the top 2 spots for over 100 keywords.  All other sites are the #1 page for their dozen or so keywords.

What were some of your biggest mistakes? (so that others can possibly learn from them)
The biggest mistake I made was paying an SEO firm $500/month for 10 months until I fired them.

What have been your biggest successes?
Deciding to do my own SEO.  Studying Google’s algorithm for 700 days.  I did a lot of live site testing, with the final result a close approximation of their mathematical model for ranking sites.  And then continuously testing and following SERPs over time because Google’s algorithm is dynamic.  And so are their penalty models.  In the end, it’s a big math formula, and I’m amazed in hindsight how much “opinion” there is about a math formula.  In the end, it is only and utterly math.  Brilliant math, but still math.  This means it can be understood by anyone.  There’s no need to have a “professional opinion” about what Google will like.  In addition, listening to what Matt Cutts says on video or writes in his blog doesn’t hurt either.

Take the time to peruse the inventory at RussellRhodes.com today!

Many owners and operators of companies large and small have a tendency to either forget about or overlook the use of coupons as a promotional and marketing tool.  Coupons are often thought of as thing of the past, with memories of parents and grandparents huddled over a stack of newspapers, scissors in hand, searching for the next big bargain.

With the Internet becoming the modern marketplace and the slow death of the traditional newspaper, coupons have evolved beyond the print media.  The online coupon has become a formidable method of promoting a business while simultaneously saving the cash-strapped general public some money and encouraging competition between businesses.

Coupons are a powerful way of branding and gaining publicity for a business.  By highlighting sales and current promotions, you can drive quality traffic to your online store.  Traffic originating from a coupon is the kind of traffic that leads to conversions and this is the type of traffic that an online storeowner needs to generate, especially in this current economy.

There are currently a number of coupon sites online and they are becoming increasingly popular.  They make their money from selling ads on their sites because of the staggering amount of visitors that check out these sites in search of money-saving purchases.  Since the websites are making their money by selling ad space, there are generally no charges or fees for businesses placing coupons on these sites.  Not to mention, all of the stores that have coupons on these popular websites are receiving high quality backlinks to their site.  This is a surefire way of building links, page rank and climbing up the SERPs (search engine results pages).

A smart coupon strategy is to create a coupon that directs visitors to your Clearance or Sale page where discounted goods are already listed.  You do not even have to go out of your way to fabricate a special sale.

The use of coupons can be a highly successful method of promoting your online business.  Coupons do not need to be thought of strictly in the traditional sense.  There is a whole new market for modern coupons.

WebNet Hosting, a Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004, offers fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting with 100% uptime as well as e-commerce solutions and basic web hosting.

A principle selling point for cPanel is how it turns an abundance of previously complex processes into simple point and click processes thus making life less complicated for its users. The cPanel interface is extremely user-friendly and intuitive to even novice users.

The cPanel Automated Control Panel puts the power back into the client’s hands. Clients can now perform tasks that used to only be able to be completed by the web host providing the client with a more hands-on approach in the management and maintenance of their websites.

Website owners should have no fears that cPanel will be over their heads. If any questions or problems arise there are numerous tutorials and help files available 24/7.

Some formerly tiresome tasks that cPanel simplifies include:

· Uploading and managing web pages

· Creating email accounts

· Backing up data

· Viewing detailed visitor statistics

· Creating logs to aid diagnose problems

· Installing common web applications (ie: blogs & forums)

cPanel includes top-notch security defense systems like virus protection and rootkit detection. Thanks to its monitoring and update system, users will be alerted instantaneously of any failed services or potential threats.

cPanel is recognized as the most powerful automated control panel on the market and can help take your website to the next level.

cPanel comes standard with all packages offered by WebNet Hosting, Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004.  WebNet Hosting provides fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting with 100% uptime as well as e-commerce solutions and basic web hosting.

Please give us a call at 1-877-503-HOST (4678) for more details!

Each month we profile a client that is operating a successful e-commerce site in our newsletter and blog.  This month’s company is Youngevity,  located online at Youngevity.net.  Youngevity is an authorized distributor of a line of healthy mineral supplements created by Dr. Joel Wallach.  The following is an interview with Christopher Scruby of Youngevity.net:

When did your site launch?  Give us a brief history of your business.
Originally we started on the web in 1995 writing natural health articles and marketing products for Dr. Joel Wallach (of “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie” fame).

We did not even have a shopping cart then. At that time it was phone in only and needless to say it was a slow process. We built our first websites with Notepad. There were few service providers that were stable at all and would crash constantly with nonexistent tech support. It was hard to keep a business up and running.

