Really? Why have you waited till the 11th hour to get y
our SSL installed? It is not like we didn’t know this day would come. Yes I know, we all have our priorities and adding an SSL certificate to your website probably took a back seat to:
- Making payroll
- Closing the next big fish
- Reducing Healthcare costs
- Hiring skilled employees
- Fighting with your tax accountants
I get it. It was not a priority for me either since we don’t collect credit card info and we abide by a firm privacy policy. But if I’m going to help clients get leads from SEO, PPC and other search initiatives, I 
needed to step up to the SSL plate myself. Our clients are all getting 50% or more of their new business leads from the SEO work we do for them and that may all go away if Google Chrome users are presented with a warning message, “Connection is Not Private” and then make it very difficult to visit your website.
Leads from SEO May Disappear Without an HTTPS Connection
Almost two years ago, Google promised to Name and Shame websites that do not offer users encrypted connections. Well that process of calling you out starts with the launch of Chrome 68. I’m not here to rehash old news, you can read all about why SSL’s are important here in this Wired.com article or 100’s of others like it.
How Much Does it Cost?
Prices range from $14.99 – $1800/year. It all depends on the type of website your have, complexity of the architecture, are you collecting sensitive information and what your hosting environment looks like. Most of my clients ended up with a Domain Validation SSL because they had no sub-domains and were not taking credit card info online. Here is an explanation of the different types of SSL’s. The brand you buy also has an impact on price with Symantec on the high end and RapidSSL’s on the low end.
Click This Image to Shop for SSL’s
There are even a few free ones offered by web hosts as a promotion to switch your service to them. There is also a collaborative project called Let’s Encrypt that offers free SSL’s. But for me, the process looks complicated.
Get Your SSL Installed Easily – Ask Someone to Do It
If you are not tech savvy, the process can be complicated and cumbersome. It takes time and patience and most business owners just don’t have the time. I recommend you speak with your hosting service and ask if they provide the installation service. Most charge a fee to install 3rd party SSL’s and they may include the cost of installation if you buy the certificate through them.
The Hosting service will dictate the process for installation. Here are the top 4 services I have used…
- GoDaddy’s How To Install Your SSL
- cPanel’s suggests you use their SSL Wizard
- How to Install an SSL on Siteground
- Hostgator’s Support Page for SSL Installation
Get Your Website Guy To Install Your SSL
For the SSL’s I installed for my clients, I charged 2 hours of my time…so $160.00 for all the back and forth with the vendor during the validation process and the actual installation. Often there are image files and CSS file paths that complicate the process and it may take some time to iron those out. If you want all the benefits of website marketing and an SSL installed, let’s schedule an appointment.
SEO Consulting Services That Looks at Everything
Bottom Line
An SSL is a mandatory requirement if you have any desire to have your website found in a search engine. In addition to Chrome users, Firefox and Apple have started their own warning systems. Those 3 browsers represent 90% of all the searches done online. Ready to get your website optimized? Call us at (215) 240-1215
No comments yet.