Ecommerce Servers and SSL Processing Power

One driving force behind SSL (Secure Sockets Layer ) technology in the ecommerce industry is the need to encrypt parts of online consumer transactions to protect the security and integrity of the data exchanged during online transactions. 

SSL relies on a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data.  The longer the SSL key length the better encryption it offers -- but the trade-off is that stronger encryption requires more SSL processing power on your ecommerce server.

Understanding SSL Key Length

The big concern is that today's 1024-bit RSA key length secure certificate private keys will become vulnerable and will be broken. Government agencies have determined that the power of new hardware in today’s market can indeed break 1024-bit (1K key) security.

In fact, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Government recommend that key lengths be upgraded to 2048-bit strength to be considered secure.  Certificates with a lifecycle past December 31st, 2010 need to be 2048-bit keys (2K keys).

Peter Melerud, co-founder and vice president of product management for KEMP Technologies said that a lack of SSL processing power is the major problem that small business ecommerce site owners face when migrating to 2048-bit key lengths.

“As encryption gets stronger and more secure, the key length increases and you need more server power to serve up the same number of connections,” he explained. “Small businesses that have been using 1024-bit SSL certificates may see issues such as the website slowing down, and site users may experience issues during the check-out process with the change to 2048-bit.”

To meet certified SSL site requirements, however, you must migrate to the new keys, and in the ecommerce market it is now a must-do.  To obtain a SSL certificate for your ecommerce business, all leading SSL issuing certificate authorities now require you to buy 2K as they no longer issue 1024-bit keys. 

The Server Impact of Using Longer 2048-bit SSL Keys

The impact on how your website responds to browser requests is the major consideration when migrating to 2048-bit keys. An ecommerce server is already tasked with requests, and increased processing for handling the stronger keys can easily increase latency -- you’ll see a slowdown in time for pages and forms when loading in the browser or when being submitted.

 Increased latency can adversely affect the shopping experience by adding more time to the check-out process. “Consider a customer who has spent time browsing on your Web site," Melerud said. "They’ve invested time in looking and finding the right products to buy.  When they are ready to check-out, a new customer fills out a registration form -- which is encrypted.  You also have other processes that need to run in addition to SSL, such as serving HTML, your site content, and other back-end processes. ”

While the new 2048-bit keys for SSL encryption is said to be more than 4 billion times more secure than  1024-bit keys it also requires up to eight times more computing power for each decryption.  Ecommerce business owners who currently perform SSL encryption will be the most affected with migration.

Load balancing and SSL Processing with LoadMaster

To continue serving your site and transactions, ecommerce site owners can consider load balancing, where SSL capabilities are off-loaded to dedicated SSL devices between the server and browser connection.  Another option is to have SSL off-loaded by using a combination of server load-balance and content-switching appliances that integrate ASIC-based SSL acceleration.

Being prepared and knowing how much SSL processing power you need is the first step towards finding the right solution for your ecommerce business.  To determine what you need for SSL processing, ecommerce sites can measure transactions per second (TPS); that is the number of transactions (customer check-out and cart check-outs) per second you need to support.

The cost of supporting 2K keys varies -- KEMP Technologies upgraded its own mid-tier load balancing platforms (2600 and 3600 LoadMasters) in January, 2011 to deliver increased throughput and SSL transaction processing. The LoadMaster 2600 (priced at $ 6,990) has improved SSL transactions per second (TPS) to 2,000 TPS.  The 3600 is priced at $9,890 with SSL processing throughput of 5,000 TPS and additional features.

Melerud said that while the migration to 2048-bit keys is not law it is, however, a fact of life for ecommerce businesses. Not only are there data security and integrity concerns associated with 1024-bit keys -- but leading vendors (including VeriSign, GeoTrust, Entrust and GoDaddy) no longer issue 1024-bit keys. 

If you’re in the ecommerce business and conducting online transactions you cannot ignore this migration -- supporting 2048-bit keys is where the industry is headed.

 Looking for More Ecommerce Security Tips?

