SSL Certificates

Are you looking for ways to be more competitive in your local market and outshine your competitors?

Do you want to create a better impression when visitors, potential customers, and search engines come to your website to check you out?

Acquiring an SSL Certificate will definitely be a major step toward achieving these objectives.

What is a SSL Certificate?

As opposed to being a paper or document that you receive and then store away or display on the wall, an SSL Certificate is a sophisticated technical configuration connecting your website and web hosting server to the supplier of a SSL Certificate and a website visitor, who may be a potential customer.

At the end of the set up process, the certificate is then considered “issued” or “installed.” From that point on, all the data exchanged among those entities is encrypted so it can be transmitted securely.

The result is a highly secure socket around your entire website, thus the origin of the name of the certificate, “Secure Socket Layer” or “SSL.”

Why get an SSL Certificate?

The advantages of getting a SSL Certificate can be best presented by explaining the disadvantages of not having one. In other words, what is happening as you carry on as you have been without a certificate:

• Visitors to your website now see a warning that your site is not secure. Depending on the browser the visitor is using and the security settings for that browser, this warning may be in the form of a couple words like “Not Secure” beside your URL at the top of the browser, and might be accompanied by an alert symbol such as an exclamation mark. 
• Or, they could see a harshly-worded full-page warning with a red background and maybe hazard symbols.
• The visitor may have to click on a several buttons and agree to certain conditions in order to be passed on to your site.

Whatever the warning, it is not something that inspires trust and confidence in your visitor who might also be a potential customer.

You also have to ask yourself if this is that the visitors sees when they go to your competitor’s website.

So, what do you get with an SSL Certificate?

This can be explained from three perspectives:. First, the technical advantages that what meet the eye,

• An “s” (for “secure”) is added to the full URL of your website. So, http://www.yourwebsite.com” becomes “https://www.yourwebsite.com”.
• Security warnings will disappear.
• The symbol of a padlock will appear at the front of your URL. Depending on the browser, this may be colored green. However, there has been talk that Google may phase out the green color and simply display the padlock in black or gray. If so, inevitably, the other search engines will follow suit.

Also on the technical side are what an SSL Certificate offers which don’t necessarily meet the eye:

• Provides an enhanced level of security and privacy
• Protects the exchange of sensitive data through encryption.
• Shields your website from hackers and malicious web robots.

And finally, the intrinsic value you derive and how you benefit directly from having a SSL Certificate:

• Enables your website to project a more professional and credible image.
• Builds trust and confidence with your visitors and customers.
• Enhances the SEO effects for your website which, in turn, could lead to higher search engine rankings.
• Contributes to increasing customer conversions and overall profitability.
• Creates peace of mind for you knowing that you followed best practices guidelines and industry standards to keep your website safe and secure.

What We Do

We will guide you in choosing the optimum SSL Certificate for your type of business and available budget. If you don’t conduct online transactions or collect sensitive data from your visitors and customers, then perhaps an inexpensive, basic level certificate would suit your needs.

But, it you do take online payments and gather sensitive personal and business data from your visitors, you should have a more robust solution.

We will then coordinate with the supplier of the SSL Certificate to ensure its timely and proper installation.

We will also provide help in the unlikely event you encounter any technical difficulties and notify you in advance before it is time to renew your certificate.

Ready to Get Started?

We wish to remind you that your website is not just about creative design, nice images and eloquently-worded blocks of text. It is also a reflection of your business and your philosophy toward it. 

You want to put your best foot forward in all aspects of your website, and by extension, your business, and  your credibility and trustworthiness are major components of this.

It is virtually a foregone conclusion in the online marketing industry that search engines will eventually require all websites to have a SSL Certificate. It is simply a matter of time

So, you owe it to yourself and to your visitors and customers to get one sooner as opposed to later.

Contact us today and we will get you set up right away.