Please allow me to speak technical for a moment. I care that you’re aware of this, and you should be aware of this.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a certificate that can be installed with any hosted domain to improve the security of your website.

When you visit a website and you see “HTTPS” (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol SECURE), that means you are sending and receiving information securely (i.e., you are visiting a SECURE and SAFE website that has a SSL installed).

Now that I have that “technical stuff “out of the way, let’s talk about why you should have a SSL.

Think of it like this.

You send a postcard via regular mail:
This would be comparable to visiting an HTTP site ~ i.e., a website with no SSL installed
(essentially anyone can read it, and do whatever they want with your postcard)

You send a package via certified mail:
This would be comparable to visiting an HTTPS site ~ i.e., a website with a SSL installed
(someone could potentially read it and do something with your package; although FAR less likely than with regular mail)

So what’s the big deal, and why should you care?

Namely, Google has declared SSL so. As far as Google is concerned, security is a top priority! Google is now giving ranking preference to websites that have SSL certificates installed. This essentially means, that if a site is secured then Google has extra trust in that website, and that factors into their rankings.

“Beginning in January 2017 (Chrome 56), we’ll mark HTTP pages that collect passwords or credit cards as non-secure, as part of a long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure. Eventually, we plan to label all HTTP pages as non-secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to the red triangle that we use for broken HTTPS.” — Google

PLUS, if you want your customers to feel safe while visiting your website (whether they’re simply just browsing your site, or sending you their credit card / address(es) / name), you should give them the peace of mind that comes with having a SSL enabled on your site.

So what should you do?

First and foremost, if you collect credit card information via your website, you should most definitely already have a SSL in place. Not sure if you do have a SSL in place? Google Chrome Help will help you determine that.

If you don’t collect credit card information via your website — no need to panic just yet. I myself just recently got SSL’s in place for my 3 websites:

f3designs.ca, f3cms.ca, and f3reach.ca

So what do I recommend?

Given Google’s plans to move forward with a more secure web, F3 Designs is recommending a SSL for all of our client sites going-forward.

Does it cost extra to have a SSL? Yes — unfortunately nothing in this world is free — except for the things that we hold dearest. 😉  However, a SSL shouldn’t “break your bank”, and by having one, you’ll sleep better at night knowing you’re doing your best to make your online customers feel SAFE and SECURE.

So how do you get a SSL in place?

I’m an honest gal that works hard, and believes that good relationships are built on trust. You can trust F3 Designs to get a SSL in place for your site at a reasonable and fair rate.

If you don’t yet have a SSL in place for your site, you agree to my recommendation and would like to get one in place, or have ANY questions — please get in touch with me at any time.

My recommendation/pricing will be dependent on: your website offerings, your domain registration, and your hosting service.

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Cheers to making today’s and tomorrow’s web more secure,

Faye | F3 Designs