Check out these related articles on EcommerceGuide.com:

8 Security Resolutions for Ecommerce Site OwnersPCI Compliance: Does It Equal Security?Ecommerce Server: Use Load Balancing to Boost UptimeAn E-Comm Buyers’ Guide to Choosing Trustmarks

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG .

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Ecommerce Tips to Help You Build a Twitter List

Looking to wrap your arms around this whole Twitter thing? Our small business marketing offers expert Twitter advice, plus his usual mix of free marketing tips that you can easily incorporate into your small business ecommerce website.

You'll find this mini-goldmine of marketing advice on our sister site, Small Business Computing. It's a short, fun-and-fact-filled video episode that's loads of fun – and it'll help you grow your business. How cool is that?

This week's episode of Help! My Business Sucks offers up another great mix of free marketing tips that you can put to work in your small business. Whether you're new to Twitter or you're tweeting like a pro, you can benefit from tips on how to build a following and how to use the social media platform more effectively.

Read the complete article: Marketing Tips: Build a Twitter List

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eBay Sees Payments Booming as Ecommerce Goes Mainstream

As eBay looks ahead to the next chapter in the development of the pioneering ecommerce company, CEO John Donahoe sees substantial growth opportunities in new platforms, touting the continuing convergence of traditional brick-and-mortar retail and the online sector.

"Today, ecommerce has grown as a percentage of offline retail. But we're no longer thinking in terms of ecommerce. That's just too limiting in a world where online and offline are converging faster than anyone expected. In fact, to us, it's no longer ecommerce -- it's just commerce," Donahoe proclaimed on Thursday at eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY) annual presentation for analysts and investors. "New rules of retail are being written today."

Donahoe outlined a rosy vision for his company's future. Beyond the secular shift in the retail industry that has seen more shoppers forgo the mall in favor of the Web, he looks to new frontiers in the digital sector that present opportunities for both eBay and its affiliate merchants.

Of the four prevailing trends Donahoe identified as reshaping the ecommerce sector -- mobile, local, social and the sale of digital goods such as media and games -- mobile might represent the biggest immediate near-term opportunity.

Donahoe boasted that the company's mobile apps, viewed as little more than a novelty just two years ago, have now been downloaded more than 30 million times. Last year, eBay users moved more than $2 billion of merchandise using mobile devices, and the company is projecting that figure to more than double in 2011.

"The impact of mobile technology on ecommerce and payments is just beginning," Donahoe said. "Most of you know that mobile devices will surpass desktops and laptops as the primary way people access the Internet around the world."

As mobile shopping follows traditional ecommerce into the mainstream, Donahoe urged smaller retailers to focus on reaching their customers on all platforms, ranging from PCs to Web-enabled TVs and everything in between. He said eBay is pursuing a "technology-agnostic and device-agnostic" strategy. In mobile, that means developing apps for RIM, Apple, Google and Microsoft devices that deliver a common shopping experience.

The strategy of making a marketplace available to shoppers on any device and platform also extends to the new ways consumers are engaging with the Web, with perhaps no trend looming larger than the rise of social media.

"Shopping is an inherently social experience," Donahoe said. "With Facebook and other networks, new ways of incorporating social behavior and shopping are emerging. We're still in the early days, and I think you'll see a lot of experimentation and innovation over the next couple of years. And I would characterize social commerce today as roughly where mobile was a couple years ago."

eBay is particularly bullish on its payments business. Donahoe predicted that within three to five years, PayPal would become a bigger business than eBay's core Marketplace operation.

PayPal President Scott Thompson said PayPal's annual revenue is projected to reach $6 billion to $7 billion by 2013, doubling from the 2010 mark. Already this year, he said the division is on track to rake in revenues of $4.2 billion.

Thompson described eBay's work to develop a PayPal wallet that will function as a cloud-based payment service, emphasizing the robust security mechanisms the company is developing to protect users' most sensitive information.

"Moving payments to the cloud is complex stuff," Thompson said. "When you're talking about people's money, you've got to get it right. The margin for error is zero."

But PayPal is bound and determined to broaden its reach, and Thompson said the service would be available as a payment option at physical retailers' point-of-sale terminals by the end of the year.

