How to protect all of your sites with free SSL certificates and get an SEO rank boost!
SSL (secure sockets layer) is a very important security measure for your website. It allows a web browser to establish an encrypted connection to your site.
When SSL communication is active and functioning properly users will see that familiar green padlock icon on their web browser and know that their communication is secure.
Why is SSL protection so important?
Using SSL protects your site by making it impossible for unauthorized people and organizations (think hackers, foreign and domestic government agencies) to eavesdrop on the traffic going between your site visitors and the server.
Without SSL protection, it is possible to inspect your site traffic and see every piece of information sent to the server (including user names, passwords, credit card numbers) and every response sent back (including personal account information.)
This can expose your site to increased risk of hackers finding out your admin accounts, or your user account information and mounting an attack..
It can boost your Google ranking!
It is getting to the point where all websites should start using SSL even if they don’t seem to need it. Even if your site is a static HTML web page and does not allow users to login, you should consider protecting your site with SSL.
Adding SSL protection increases trust for your web site. Not only does it increase trust with your users, but it also increases trust with search engines.
With their recent announcement, Google has started considering SSL protection in their ranking algorithm. Sites that are not protected by SSL may experience a drop in rankings compared to competing sites that are SSL protected. You need SSL encryption to protect your hard earned SEO rankings.
SSL certificates have always cost $$$ – until now!
The problem for most solo entrepreneurs (Warriors) is that SSL certificates have always been pricey. A certificate for a single website can cost anywhere from $75 to $300 per year depending on the type of certificate you buy. If you have more than one website to protect, this adds up very fast.
Thankfully, a new open source project Let’s Encrypt was created to solve this dilemma. The Let’s Encrypt project will provide free SSL certificates to any website. However, using Let’s Encrypt requires some pretty technical installation procedures on your web server that may be beyond the skills of the average webmaster. That is where we come in.
We will install Let’s Encrypt certificates for all sites on your web server
We can help you get Let’s Encrypt installed on your web server. With a single installation, you can enjoy ongoing free SSL certificates and get that seo bump for all the sites that run on your server
There are some requirements:
– You must have a VPS (virtual private server) or dedicated server hosting account.
– You must have permission to install new software on your server. This is often called root permission.
What if you don’t have a hosting account that meets the requirements? You might consider moving your hosting to a provider that has already integrated with the Let’s Encrypt project.
For a low one-time investment about the cost of a single certificate for one year, you can have free SSL certificates for all of the web sites on your server forever!