How long have you been using the Miva Merchant Hosting services from WebNet Hosting?
We found Miva in 2004. But we did not use it right away, mainly because our old host was having trouble making it function.

We moved our first site to WebNet in September of 2009, and then in December we moved our entire web presence to them.

So you were using Miva before you switched to WebNet?  If not, what made you switch?  If so, what made you sign-up with WebNet?
The hosting company we were with was not really able to support Miva well and minor problems became disasters. The site was not able to stand without constant intervention, sometimes offline for 24 hours or more. It was not a good way to do business online; totally self-defeating. We spent weeks working on the site to finally see orders coming in then it would stop, only to discover that the site was down and my last host was clueless as to how to fix it. Finally, we were out of business during Christmas and our old host was moving the server (during Christmas)? This was too much and it was then we found WebNet to be the best solution.

My hat is off to PJ and Vince of WebNet, who took a disaster (my Miva storefront), moved it, fixed it and had it running in 24 hours.  Actually, they moved two Miva storefronts. One was damaged and we had a hard time getting the files to make the move. We would have lost a year of work, not to mention Christmas sales revenue, if the WebNet team had not jumped in to fix it so quickly.

I cannot say enough about the WebNet crew! They are PRO and they respond quickly when I need them and seem to have the right answers. I have never seen this type of instant service in 15 years on the net.

What do you like most about Miva Merchant’s shopping cart software?
I like the Miva interface mainly because it is predictable in form and function. Once you get the learning curve behind you it becomes second nature to make modifications.

Making mods is well supported in the forums and if you do make mistakes, it is easy to revert to a copy that was working before.

Making product changes is not a big hassle as the fields are well defined and you do not have to be a tech guru to update product data on the fly. For us, this is crucial since we offer about a thousand items and they change all the time. Miva makes this so easy to manage that even our non-tech staff can update product data with little hassle.

What do you like most about WebNet Hosting?
This all comes back to the point, we were doing ok before WebNet, we stayed in the game but there were always problems on our site that would make it tough for us to grow. Plus, we had no real solid tech support to point us in the right direction. We are finally able to show a consistent growth of sales and revenue starting from the time we came to WebNet until now. We are having one highest ever monthly profit after another.

It is the same site, what is the difference? There has been minimal disruption of service for one thing. These servers are very stable and I always get immediate response from support. WebNet’s servers are fast; this translates into customers not leaving because of slow response.  A hidden benefit of fast servers is that search engine spiders will get deep into your site where you want them, as the time a spider stays on one site is short and limited by design. I can compare this activity to my older logs and see that there was nowhere near this much activity by the spiders before moving to WebNet.

This is key to being in business on the web. Speed of service, stability, durability of service.

How many items do you offer for sale on your site?
We currently have about 800 different products from 14 different product lines with more to add.

Do you use any modules?
Just the show basket and the mini basket. We try to keep the site as simple as possible because it seems as though our customers are more interested in getting right to the point which is getting their product ordered securely, rather than shopping on a flashy site.

Have you had any third-party development done on your site?
No, we have been hands on since the start in 1995. It makes more sense to me to be able to keep hands on rather than count on a “would be” developer to keep it updated for you. I have seen that go far astray of what is considered optimal in managing a site.

What do you use for credit card payments and what have your experiences been?
We have always handled credit card payments in house and never had problems.  Then again, we are still old school in that area. We have always taken security very seriously in this office and work behind layers of firewalls and limited access to our processing system.

How many employees do you have?
We have a small crew here of less than ten team members so everyone has overlapping functions.

What are your strategies for SEO?
First and foremost, I don’t spam the head tag with unrelated tags and keywords. Also, I spend time daily studying my logs to see keyword trends. Don’t make the mistake of guessing what people are searching to find you. Always remember that trends change and if you are not paying attention you will be yesterday’s news. Also, write real content (articles with some real meat on them) and never ever copy another person’s articles — having duplicate content is a sure path to page 1000 on the results. Furthermore, follow the Miva Forum for SEO tutorials because one can always glean new insight from the Pros.

What were some of your biggest mistakes? (so that others can possibly learn from them)
Read the SEO section above. Those lessons were learned through painful experience. Also, as you can see, the wrong hosting provider can do more damage to your online marketing efforts than you could ever possibly imagine. It hides out there as a hidden “WHY” things are not happening for you. If you are not on top of it you will be out of the game before it starts. Make sure the host is not limiting your bandwidth or dumping you on an overloaded shared server with a spammer that keeps getting your whole IP block banned for Viagra ads. You laugh — but it happens frequently! Don’t cheap out on domain services. We had a few heart stoppers in the early days with domain registration services. Go ahead and register your site for at least five years just for piece of mind. We had a (not to be mentioned here) cheapo registrar that actually gave my prime domain to my competition over the phone. So save the heartache. Spend the bucks with a reputable service.