Kenneth Corbin is an associate editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

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15 EBay Listing Tools to Make Selling Online Easier, Faster

While eBay offers its own listing tools for sellers, some people find it time consuming to use them or discover that eBay's own tools don't provide the listing features you want -- like listing your inventory across multiple auctions sites in addition to your own Web store.

Each of the eBay tools on this list is available for less than $25 per month. However, many of the tools we list offer a free trial so you can try them to see which ones suit your needs before making any cash investment.

15 Best EBay Auction Listing Tools

 1. AuctionSound is an eBay auction management software product that sellers can use to manage eBay consignment and online inventory. The software provides options for image hosting, eBay templates and consignor management and reporting tools. Pricing starts at a $24.99/month; free 30-day trial.

 2.  AuctionSplash is a desktop tool that gives eBay sellers access to listing templates, picture hosting (up to eight photos) and scheduling. The service offers a no-hassle, single-page listing screen.  AuctionSplash is free to use.

 3.  Auctiva auction management provides a number of tools including professionally designed eBay templates, marketing tools, image hosting, listing software, and inventory management.  Pricing starts at $19.95/month; free 30-day trial.

 4.  Blackthorne Basic is a software application that lets you create professional listings in bulk, track the status of sales, and manage buyer communication and feedback -- all from your desktop. Pricing starts at $9.99/month; free 30-day trial.

5.  ChannelMAX is an inventory management service that lets you create a Web store, plus list your inventory to multiple online marketplaces including eBay, Overstock and uBid. You can schedule listings, create listing templates and more.  Pricing starts at $24.99/month.

 6.  eBay Selling Manager is free for all eBay sellers, and you can access it from within your "My eBay" tab. The tool is designed to help medium-volume sellers manage their eBay listings. Features include the option to track active listings, generate bulk feedback, and print invoices and labels in bulk.  The eBay Selling Manager is free via an eBay account.

 7.  eBay Turbo Lister is a free listing tool that lets sellers list multiple items and upload in bulk to eBay. Turbo Lister offers bulk-editing capability, search tools and a toolbar for better control of your listings. The eBay Turbo Lister is free via an eBay account.

8.  EZLister.Net is a Web-based auction business management solution. Sellers can use EZLister.Net to automate routine tasks associated with listing and managing eBay auctions and item listings. Pricing is based on a per-listing fee.

9.  Infopia offers SaaS (Software as a Service) ecommerce solutions including a Marketplaces product that helps you to build a multi-channel business by optimizing product sales across your own website and online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. Sellers can manage all online inventory, marketplace listings and orders from one place.  Contact Infopia for pricing details.

 10. Page Mage is a listing tool with creative and interactive eBay templates. Sellers can add video, moving text, slideshows and more to any eBay listing page. Pricing starts at $9.95/month for unlimited listings; free for 24 listings per month.

11. ProStores offers sellers a complete ecommerce platform, including Web store, shopping cart, built-in templates and more. EBay sellers can sync eBay and ProStores inventory and also list on eBay from the ProStores interface. Pricing starts at $20.95/month in addition to per transaction fees; free 30-day trial.

 12. SitePal  is a hosted service that lets you create a speaking avatar for your eBay listing or website. Character options let you use your own photo and record your own voice or use built-in Text-To-Speech.  Pricing starts at $19.95/month; free 15-day trial.

13. Solid Commerce is a multi-channel ecommerce platform designed to let you sell and list items across a number of sites including eBay and Amazon. Inventory management features lets you synchronize your inventory stock levels in real-time across your various sale channels, and manage your business from a central interface.  Pricing is based on monthly sales revenue.

 14. Supreme Auction is an eBay-compatible application that lets you create multiple listings and submit them to eBay. The application offers free template designs, widgets, images and more. With this tool you can list on eBay U.S., eBay UK, eBay Germany. Supreme Auction is free with optional paid upgrades available.

15. Vendio eBay Listing Software is part of the Vendio Platform and lets you create and manage your online auction pages. The Vendio Platform is a multi-channel solution that manages sales across eBay, Amazon, a Vendio Store and more.  Pricing for Vendio Marketplace is based on monthly sales revenue; free 60-day trial and free Web store.

