If you do not currently have an SSL for your website, it’s time to bring your site up to date! An SSL certificate gets your site secure. It’s time to say Yes to HTTPS!
When you don’t have your site secure, visitors get a “This site is not secure” or even worse, a WARNING! with a “Go back to safety” button.
Here is an example of what people see if the SSL certificate is not installed (notice the http address) vs. what they see if the SSL certificate is installed (a secure site will have https address-the “s” stands for secure):
In simple terms, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is used to identify a website and encrypt information sent to the server. If a user on your website enters information to a web server, that user’s browser will then access the digital certificate that is on the server and create a secure connection. In late 2017, Chrome and Firefox web browsers began requiring websites with any kind of “text input” such as a login panel, contact form, search bars, etc, to have an SSL certificate if they wanted to avoid a “Not Secure” warning in the address bar.
In the past, we mainly recommend SSL certificates for e-commerce sites with an online shopping cart requiring collection of credit card information. Now, we recommend that every website has one. Here’s why:
Builds Trust & Brand Power
With SSL certificates, your customers will see visuals like lock icon and green address bar that indicates well-trusted encryption is in use. A customer will see that on your website and be assured that information is traveling safe. As an added benefit, HTTPS sites also load significantly faster.
Improves SEO
Google search has also been giving SEO priority to websites with SSL certificates on the basis that the user experience is better due to an increased feeling of security.
So now that you know what a SSL certificate is and why it is important to have one, where do you get one?
The average cost for an SSL Certificate is about $70/per year from your hosting provider and will take a couple hours to implement for your site. This brings me to one of our fave quotes “Do what you do best and pay others to do the rest.” You might be able to install your own SSL Certificate, but we don’t advise it. Trust us when we say it really isn’t worth the time and frustration to attempt this on your own. There are multiple steps of the installation, so ask your web folks to do this for you or your hosting company may be able to install it as well, but it is absolutely worth paying someone else to install this if it doesn’t fall under your area of expertise.
Your SSL certificate will need to be renewed annually like your domain name, so worth it!
Ellevate your credibility by adding your SSL certificate today. If you need help, let us know!