Bobs Notebook » Internet

PCI Compliance Primer

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:39:26 +0000

Here is some brief information on PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliance.

If you transmit/process credit cards transaction you must be PCI compliant. There is no way around this. You first will need to fill out a self-assessment questionnaire on a yearly basis. You will probably need to hire a third party to scan your site to look for vulnerabilities. Do not wait for your bank to ask if you are compliant. You should be proactive and ensure your site is PCI compliant.

PCI compliance is required for all merchants, no matter how small your business is. Some banks will give you a free years worth of scan. Or you pay a company like McAffee $300 plus / year to do the scans for you.

Buying Domain Names

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:17:16 +0000

Selecting the right domain name for your business is extremely important. It also proves to be very difficult to find a good domain name that is not take. It seems that the obvious good domain names have already been taken, either by existing businesses, soon to be businesses or by people hoping that the domain name may have some future monetary value.

So where can you buy domain names? What should you look for in a domain name registrar? My suggestion is to go with a reputable company with an established track record. I would also buy all of your domains with 1 company. It is much easier to manage your domain from 1 interface that you are familiar with instead of using a few different registrars.

Tips on Buying the right domain name:
1. keep it as short as possible
2. pick a .com
3. be creative
4. put 2 words togethers

Here are some companies to use:
GoDaddy.com – A very popular company. They do a lot more than just register domain names.

Google Domain Registration – I don’t have experience with their service. It seems like Google always does things right.

Network Solutions – I don’t have experience using their service.

Manage Your DNS

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:23:55 +0000

Managing your DNS information can seem overwhelming to newbies. If you are serious about building websites, managing online stores, or creating blogs, it is important you understand the basics of DNS.

You can manage your sites DNS settings with a service from DNSMadeEasy.com. It costs only about $60/year. I say only because I was paying over $500 / month for the same service form Ultra DNs. I just happen to be talking to one of our vendors one day and he mentioned how he used DNSMadeEasy to manage their DNS settings.

I was leary at first going from a $6,000/year service to a $60/year service. At this point, and I am knocking on wood, there have been zero problems. In fact, they also will ping our sites to make sure they are up and running. Within a minute or two of any of our sites going down, emails and text messages are being sent alerting us the site is down.

I will be adding to this post in the future to talk about DNS settings.