If you use the Internet then chances are that you have logged in to a website. The reasons for logins are as numerous as there are websites that use them, but there are basically two methods of using them on the website for your business; web database driven logins or operating system (OS) logins.

Web database logins usually consists of a field for a username and password along with a submit button. When the user clicks the submit button the username and password information is compared by a script or program on your website against the information stored in a database. If there is a valid match the visitor is allowed to log in.

Once the user is logged in you can customize or personalize what they see. For instance if your business has dealers or distributors, they can view confidential wholesale pricing information or view their pending leads. If your site has a shopping cart, your customers can view their profile or order history once they have logged in.

An advantage of a web database login is that there are no limits to the number of different users that can access your site and you can create database logins on most all shared hosting providers. A web database login is an effective way to manage a lot of users with relative ease. It's great for businesses with

• Distributors
• Dealers
• Members
• Brokers
• Partners
• Affiliates

In almost every case the login database has stored in it the user's email address. You can use this for "lost password" reminders or to market to your prospects and customers by sending them promotions, newsletters and special offers that "attract" them back to your website

You can identify an operating system (OS) login by it's characteristic standard pop up window. When you submit your username and password the web server operating system validates your user status and if you are ok it allows you to proceed to the next web page. This can be confusing to a user who is accustomed to web form based logins as they may be unsure as to just what they are logging into.

If all you need to do is restrict access to a single area on your web server to a limited number of individuals, such as an administrative area, then OS level security is probably the cheapest and easiest to implement. In most cases all you need to do is instruct your web hosting service to apply username and password level of security to the website directory that you want to protect.

Usually websites that use OS level security to manage a lot of users decide to host or co-locate their own web server which is expensive and complicated. Most businesses don't have the time or resources to manage their own web server. For instance, all of the latest security patches have to be up to date, firewalls & account permissions need to be configured correctly, hardware & software have to be regularly updated, etc. Depending on the operating system used there may be licensing costs associated with the number of users that can be simultaneously logged in. Also, you cannot get at the user information for marketing purposes or use the "forgot password" feature for convenience.

On the other hand if your objective is to build a "magnetic" website that attracts prospects and customers and creates a meaningful experience on your website then the web database login is the way to go.