Why should I use a certificate for my website

Nov 9, 2022Information

Why using a SSL certificate on your website is important.

Have you ever wondered why some websites have the https:// in front of their address and some have only http://?

Well, the difference is that https is a more secure web address, usually websites that have only http addresses have a little warning sign next to the address in the domain bar.
And when visitors see this, they are often scared away and leave the website or don’t leave any valuable information.
Even further, some people with security protection have a big warning screen before entering the website that tells them that the website is not secure.

In this article, we will tell you what is a SSL certificate which allows you to have the https version, why it’s important to have it and how to enable it.

Now, before we start, look at the search bar when you are on your website and check if your website is https or http. If it is only http, we encourage you to read what’s below!

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What is an SSL Certificate?

SSL means Secure Sockets Layer, it is the most used technology in order to keep internet connection secure and safeguard all sensitive data that is being sent between two systems, preventing criminals from reading and modifying any information transferred, including potential personal details. The two systems can be a server and a client (a shopping website and a browser) or server to server.

It does so by making the information between the 2 systems impossible to read. It uses encryption algorithms to mix data in transit, preventing hackers from reading it as it is sent over the connection. This information could be anything sensitive or personal which can include credit card numbers, financial information, names, addresses and so on.

HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) appears in the URL when a website is secured by an SSL certificate.

SEO BOOST : Google now supports HTTPS, or SSL, and they make it important to use it everywhere on the web. Since 2014, the search engine has been rewarding secure websites with improved web rankings, another great reason for any site to install SSL certificates, your website will rank better in google searches.

How does an SSL certificate work?

The basic principle is that when you install an SSL certificate on your server and a browser connects to it, the presence of the SSL certificate triggers the SSL protocol, which will encrypt information sent between the server and the browser (or between servers); the details are obviously a little more complicated. SSL operates directly on top of the transmission control protocol (TCP), effectively working as a safety blanket. It allows higher protocol layers to remain unchanged while still providing a secure connection. So underneath the SSL layer, the other protocol layers can function as normal. If an SSL certificate is being used correctly, all an attacker will be able to see is which IP and port is connected and roughly how much data is being sent. They may be able to terminate the connection but both the server and user will be able to tell this has been done by a third party. However, they will not be able to intercept any information, which makes it essentially an ineffective step. The hacker may be able to figure out which host name the user is connected to but, crucially, not the rest of the URL. As the connection is encrypted, the essential information remains secure.

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How to know if SSL is needed

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Secure purchases

If you sell anything on your website, just know that according to Business Insider 74% of shopping carts are abandoned but up to 64% can be recovered with better checkout security and flow.

Many of these 64% are more likely to complete a purchase if they know the checkout area is secure.

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Offering memberships

If your website offers membership or anything that involves collecting email addresses and other information, then SSL is a good idea. It is always sensible to keep customer information as safe as possible.

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If forms are used

The same applies if they use any kind of form where users will be submitting information, documents, or images.

It is surprising how much information is collected about a site’s visitors, so it is worth keeping it safe.

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If you have a Blog

If it is simply a blog or a standard ‘info only’ kind of site, HTTPS can help to protect the security of sites, reducing the risk of tampering and intruders injecting ads onto the page to break user experience.

Plus, it really cannot hurt in terms of search engine rankings.

What are the visual implications of SSL?

As we mentioned in the introduction It will appear in the address bar. Your website will be showing https:// rather than the http:// and users are more frequently insisting on the difference. The presence of the padlock icon in the address bar is also a big indication of safety. If you do not have SSL, it is sometimes a warning sign. So, it ensures visitors that their connection is secure and encrypted. And, as we have mentioned above, it can make people more likely to complete a transaction, fill up forms, and so on.

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How to implement an SSL certificate on a site

Depending on how a site is hosted and where, there are many ways of adding an SSL certificate. In some cases, if there is an ecommerce element on the site, it will be a requirement to have a certificate. Major hosting providers often offer hosting packages including free SSL certificates (named Let’s Encrypt certificates). Sometimes your hosting provider will install a free certificate automatically for you and you will not have to do anything, but it happens that you must choose which kind of certificate you want.

This is because besides the free certificates, there are paid certificates provided by specialized companies which certify your identity and/or the one of your company. These paid certificates are of course in a way more secure than the free ones.

When it comes to verification, Free SSL certificates do not validate ANYTHING about websites, but just the ownership of the domain. On the other hand, paid SSL certificates verify the BUSINESS IDENTITY of the website before issuing the certificate to the site owner. It is an in depth verification carried out by the Internet certificate authority(CA).

With a paid certificate, you will have better liability protection. This means that in the event of a data breach, you are insured based on your warranty level.

If your website is a WordPress website, you can safely download and install this plugin which will secure your website: Really Simple SSL PlugIn.

Conclusion

If you install an SSL certificate on your website, you may get more visitors, more sales, and more listeners on your radio.

If you are collecting information such as email, names etc. in contact forms, you will have more chance to do so as your internet visitors will not be reluctant to input data on an insecure website.

And finally, but probably the most important, with an SSL certificate, you will be able to rank better on Google which is a great asset for a website.

On register.radio, for each domain registered, we provide a free single profile page and redirections associated with a SSL certificate and you have nothing to do to enable it!

If you have any further questions about SSL, we will be happy to help.

The DotRadio Team

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