In this day and age, private is not so private anymore. Fraud, identity theft and all kinds of cybercrime are on the increase every year! We need to continually be aware of this and make sure we secure all our most valued possessions - your website is no different.

The impact of an unsecured site will be less traffic, since website visitors are wary to engage with your site if it is not secure. Your SEO score with Google will also be impacted negatively. If you happen to have an online shop, sales will also decrease with increasingly security-aware customers not feeling comfortable enough to share their credit card and other personal details for transactions.

The question then is: How do I fix it? Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate

What is an SSL Certificate?

Well according to ssl.com:

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is an industry standard and is used by millions of websites in the protection of their online transactions with their customers.

All websites are hosted on a server managed by the hosting provider. For more info on hosting and how it works - click here) - Think Xneelo (Formerly Hetzner), Site Ground, GoDaddy etc.

Your hosting provider generates a certificate called a "Let's Encrypt SSL certificate". This gets stored on a web server and when a website visitor lands on your website, that certificate tells your browser of choice (Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc) that this website is secure!

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Check out this short video for more info on the SSL certificate:

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How do I get an SSL Certificate?

This is easier than you might think as they are FREE. With certain hosting companies, like Hetzner, the SSL certificate is on all their servers so by hosting with them, you already have the SSL certificate. When you host your website through Pathfind Media, your website will always have an SSL Certificate and thus be secure. The yearly renewal will also take place automatically.

If the SSL certificate is not generated automatically by your hosting provider, then you would need to choose a Certificate Authority (CA) and get a certificate from them. Just remember that it is not valid for long, so you would need to constantly renew it to stay secure.

As you can see there are plenty of benefits to having an SSL certificate for your website, including:

• An increase on your Google ranking and website traffic;
• A website will appeal to first-time users
• A secure website (much less vulnerable to hackers)

Safety First

Hosting your website and domain with Pathfind Media will always include an SSL Certificate, along with a HOST (no pun intended) of other benefits.

To learn more about what we do, please take a look at our services.

Contact us if you would like to make the switch to Pathfind Media!