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Wigged Out By Webspeak?

Baffled by bandwidth? Not to worry. Dubious about domains? Not a problem. Creeped out by crawlers and clueless about cookies? Doesn’t matter. And put down that dictionary. Web terminology is changing so rapidly that many of the words you are looking for probably aren’t even in there yet. 

Many website newcomers find themselves completely overwhelmed by the ever-changing and often confusing jargon and acronyms that are associated with the World Wide Web. And rightly so. All of a sudden bizarre words and phrases start coming out of nowhere in an effort (it seems) to confuse you to the point of no return.

That is where your web hosting company comes in. They understand the needs of your business and will take care of all of the technical details for you. They work with people just like you every day and they will tell you (in plain English, not cyberjargon) the information you need to be successful.  So relax and let them manage the Megabytes.
 
When you first hire your web host, the company will work with you to write an ebusiness marketing plan that makes sense for you.  Discuss your goals with your host. How large do you want your site to become? Will you be selling products and services? Do you need an online catalog? Your hosting company will capture this information and put together a plan. They will help you decide the amount of bandwidth you need and whether dedicated or shared hosting is your best choice.

 They will devise a way to help you measure how much traffic is visiting your site. They can also help you measure how much time visitors are spending on your site and how many times shopping carts get abandoned before a transaction is completed. All of this information will help you figure out how to better serve your customers (and make more money).

Your website is stored on your web host’s webserver which maintains high speed connections to the internet.  Anyone connected to the internet can view your website through your host’s server.

Before you completely dispense with “web words,” however, there are a few terms you need to know and understand before you jump into the world of ecommerce. Although these are very simple terms and are easy to learn, they can mean the difference between success and something you don’t even want to think about. 

• SSL
  Stands for “Secure Socket Layer” which is a web security protocol used to protect data being sent between the web browser to the web server.
• Merchant Account
An account setup so that a business can accept payments for products or services by credit card.
• Shopping Cart
Shopping cart software is software that allows the owner of the web site to easily add new items to their store without any programming. The software also allows users of the site to easily add multiple items to the list of items they want to buy and then checkout with all items at once.
• Virtual Terminal
This is a web-based interface for processing credit cards.
• Check Verification
  This is the ability to accept checks online from a customer without actually having to have the customer send you the check.

How Secure Is Your Website?

Web hosts work to maintain the server by keeping software current, applying patches and security updates when necessary and monitoring the overall health of the server hardware. They take care of all the technical aspects by providing both the equipment and the expertise to troubleshoot any problems that may arise.

Spam, also known as unsolicited bulk email, has gotten out of hand across the Internet. Ferris Research estimates that the cost of Spam to the United States economy is more than $10 billion per year. Many web hosts offer Bayesian filters to help protect their customers from Spam. These filters take a large data set and determine the probability that a message is Spam based on its similarity to previous Spam messages. A hosting company that offers this service takes Spam and virus filtering for their customers very seriously.

Because your online customers will be providing you with sensitive personal and financial data, they will need to be assured that you have systems in place to protect their information. Talk to your web host about the security measures they offer and make sure your customers understand your unwavering commitment to privacy and security.

There are large glossaries dedicated to the ever-growing collection of web terminology. At the end of the day cyberterms are just words (and acronyms) and your web host can easily facilitate the functions they represent. Your web host takes care of you so you can devote your time and energy to the people who matter most: your customers.