Security is a great and very important challenge for any online retailer, and hopefully you will take it very seriously too. Remember that the more reliable online shopping or e-commerce is perceived to be by the general public, the more people will migrate to Internet-based commerce. Everyone who runs an e-commerce site has a responsibility to maintain strict security and protection standards in order to provide a safe and reliable environment for consumers everywhere. This chapter has put you well on the path to doing precisely this.
Since reporting facilities are such a commonplace requirement, we took the opportunity to look at how to implement more reporting into our store, as well as looking at how to make use of the community through a reporting contribution. We also did a bit of fun stuff, working on button templates, which will help to spruce up your site no end. This part of web development is always great fun for the creatively minded entrepreneur, but don’t get too carried away and end up with a gimmicky store. Remember that you should only ever incorporate those things that actually add value in some quantifiable way.
The final part of this chapter looked at how to increase your store’s profile on search engines through the use of search engine optimization. Ensuring that you have a high page ranking for your particular key terms is a very important factor in determining how much traffic your site generates. Think of the analogy like this: A high page ranking equates to having a high street store, where everyone walks past and peers in the window every day. Having a low page ranking is like owning a shop down a dark back alley where it is unlikely people will suddenly drop in.
By now you should pretty much be able to do whatever it is you wish in terms of adding and removing pictures, boxes, writing, buttons, banners, and so on. I’m sure you’ll agree that owning and running an online business is one of the most multi-tasking, multi-discipline business opportunities that the modern world has to offer. The fundamentals of economics haven’t changed though—work hard and look for the gaps, and you will do just fine.
Congratulations on finishing this book, and I wish you every success in your endeavors!