We know that working hard to build and maintain a reliable, reputable brand is at the forefront of many business plans. There are a variety of ways you can achieve this, one of which is to give reassurance to your clients and customers that when they visit your website, the site and any information they submit is completely secure.
Websites with an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate can be recognised by an extra ‘S’ in the URL (https://), which simply means ‘secure’. In addition, there will be a padlock sign in the address bar, or in some browsers the address bar also turns green. These features are designed to reassure users that they are visiting a secure website and provides them with the confidence to continue browsing the site further, increasing engagement and building trust in your products, services and brand.
SSL Certificates have mainly been used for eCommerce sites up until now, and haven’t been needed for every website, however this is rapidly changing. With increasingly sophisticated information hacks, and with all of us sharing more and more personal data online, it is recommended that all websites now obtain an SSL Certificate.
Google Chrome has even recently introduced a warning message for non-SSL certified websites; with 65% of users accessing the internet using this browser, can you afford to put a question mark over user security before they even visit your website?
Benefits of having an SSL Certificate
This digital certificate both authenticates the identity of a website, as well as protecting sensitive information by encrypting the data, such as credit card numbers, addresses etc. It is the internet standard for secure communication between your browser and any web server. Without an SSL Certificate, anyone could read the data sent to and from any server, and the website traffic could potentially be modified.
In addition to creating a more secure website, and protecting any potentially sensitive information within the site, an SSL Certificate also has a positive effect on search engine results. Research shows that the majority of first page results on Google are secure sites that have an SSL Certificate (https://), so it is thought that site security is a factor in the Google algorithms.
In an age when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of online security, the need to have complete confidence and trust in a brand and its online presence is paramount. An SSL Certificate helps you to quickly and easily demonstrate to your customers and clients that you value them and their interactions, and are committed to delivering the best possible user experience by protecting their data.
Want to find out more? Here at Fastnet Marketing, we can provide your site with the necessary SSL Certificates. This is a relatively easy process and doesn’t take up much time. Give us a call on 01326 250879 to find out more or email us at thecrew@fastnet.agency.