 Tell us about your favorite eBay listing tools in the comments section below. We love to hear what tools  our readers use to get the job done.

Looking for More eBay Tools and Tips?

Check out these related articles on EcommerceGuide.com:

5 Market Research Tools for EBay SellersShipping Tips and Free Tools for E-tailersGlamour Shots: Inspiring Inventory with Free Image EditorsEBay Tools: Off-eBay Options to Publish ListingsSeller Tools: EBay Compatible Shopping Carts

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.

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Review: Campaigner Offers Free Email Marketing Service

Email marketing service provider, Campaigner, has recently announced its new service called Campaigner Free. The company states that anyone can sign up for service, which is completely free -- forever -- as long as you maintain a contact list of 500 or fewer contacts.  This service in particular would be of interest to non-profits, individual entrepreneurs and small businesses with a shoestring budget looking to boost email communications.

Getting Started with Free Email Marketing From Campaigner

In this review of Campaigner Free, we take you through the steps of registering for an account, setting up your contact list, designing a Web form to encourage website visitors to opt-in to your email list, and how to design and send your first email campaign. The registration process takes only a couple of minutes, and you don’t need to provide any credit card information. 

Step 1: Creating Your Account

The first step is to create your free account on Campaigner's website. To create the account, you provide your name, email address and also choose a security question on the first screen. The next step prompts you to provide your business and other contact details. Campaigner then sends you a confirmation email. Click the link in the email to create a password, and you're ready to start using campaigner Free.

Campaigner Free offers a nice selection of email templates plus a good editor to customize the email.
(Click for larger image).Step 2: Adding Contacts and Newsletter Subscribers

When you first log in to your dashboard administration area, you'll see two sections to customize and set-up for your business. One places your contact list in the system, and the other helps you to design a newsletter email campaign.

Add Your Email Contacts

 This part of Campaigner Free lets you add email addresses and details for people interested in receiving your email campaigns. You can also group the contact list by common interests using mailing lists. When you add contacts, you can choose to import from a file or from online service. Some import options available include: Excel or CSV files, Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo Mail. You can also manually enter the contact information individually by hand.

Once you have started a contact list, you can access the Contacts tab located at the top of your main page dashboard. From this tab you will see options to edit contact details, select contacts to receive test messages (e.g. sample out your message before sending it to the entire list) or to manage subscription options for each contact. Other contact management options you can access from this tab let you include contacts on different email lists and segment options to help you send more targeted email marketing campaigns.

Step 3: Create Your Newsletter Template

The second option lets you create or design your email newsletter.  You'll find this in the Start an Email Campaign link on the dashboard main page, or you can choose to work in the Email Campaigns tab for access to all options.

Campaigner Free offers a number of templates that you can customize to match your business. The customization wizard lets you choose from a number of template styles and themes, plus you can work with a blank page and design the newsletter yourself.

Once you have selected an email template design, Campaigner Free offers a nice WYSIWYG editor so you can easily edit existing text, provide your own copy, resize images or upload your own, add hyperlinks and more. You can also choose between working in HTML or plain text for the email. During the email creation process you can review and test what you are working on.

When you are happy with the design and have tested your email newsletter, you move into the Email Details screen where you specify the Email Campaign Name and also choose the subject line and provide your sender details. From the Email Campaigns tab you have options to schedule the email and later view reporting details for sent and incomplete details of the campaign.

At the bottom of each newsletter there will be information and a link provided for contacts to unsubscribe from the mailing list. It is extremely important to remember that any imported contact must have a relationship with you and you need to ensure compliance with Campaigner's Anti-Spam Policy.

Step 3: Create Your Newsletter Sign-Up Page

Campaigner Free also offers a sign-up form creation wizard.  This lets you create a subscription form on your website that visitors can fill out to join your mailing list.

The wizard provides quick-and-easy access to format the layout, color, and text that site visitors see when they access the form.  In the final steps of the sign-up form-creation process, you can edit the thank you message that people receive after subscribing to your mailing list.