What have been your biggest successes?
I guess the biggest success has been that I am still here doing this business online after starting from scratch with a 33mhz computer, 4megs of ram, two 20 meg hard drives, Windows 3.1 and a 1400 bps modem that was so slow, I could put coffee on and get the kids ready for school in the time it took to load a web page and download the email, providing it did not crash … 15 years ago!

Finding WebNet was a stroke of luck and for the first time I have been able to get back to building new sites and upgrading my existing sites, instead of constantly having to deal with crisis management. The professional hosting environment frees up a lot of energy one could waste on substandard providers, which by their nature are a risk due to incompetence.

Thanks for everything, WebNet! I feel we have finally arrived!

Take the time to visit Youngevity.net to learn more about their healthy mineral supplements and Dr. Wallach’s ideas!

Online business operators have a tendency to forget that the company hosting their store is the foundation of their business and a successful business needs a strong and reliable foundation. When looking for a web host, remember that finding the company with the cheapest price is not the goal. Paying a higher fee for better service and more dependability is ultimately the smartest decision. Conversely, the most expensive company is by no means going to be the best either.

When launching a new e-commerce business, finding the best shopping cart hosting for your needs can be a tremendously daunting task. There are simply so many web hosts out there and it is a tiresome and grueling process to separate the good guys from the bad. Many folks looking to start a website begin by checking out web hosting review sites and directories. On these sites, you can read what clients have to say about their current and former web hosts.

When searching for a host, do not be suckered into buying into gimmicks. Things like “unlimited” plans may sound appealing but there is really no such thing as “unlimited.” When a company says unlimited, that means that your site will be generally placed on an overcrowded server where you will be forgotten about. It’s important to research the history of the company and find a reliable host that is not trying to use sneaky marketing tactics to gain customers.

Your Host Dramatically Impacts the Performance of Your Store

There are a variety of major ways that your web host impacts the performance of your online store including:

1. Uptime and Downtime
2. Technical Support
3. Site Speed and Page Load Times
4. Management of your account including data, email, backups
5. Virus Protection
6. Defense from Hackers and Malware
7. The ability of your hosting to grow with your business (you should be able to increase hard drive space with one quick, simple call)
8. Your host should aid with the technical aspects of accepting credit card orders, including setting up a payment processing system.
9. Hosts should help you find developers or Miva Modules to make your site function properly.

No Such Thing As Good Downtime

Choosing a reliable web host and the correct plan for the amount of traffic your site will generate is of the utmost importance to the success of your online business. Site uptime and downtime are perhaps the most important components of how web hosting affects an online store’s performance. Downtime can really break an online business quickly.

Simply speaking, when your site is down and inaccessible then customers cannot make purchases and you cannot make money. Furthermore, potential customers cannot peruse your site. Let’s face it – people shop online to save time and money. If your site is continuously down then you will not be able to make it in the competitive marketplace of the Internet.

The industry standard for web hosts regarding downtime is a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Never sign up for a hosting package that does not guarantee at least 99.9% uptime because this will surely negatively impact the performance of your store. To put it in more practical terms, with 99.9% uptime, your site should never encounter more than around 45 minutes of total downtime per month.

Sometimes there might be a situation where your server has a critical error and your site may not be online for 99.9% of the month. In any such case, it is your host’s responsibility to credit your account with the pro-rated amount you owe for that month’s charges.

Quality Support is a Must

Reliability and good technical support go hand in hand. When choosing a new host, make sure that they have an excellent support staff. When you first call them, go with your gut instinct. Do they sound knowledgeable and easy to understand? Are they polite? Ask detailed questions and make sure you get well-informed responses. You want to have the comfort of knowing that in any instances of malfunction your issues will be resolved quickly and correctly. A solid web host will have email and phone support available 24/7/365.

Looking, feeling and operating professionally are critical components to running an e-commerce business. Having a sub par web host will toss professionalism out the window rather quickly. It is imperative to establish trust between you and your customers in order to successfully sell online. Customers will not feel safe spending their money with a site that seems unprofessional in any manner.

A Speedy Site is Essential

Another manner in which your web host can impact your store’s performance is your page load times. This can even affect your ranking within Google and the other search engines as they begin using site speed as a factor to determine page rank on the results pages. Having fast load times is imperative not only for the sake of ranking well with search engines but to make your customer’s happy. No customers like a slow site and chances are that if your site is not performing well, they might just click on over to your competition.

