SSL and Your Online Business

SSL is something which is all over the web. Most people think it’s just a way of saying “This site is secure”,  but in reality, there’s a lot more to it than that. Let’s dive right in!

What is SSL?

SSL (Or TLS now) is a technology which encrypts data between the browser of the user and the web server hosting the site. For example, if you visit gmail.com and log in, when you hit submit, your login details are encrypted so they can’t be read by humans, transmitted over the  web, and decrypted by the server on which gmail resides.

Why should I use SSL?

SSL is a way of enforcing trust in your site users. People don’t trust websites without SSL. Don’t believe me? How would you feel if a website was sending your card details across the internet without some form of encryption? Thought so. On top of that, a whopping 84% of people would abandon a purchase if data was sent over an insecure connection.

Not only does https ensure transmitted data is secure, it also helps with SEO rankings (No, really!). Matt Cutts from Google has confirmed that they use HTTPS as a ranking signal. Yep, you can now rank higher if your site is more secure.

So, at the moment, we know SSL makes websites more secure for customers, and helps with SEO. So what else?

Speed. When using https you can enable http2, which is a faster version of your standard http (Non-SSL). I won’t go into the technicalities of it, but effectively it means you can serve more assets simultaneously.

SSL and Google Chrome

On the 17th of April 2018, Google will release Google Chrome V66. Wooo!!!! Oh, hang on, not relevant to you. Got it!

In this version, any website which is *not* using https, will be labelled as “Not Secure” like so:

That’s the last thing you want your customers to see “Not Secure” next to your domain name!

How can I get SSL?

If we host your website for you, we can supply an SSL certificate for you, install it, and have you up and running in no time. The cost for this depends on what we need to do on your website. You’re not true-SSL unless all the assets on your website reference https based resources. For instance, if you use click dimensions, you need to make sure their code references https:// and not http://. Why? Because you then get mixed content warnings, and only partial SSL.

Mixed content warnings occur when your site is using https, but loads normal http resources. This means that users of your site might be transmitting data over an http (Non-secure) connection, such as a lead generation form from a third party. We as a hosting provider, will make sure these are taken care of for you and you’re running full https!

Cool, get me on HTTPS!

Hold on cowboy, slow down! We need to Audit your site and work out what needs changing first! Give us a call on 01622 755 855 and ask for Ash, Jon or Andy, all of whom will be able to help you out and point you in the right direction! The first step before SSL is checking you’re using secure passwords. You don’t even need to be a customer, we can still advise, or even host your site in a managed, SSL powered environment for yo