Email Marketing Reporting and Management Tasks

The last tab in the Campaigner Free dashboard lets you view your email campaign reports. The service breaks down reports into two sections: Email Campaign Reports and Contact Reports.

The Campaigner Free dashboard offers quick access to Email Campaign and Contact reports.
(Click for larger image).

You can view the contacts report by all-contacts or by contacts-by-mailing-list. The reporting interface offers a quick graphical overview of current newsletter subscribers; unsubscribe requests, bounces and pending confirmations. 

After you have sent your first email campaign, the reporting section allows you to view in-depth newsletter details for the following areas: total emails sent, total emails received, opened, clicked through, replied, unsubscribed, spam complaints , soft bounces and hard bounces.

Campaigner Free: Who is it For?

Campaigner designed the Campaigner Free email marketing solution for non-profits, individuals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses.  Overall, this free service offers ample tools and reporting in its administration dashboard to help you start and manage an email list.

Most people will find the interface and email campaign options very easy to understand. The layout simplifies the process of contact management, email design and reporting tasks quickly.  There are just enough features and options to manage a small marketing list of 500 or fewer contacts without being lost in features and functions you simply wouldn’t use.

All newsletters sent via Campaigner Free include a link and ad for Campaigner Free at the bottom.  While some people may not use the service for this reason, some individuals may like the connection to a well-known and reputable company and service in each email.

If you grow your email marking contact list with Campaigner Free and surpass the 500 contacts limit, you can upgrade to a regular Campaigner plan which starts at $10 per month for up to 1,000 contacts with unlimited sends.

More Email Marketing Tips

From beginner guides to expert tips, our selection of email marketing tips and articles can help you to better manage your small business marketing tasks.

The Top Five E-mail Mistakes to AvoidHow to Start E-mail MarketingA Buyer's Guide to Remarketing ServicesHow to Find an E-Mail Marketing Service Provider

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG .

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Online Retail Sales Set New Record in Q4, Topping $43 Billion

Thanks in part to a gradual return of consumer confidence, online retailers posted record sales in the fourth quarter last year, marking the fifth consecutive period of year-over-year growth, according to online metrics firm comScore.

In the all-important fourth quarter, Internet merchants raked in $43.4 billion in sales, up 11 percent from the same period in 2009.

In addition to record overall sales for the three-month period, the holiday season was punctuated by multiple days that set individual bests.

"The 2010 holiday season saw the first billion-dollar day on record and several more surpassing $900 million to help propel Q4 to record spending levels," comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. Fulgoni explained that "holiday season spending was bolstered by an improving sentiment among some consumer segments and by retailers' discounting and promotions."

According to comScore's tally, the fourth quarter was the second period of the year to post double-digit annual growth, with first-quarter sales jumping 10 percent. In both the second and third quarters, sales increased 9 percent.

For much of the last decade, annual growth rates in the ecommerce sector soared at around 20 percent. But as the economy sank into recession throughout 2008, that growth trailed off, and in the fourth quarter of that year, sales actually shrank by 3 percent.

Then in the first quarter of 2009, sales were flat, but dipped 1 percent and 2 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Online retailers returned to modest positive growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, before vaulting to the double-digit increase in the first period this year.

The continued strength the sector has enjoyed throughout 2010 gives Fulgoni confidence that the worst of the economic downturn is in the past. "We anticipate that the progress we've seen in the past year as we climbed out of the recession will continue with sustained double-digit growth rates in 2011," he said.

In the most recent period, the strongest-performing categories were computer software, consumer electronics, computers and peripherals, and toys and hobbies, with sales in each posting annual growth of at least 15 percent.

The heavyweights of the industry claimed the lion's share of the proceeds during the quarter, with the 25 largest Internet retailers accounting for 68.4 percent of all sales. While that proportion represented a 5.6 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2009, comScore noted that it was a decline from the third quarter, indicating that smaller and midsized retailers are also bouncing back from the downturn.

Kenneth Corbin is an associate editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

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TurnTo Helps Retailers Provide a Social Shopping Experience

Social commerce is a hot topic for online retail businesses, and there are a number of methods and platforms available to help a small business online retailer add a social element to the business.

