Security and authenticity are at the core of your website's success. These things are critical to more sales and visitors.
Having an SSL certificate shows users that your website is secure and that you care about the safety of their data.
But, are you still wondering whether or not you need one? Keep reading, and we are sure these facts will convince you to get one ASAP.
SSL means Secure Sockets Layer. But, that doesn't mean much to most people unless you have a background in IT.
To put it another way, SSL is a way to implement a secure link to your website. It encrypts your data, and it's standard practice for security and trust.
It lets visitors know that they can trust your site. It ensures them your website isn't a phishing site and that it is keeping up with conventional modern security standards. It makes users feel safer in today's world since Internet scams are on the rise.
Not all websites need to have an SSL certificate, but, you need one if your users are going to be providing any personal data to you. Depending on how your site works, the SSL certificate can let them know you're going an extra mile to protect them from data leaks, or it can tell them that you value their confidential information (credit card numbers, addresses, etc.).
Having a certificate is a critical part of many businesses. A website of any size needs it, whether it is a bank, a government agency or a small e-commerce website.
An SSL is an indication that governments, hackers or thieves can not intercept data. Not only does this guarantee safety, but also, it provides a warning to users if a website is not protected by issuing a warning which often drives users to return to "safety."
Also, most modern browsers will show a green lock icon next to your web address to prove that your website is safe.
That might not seem like much, but if you consider that this number has grown from just above 30% in the last few years, it's quite impressive. And, it shows the growing importance of having a certificate.
Securing your website is ideal for your visitors' privacy, but it also helps you to improve your search engine marketing results. After all, there is substantial evidence that having a certificate makes it more likely for your site to rank higher.
It is nice to look safe to your customers and be ranked higher by Google, but let us not forget the main point here - safety. SSL works by encoding the communication between a client and a server (your visitor and your website). Only both parties have the encryption codes, so no one on the Internet who could get his hands on your transmission could decode it. It is especially important when people use their credit card data. You can read here more if you are interested in technical stuff.
An SSL certificate can help develop confidence with your clients. In addition to that, you will be rewarded by search engines like Google for keeping the Internet a safer place.
Here are some companies that issue SSL certificates: