Why Do You Need an Ssl Certificate?
February 10, 2010 by Bendigo Web Hosting
Filed under SSL Certificates
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private data via the Internet. Utilizing SSL, certificates are issued by third party providers (Certificate Authority) and are one of the most important tools you can use to help increase customer confidence, thus increasing your customer sales and click through rates.
What are SSL Certificates Used For?
SSL Certificates are used to prevent hackers from stealing private information. They do this by encrypting the data; utilizing two different keys, a public key and a private key. The public key is what everyone sees. The private key is secret and is known only to the recipient (such as a credit card processing company). URLs that have an SSL connection will use https instead of http. The ‘s’ at the end of http stands for secure.
Do You Really Need an SSL Certificate?
If customer payments are being processed by a third party provider such as PayPal, you will not need an SSL Certificate. However, if your customer transactions are being processed through e-commerce, an SSL Certificate is a must. People ask, “Why should I get an SSL Certificate when my hosting provider has a shared one?” But here lies the problem: your customers will receive an error message about the validity of the certificate because it is shared. This will cause your customers to purchase from another, more trusted website. The only way to avoid this is to obtain your own SSL certificate.
Here are some reasons why you should consider using an SSL Certificate:
Keep Your Customer Information Private – An SSL Certificate will keep your customer information private and help ensure that their personal data is not stolen or tampered with.
Gain Customer Confidence – A secure site will help you gain customer confidence and increase your chances of converting clicks to sales. Many savvy customers are smart enough to look for the ‘https’ in the url to ensure that their data is kept private and will seek out another, more reliable website to conduct their transactions.
Give Yourself a Competitive Edge – A secure site will help you gain a competitive advantage over those who do not secure their customer data. Again, savvy customers will click away from a website when conducting transactions or giving private data if the site does not appear to have secure areas.
Help Your Site Appear Legitimate – An SSL Certificate will help your site to appear legitimate and trustworthy.
The bottom line: if you want to increase your sales and encourage customers to purchase from your website, then you need an SSL Certificate.
Robert J. Miller provides web hosting information, free webmaster scripts, articles and resources at TenBestWebHostingSites.com