Long before the onset of ecommerce, the retail world relied heavily on word-of-mouth referrals and sales -- especially those that came from current customers referring their trusted friends.

TurnTo is a new social commerce startup that delivers social widgets to retailers based on this theory: friends make the most powerful references for shoppers . 

TurnTo Empowers People to Share Shopping Experiences

One obstacle that online retail stores face is providing a real-world shopping experience to online customers. Customers in a physical store, for example, may browse and converse with another shopper about an item, or they might turn to a friend and ask an opinion.  Today, when a shopper sits in front of a display screen (often alone) that kind of social shopping experience doesn’t happen.

Shopping offline is a social experience, and socializing your online store with a solution like TurnTo can help shoppers discover new products. It can also nurture the relationship and direct connection with your customers' online network of friends.

TurnTo takes an interesting approach to socializing an online retail store. In a way, the platform adds two distinct social interactions to an online store: customer interactions with ‘strangers’ that you might converse with about products while you shop, and the ‘friend’ you might connect with to discuss a product, retailer or brand.

TurnTo social widgets provide onsite social shopping power. By leveraging Facebook and other social media platforms, TurnTo lets ecommerce site visitors know which of their friends have purchased from the retailer before -- and what they bought. By validating your online store through trusted sources, the shopper feels more comfortable and develops trust in you. In addition to showing which friends have shopped with you, the TurnTo widget also shows other personal connections to the shopper, such as "friends of friends" and neighbors.

How TurnTo Works

Shoppers on-site basically see social-enabled reviews. A small “Friends” floater tab scrolls along on-site, and when shoppers click on it, they see who purchased the item and what they have to say about it. The lets shoppers see referrals from friends and other customers while they are on your site looking to buy.  On TurnTo's back-end, retailers can customize the widget to display any text, style or color to best match the tab to the retail website.

You can think of TurnTo as the broker who sits between the social services and your online store to handle the data, the connections and to safeguard privacy issues. The system will automatically check to see if a “shopping match” has opted-in to being shown as reference.  If a customer has already opted to provide referrals, the shopper on-site will see the friend's name.  In instances where no opt-in has been provided, the friend is identified only as "a friend" and TurnTo offers to broker a connection if the shopper wants it.  

TurnTo provides retailers with the tools to build up the number of opted-in references. You can request opt-ins in at multiple points including post-purchase, the order confirmation page and post-purchase emails.

The Social Commerce Value for Retailers

For the most part, the TurnTo system lets retailers show potential customers people they may know (or people near them) who have shopped in the online store.  This, in turn, gives a shopper confidence and the opportunity to validate you, as a retailer, and your products through a trusted source -- either a friend or a friend-of-a-friend.

TurnTo provides plug-and-play applications that add the onsite social shopping features to your website. The company provides integration -- which the company says averages 5 hours of IT time -- and from there you can manage your own system through a Web-based admin dashboard but TurnTo will continue to work with you, as needed, to manage and monitor your account. 

This is an added bonus for many small businesses, because so many Web-based applications leave you to go it alone or to pay higher subscription fees to access technical support for a service.

One main aspect of the service is setting up the email correspondence with customers to opt-in to social references. While TurnTo provides complete email capabilities with the service, the company will also work with merchants who want to integrate their own email marketing provider for use with TurnTo.

With your account in place, retailers can customize TurnTo so the buttons on-site match your Web store, you can customize all emails out to shoppers -- including requests for opting in to social referrals -- and access reporting online to see engagement and conversions. TurnTo reports allow you track individual orders back to TurnTo widget referrals.

TurnTo services, which include all social widgets and customer support and integration starts at $150 per month.  You can learn more about the social shopping widgets on the TurnTo website.

More Social Commerce Tips

From beginner guides to expert tips, our selection of social commerce tips and articles can help you to better manage your small business ecommerce website.

Social Media Analytics for Small Business Ecommerce Sites5 Great Facebook Shopping Cart Apps3 Ecommerce Trends to Watch in 201115 More Twitter Tools for Small Business MarketingSocial Commerce Strategies for Small Online Businesses

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG

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