Formally, SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer.” But these days, it means much more than that. These days, if your website isn’t using SSL, your potential customers can easily be scared away, simply closing the window before even encountering your content. Here’s why you should incorporate SSL technology into your website—and why you’ll want to do so as soon as possible.
Simply put, SSL is the standard security protocol for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. In other words, it ensures that all data passed between your website and your visitor’s browser window remains private and secure. If your URL starts with http://, your site is not SSL-enabled; if it starts with https://, however, then that little “s” creates an instantaneous and automatic connection that secures any and all communications entering and leaving your site. In the process, it assures your visitors that yours is a trustworthy and legitimate business that is encrypting their data.
Previously, it was only important for e-commerce sites that required sensitive information (like usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers) to obtain the https:// prefix, along with its accompanying padlock in the URL bar. But Google recently announced that it will be doing away with the padlock and that all sites accessed via Chrome (which accounts for close to half the browsing market) without SSL will now be flagged with a very ominous-looking NOT SECURE notification, complete with a red triangle + exclamation point icon: the commonly recognized symbol for danger.
Think that’s likely to scare off the majority of your visitors? You bet it will—in fact, according to HubSpot (a major software marketing firm), 85% of users will simply leave the site immediately upon notification, even if it’s an information-only site that requests nothing more than the visitor’s email address.
The fix for this imminent issue that will start driving potential clients away from your site any day now? All you need is an SSL certificate that will obtain that critical “s” in your URL, turning the exit sign over your website into an entrance sign. Not only that, but it will boost your SEO rankings in browser searches as well!
RWS Consulting is currently running a two-years-for-the-price-of-one special that will produce significant cost savings down the road when you need to keep your certificate up-to-date. Call us today at 202-409-8113 and we’ll take care of the whole process for you.