A Solid Web Host + A Good Business Model = Happy Customers + Success

Unsatisfactory web hosting can directly impact the customers of your store. Therefore, it is imperative that you choose a quality web host that will not play a part in your store functioning inadequately. Studies have shown that approximately fifty percent of consumers will leave a preferred site if they are experiencing technical problems. All it takes is one unhappy customer to begin the process of bringing down your business. If a customer is not happy the following results could occur:

1. They may never return to your store as a shopper again (this is especially traumatic to your business if they are repeat customers)
2. Word of mouth is a big deal. Unhappy customers have big mouths and they will most likely vent their frustrations with others.
3. A dissatisfied customer may leave a negative review regarding your business on a forum, message board or review site. One bad review can stick with you and your business forever so you must go to all lengths to avoid them. If it does happen, be proactive about it and try to squash it as soon as possible. Try to explain your side and apologize to the customer (remember, the customer is always right). Offer the person a discount or their money back to appease them. With today’s social networks, news travels fast. One tweet could go viral and your brand and image can be quickly tarnished.

WebNet Hosting provides fully PCI Compliant Miva Merchant Hosting and have been a Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004.

ENSURE COMPLIANCE NOW WITH MIVA MERCHANT:
Today, June 1st marks the day that all e-commerce websites must ensure that they adhere to the new PA-DSS (Payment Application – Data Security Standard) as established by the PCI (Payment Card Industry). The PCI is composed of all major credit card companies and establishes the guidelines all merchants, payment applications and web hosts must adhere to.

This is not good news for anyone involved in the e-commerce sector.  There is no set punishment established for non-compliance with the new PA-DSS.  If an online storeowner is found to be non-compliant then they will likely be charged increased merchant fees and penalties, face hefty fines and in some cases have their merchant account or even their entire website terminated.

Most of the confusion and controversy revolves around who exactly needs to comply with the new DSS.  The answer to this is somewhat complex but the primary rule of thumb is that if your store processes credit cards online then you need to use a shopping cart that is PA-DSS certified in order to be PCI Compliant.

As an e-commerce merchant, vendor or retailer (those operating a business online), it is your duty to ensure you are utilizing fully PCI Compliant Miva Web Hosting and that your shopping cart application is PA-DSS certified.  If either your host or cart is not compliant with the PCI than your site is in trouble.  Many carts and other merchant service providers are still shuffling to get scanned and added to the list of compliant applications before the July deadline.

With their new production release 7, aka “Wombat,” Miva Merchant is now a fully PA-DSS certified shopping cart application.  Premier Partner Miva Merchant Hosts, WebNet Hosting offers fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting.  WebNet Hosting offers unrivaled e-commerce hosting, 100% guaranteed uptime and unrivaled technical and customer support.

If you are in the market for new shopping cart software than you do not want to use a program that is non-compliant with the PCI or PA-DSS.  It is not worth losing money or possibly your business over something so simple to remedy.  The responsibility falls on you – the storeowner – to find a host and cart that are compliant with the PCI and to fulfill the required network scans and questionnaires.

PCI Compliance vs PA-DSS – what’s the difference?
The PA-DSS (Payment Application – Data Security Standard) applies to products that are distributed as applications that people can purchase and then do whatever they wish.  For example, this applies to shopping cart programs and e-commerce solutions.  The DSS started as the PABP (Payment Application Best Practices) by Visa before becoming affiliated with the PCI Security Council, which represents all five major credit card companies.  In order to be PCI Compliant you must be on a DSS certified application.  In other words, your cart must be compliant.

PCI Compliance is a broader set of rules and guidelines.  The PCI Compliance rules are the standards for the way in which credit card transactions and other confidential information is processed online.

As of July 2010, both PCI and PA-DSS Compliance are necessary for a site that accepts credit card payments.  The PCI applies to all e-commerce businesses, web hosts, shopping carts, payment gateways and merchant account providers.  Miva Merchant shopping cart hosting is now fully DSS certified and has been added to Visa’s list of compliant companies.  The PCI Compliance rules are the standards for the way in which credit card transactions and other confidential information is processed online.

In order to be fully PCI compliant with the new PA-DSS, level 4 merchants must be running compliant applications on their site (such as their shopping cart).  Their web hosts must also be PCI compliant by using properly encrypted networks, regularly updating their anti-virus software and performing regular system scans.

There are a number of PCI scanning companies approved by Visa and MasterCard that will help small merchants pass PCI audits and complete the PCI questionnaire in order to show PCI compliance. Being fully PCI and DSS compliant is like having an insurance policy in the event of a security breech.

