Understanding SSL and Web Hosting

Business owners who conduct any business or sales at all online will have specific and unique web hosting needs than the business owner that doesn’t. One of those is the need for an SSL certificate. But what is an SSL certificate, and why is it so important? Maybe even more importantly, where can you get one?

SSL stands for “secured socket layer” and it’s a type of security that will protect all of the customer’s financial and personal information when they are purchasing online through your website. When you have SSL on your site, an incredibly safe and secure connection will be established between your web host’s server, and the visitor’s browser. When the customer sends sensitive information, such as their credit card number over that connection, it becomes encrypted – the connection will scramble it up while it travels through the connection and then unscramble it when it gets to your web host’s server so that you’ll be able to read it and bill them correctly.

It’s because of this security that SSL provides that is the exact reason why it’s so important. As consumers start to use the Internet more and more every day, they are also starting to become much more comfortable shopping online, and using that personal information. Still, most won’t even consider purchasing anything from a website that isn’t equipped with SSL and so, they’ll leave and find another website, and another business, that does. But there’s another reason that SSL is so important, and that’s because it protects your website, too. When SSL is installed it’s much harder to hack websites, engage in forgery, and tamper with data.

Website owners can choose to purchase their own SSL certificates from Certificate Authorities for an average cost of about $60 per year; however the web host’s certificate can be used as well. Web hosts are required to have an SSL certificate and often, they’re willing to share that certificate with the customers that are using their server. The biggest advantage to using the host’s SSL is that it costs nothing, but there are disadvantages too. The biggest disadvantage is that your business name won’t appear on the certificate, and so it may not appear as secure to customers. Because of this, you also won’t be able to display the certificate icon on your website. If customers need to log in to access this account, it’s essential that business owners get their own SSL certificate.

It’s extremely important that business owners understand what an SSL certificate is and that they have one if they’re going to be conducting any kind of cash or credit sales on their site. It’s even more important that business owners also understand the difference between buying their own certificate and using that of their web host’s. This will make an extremely big difference in how many people visit the site, and how many people feel secure enough to shop on it!