<strong>What are the Benefits of a Secure Website?</strong>
With all the reports of hackers, scammers, and downright criminals taking advantage of people on the internet, it is more important than ever to have a secure website. This is one of the most important parts of any business and if you don't have a fully secured website, you may be scaring away customers without even knowing it.

It is best to take the measures necessary to give the consumer the peace of mind in knowing you have a secure website. Even if you are not selling your own products or services, you need to be sure you have a secure website or you may be costing yourself money. Hackers can use many tricks to steal your profits if your website is not secured properly.

There are many things to look at when you are trying to ensure you have the most secure website possible. Your hosting will make a big difference and some types of hosting are more secure than others. On top of your hosting, you can add on a few features that will help keep the hackers out and give you a bit of a search engine optimization benefit as well.

<strong>Hosting for a Secure Website</strong>
The most secure type of hosting is certainly dedicated server hosting. This, also, happens to be the most expensive type of hosting out there. With a dedicated server, you don't have to share the resources of the server with anybody else and this means you will be able to customize the security. If you want the most secure website, then getting your own server should be your number one priority.

Those that cannot afford to rent or buy a server for their hosting can go with VPS hosting, which is still very secure. With VPS hosting, you will be sharing a server, but you will have a partition blocked off specifically for you. This means you will be able to customize the security of that partition. You are still a bit vulnerable it someone else on the server is attacked by a hacker, but not as vulnerable as if you had shared hosting.

Cloud hosting is also becoming very popular and can help you get a secure website for a cheaper price. If you use a public cloud with the right hosting company it can be very secure, but it does not hold a candle to a dedicated server. Even with this type of hosting being better than shared hosting, it is not the best when it comes to security.

If you know shared hosting is all you can afford, then you need to take precautionary measures to ensure you have the best possible security with shared hosting. Upgrading to a more expensive shared hosting account, like the business package from HostGator, will give you the ability to have a private SSL certificate and a dedicated IP address. These are two features that can help give you a boost in security.

In addition, when you pay for a better shared hosting package, you are usually put on a less crowded server with other accounts that have upgraded. This means all the accounts on your server will be more secure and less vulnerable to an attack.

<strong>A Secure Website for an Online Store</strong>
If you plan to sell products or services online, then you may want to get very secure shopping cart software. When a consumer gets out their credit card and is ready to make a purchase, they will check to see if they are working with a secure website. If not, they will leave and make their purchase elsewhere.

Check with your hosting company to see what type of shopping cart software they offer and how secure it is. If it is not good enough to meet your needs, you can choose one of the companies to provide a top shopping cart to ensure you have a secure website.

<strong>Ways to Secure your Web Site and Keep the Hackers Out</strong>
If you are curious to know how to secure your web site, then you have come to the right place. There are many ways to make sure you get the security you need, and you have to be sure you are not leaving this to chance. Hackers land on your website more than you think and they are looking for a very small window of opportunity to exploit.

If they find that window, they will steal your personal data and the personal information of any of your customers. This is not something you want to deal with and it is important for your business to have the necessary online credibility. This means you need to do the right things to get the security you need.

The first thing you should do to secure your web site is know the enemy. Who are the hackers and how do they work? The worst part about a hacker is that they have all kinds of time and this means they can spend days finding the way into your website, if they need that much time. The processes they use are not going to be noticed and they will be automatic and this is why they can take their time.

<strong>How to Secure Your Web Site</strong>
Start by using a content management system and keeping it updated. These systems are set up to help ensure that you don't get attacked, but if they are out of date, you may be vulnerable. Whenever the software gets updated it is to keep hackers out and this means the out of date software has already been attacked.

If you use one of the major content management systems like Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal, you will have the peace of mind you need, since they continually test for weaknesses. They almost always update their systems, when it is necessary and all you have to do is install these updates, if it is not done automatically.

Once you install the CMS you are going to use change the user name and passwords because the default ones are not secure. Don't even use "admin" as your username, as this is a default username and makes the hacker’s job much easier. You need to make sure you are not making it any easier for them as you secure your web site.

Another way that hackers will try to get in is by using your PHP error reports. If these reporting levels are set too high, hackers can use these reports to find things they need to help with what they are trying to accomplish. Turning these error messages off completely will help to take care of this problem and this will help to secure your web site.

<strong>The Final Part to Secure your Web Site</strong>
The final thing you can do to secure your web site is choose the right hosting company and package. This will help you because some companies have security measures you cannot get with others. Paying a little extra for a private SSL certificate and dedicated IP address can really help you secure your web site.