For the list of requirements that QSAs will be checking for in your scan check out:
https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_pa_dss.shtml

PCI vs. PA-DSS: What’s the Difference?
The PA-DSS applies to products distributed as applications that people can download and use however they went.  For e-commerce operators, this refers to their shopping cart and shopping cart hosting solutions.  By July 1^st 2010, all shopping carts must be compliant with the new PA-DSS.  If your website uses a cart or host that is non-compliant with PCI Security regulations then your store risks being charged higher fees and penalties for transactions, fines and even the possible cancellation of your merchant account.  If your merchant account were to be cancelled then your business could no longer accept credit cards, which could very well put you out of business.

Becoming compliant with the PA-DSS is a very costly process for developers and distributors of shopping cart software.  Many of the open-source shopping carts on the market will not be able to afford audits performed by the PCI’s Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs) and therefore will not be compliant by the deadline.  As an e-commerce merchant, it is your responsibility to ensure that your cart is PA-DSS certified.  If your cart is not compliant with the DSS then your site is not PCI Compliant and you will need to switch to a compliant cart in order to remedy this.

If you are opening a new store then you must make sure that you are signing up with a compliant cart and a PCI web host.  By the July deadline, all level 4 merchants must be hosted on DSS certified applications regardless of whether or not they store credit card data.  There are some exceptions to this rule.  For example, if you strictly use a third-party service such as PayPal, Google Checkout or Amazon Payments and credit card numbers never touch your server then you might not have to prove compliance.

PCI Compliance covers a broader spectrum than the DSS and involves the host of your website rather than only your shopping cart and applications.  Managed e-commerce hosting providers are responsible for following the guidelines laid out by the PCI Security Council in order to be fully PCI Compliant.  Web hosts must follow the rules of the PCI by making sure their anti-virus is up to date and the proper firewalls are in place.  As an e-commerce business operator, you must ensure that your host is PCI Compliant or you cannot legally process credit card transactions on your site.

Why Does the PCI Exist?
The biggest reason that the PCI was created is to protect banks from having to reissue credit cards, which is extremely costly.  When something costs banks money, it trickles down to their clients and the consumers in the form of increased fees.  One security breech can compromise hundreds or even thousands of credit cards.  One compromised card costs a bank approximately $100.  This can easily add up to millions and millions of dollars in replaced credit cards alone, not even taking into account stolen merchandise and the refunding of fraudulently spent money.

How To Prove Compliance
First, you need to understand the different merchant levels.  Online stores are rated from level 1 to 4 and your merchant level determines the rules that you must follow in order to be compliant.  Level 1 is the highest and applies to stores that process 6 million or more transactions per year.  Level 4 applies to companies that handle less than 20,000 transactions per year.  Most small online businesses will fall into the Level 4 category.

Level 4 merchants must complete a quarterly network scan and questionnaire (there are companies like ControlScan and McAfee that will help with these steps).  Merchants and their web hosts must also follow all other PCI compliance guidelines including the following basic requirements:

• The construction and maintenance of a secure network
• Having the appropriate firewalls in place
• Proper password protection
• Performing virus scans
• Making certain that anti-virus software is routinely updated
• The encryption of customer’s personal data by using SSL Certificates
• Protecting sensitive data to the fullest extent possible
• Regularly testing and monitoring of the security systems

If you store credit card information then it must be on a separate server that is not web accessible and can only be reached by certain certified members of the company.  They must also ensure that they have a PA-DSS compliant cart or any other applications.  Higher level merchants may even be required to have someone on staff to handle PCI Compliance issues.

As previously mentioned, if your website strictly uses a third party payment processor then you might not need to prove that you are compliant and can host all of your store on a single server.  However, not everyone has a PayPal, Amazon or Google account and in order for your online business to be taken seriously, you should probably be able to process credit cards.  If you can accept credit cards then you will not limit your sales and will be able to operate a truly successful e-commerce business.

The PCI questionnaires fall into two categories: SAQ-A (for those that do not store credit card data) or SAQ-D (those who do store credit card data).  Obviously, the SAQ-D is more work and if a credit card number touches your server then you will need to complete this questionnaire.

Ensure Compliance Now!
Since July 1^st is rapidly approaching then it is in the best interest of all e-commerce storeowners to ensure PCI Security Compliance for their website(s).  It is not worth jeopardizing your business and livelihood over non-compliance.  The risks are simply too great.

Miva Merchant Web Hosts and the Miva Merchant shopping cart will be fully compliant with the PA-DSS by the July deadline.  To learn more about Miva Hosting, visit http://webnethosting.net.