What is https and why is it important?
Google uses ‘https’ as a ranking signal. That means if everything else is the same Google will rank a ‘https’ site over a ‘http’ site. If you are not using ‘https’ your web presence is suffering. You are losing out on traffic, customers and revenue.
Beside the very important Google rankings factor, internet users are becoming more sophisticated. More and more internet users are noticing if the sites they are using are secure. If your website isn’t secure, can they trust your other business aspects are secure? Give them piece of mind by securing your web site!
GRB Marketing can convert your website to HTTPS
What is HTTPS?
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an internet communication protocol that protects the integrity and confidentiality of data between the user’s computer and the site. Users expect a secure and private online experience when using a website. We encourage you to adopt HTTPS in order to protect your users’ connections to your website, regardless of the content on the site.
Data sent using HTTPS is secured via Transport Layer Security protocol (TLS), which provides three key layers of protection:
- Encryption – encrypting the exchanged data to keep it secure from eavesdroppers. That means that while the user is browsing a website, nobody can “listen” to their conversations, track their activities across multiple pages, or steal their information.
- Data integrity – data cannot be modified or corrupted during transfer, intentionally or otherwise, without being detected.
- Authentication – proves that your users communicate with the intended website. It protects against man-in-the-middle attacks and builds user trust, which translates into other business benefits.
How do I get HTTPS?
Just a few years ago getting an HTTPS site was expensive and technically challenging. You would have to buy a security certificate and get someone to install it on your hosting. It was a complicated process requiring expert service costing hundreds or thousands of dollars to set up and an annual fee to maintain. Things have gotten a bit easier.
Most hosting companies these days offer a security certificate as part of their hosting package. It is possible you have a security certificate and don’t even know it. An easy way to find out is to add ‘https’ in front of your domain name in the browser. If your website loads you have a security certificate, if it doesn’t you probably should get a new web host.
GRB Marketing can convert
your website to HTTPS for $149
How do I use ‘https’ for my site?
If you do indeed have a security certificate with your hosting, but your site is not defaulting to ‘https’ you need to fix it. On an Apache web server (the most popular web server software) you need to add code to your .htaccess file. There are many tutorials on the internet on how to adjust your .htaccess file and some CMS’s have the functions built in. This can be a fairly technical step and it is important to do it properly as an incorrect .htaccess file can have dire consequences. GRB Marketing has a well trained, experienced system administrator staff who is well versed in server software and security.
If your web hosting does not provide a security certificate you have two options. You can buy a security certificate and pay someone to install it or switch to a hosting companies that does provide a security certificate. I would definitely suggest switching hosting companies.
What do I do if I am not getting the green locked symbol?
Often times after a site is properly moved to ‘https’ the site still doesn’t get a green lock symbol. The reason for this is not all the files, scripts, images and dependencies are secure. If anything isn’t secure, nothing is secure. As the old adage goes, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If your website is not fully secure it is not secure at all.
It is likely your website was built without ‘https’ being considered. Now someone has to go into the code and change everything to a secure methodology. There is no exact method to do this, it depends on how the web site was initially coded. In most cases it isn’t overly difficult, if you know what you are doing, but can be laborious and time consuming in some cases.
What does it cost to get my site https?
GRB Marketing can do it for $149. This is a one time fee and we will get the main pages of your website to show the green locked symbol. We will need your hosting log in (cPanel or FTP) and your wordpress or other CMS log in. We can not do anything without these logins.
We will code your .htaccess file to force your site to the secure version. We will scour your website template files and adjust them for proper https function. We will fix any security holes in your content for your websites main pages(up to 10). If you have a large site it we will cost more if you want us to do all the pages.
