Everyday millions of mega bytes of data are exchanged on e-commerce sites. It's not surprising that internet users have reported data security as their primary concern. With so much financial data changing hands online, webmasters have started enrolling their websites with established certification programs. Organizations like Trust Guard grant Trust Seals based on various security and privacy parameters. To better understand the importance of seals/Trust Seals it is important to understand what a security seal is. If you have visited an e-commerce website, you might have come across a small banner that reads ?Verisign Secured? or a banner that reads ?Hacker Safe?. Both these banners are referred to as seals, and indicate that a website has been tested by a larger organization and all online transactions are safe.



Popular organizations that test websites for online safety and secure transactions are Trust Guard, BBB, Hacker Safe ScanAlert, Truste, ControlScan and Verisign. Although, all the above mentioned organizations certify websites, not all organizations offer the same certifications/seals. For example, Verisign does not offer a certified business seal and BBB does not offer a seal for security. Depending on his requirements a webmaster can apply for seals from various organizations. The only downside of getting seals is that a typical seal can cost close to $1000, and as of today only Trust Guard offers lower priced Trust Seals; all certified websites are continuously tested for security and a website found ?unsafe? has its seal revoked.

Advantages of security and verification seals

Increase sales by increasing customer confidence

As mentioned in the beginning of the article, the primary concern of online shoppers is that their financial data might not be safe. A website spending time and money to get trust seals from larger organizations comes across as professional and shoppers shop more confidently with such websites. For example, a Trust Guard Privacy seal and a Trust Guard Security seal can help increase sales by a considerable percentage and most shoppers only shop with websites that have their website tested regularly for security and privacy problems.

Enhance the reputation of a website

Today, all that separates a small e-commerce website form a large one is the usability and reliability of a website. Larger e-commerce websites spend thousands of dollars in security upgrades and hacker safe testing. Now even small e-commerce websites can make a one time investment and keep their websites safe from hackers by getting security seals, thus competing with larger websites when it comes to secure online transactions. In fact, the recent boom in e-commerce websites can be attributed both to cheaper storage technology and safer online shopping.

Peace of mind for webmasters

Organizations like Trust Guard are continuously monitoring and testing certified websites to check if they are truly hacker safe. In essence, for a website to keep its Trust Seal it will have to be compliant with all standard safety procedures and keep in tune with the latest in online safety. Security organizations like Trust Guard are thus eliminating the need for an in-house safety testing organization by offering Trust Seals.

For more information on Trust Seals visit www.trust-seals.com