SSL Warnings In Web Browsers
03/23/2017
Every good business owner knows that making a good first impression is critical to bringing in customers. This is doubly true in the online world, where every customer expects fast and easy access to the businesses they're searching for. Your website has to be professional and attractive right off the bat, or else potential customers will simply leave you behind for the next link in their search results. Put simply: anything that impacts a user's first impression of your website can have devastating consequences to your bottom line.
That's why you need to be aware of a recent change that's been made in both the Chrome and Firefox web browsers. These browsers (owned by Google and Mozilla, respectively) have just seen updates that introduce new warnings to users when they attempt to browse on a page that doesn't use an SSL certificate from a certified and trusted vendor. These new warnings will show up right next to your URL in the user's address bar as well as most text fields on the page, boldly claiming that your site is insecure and not to be trusted. These warnings are explicitly designed to encourage users to leave the site as soon as possible.
As harsh as it sounds, Google and Mozilla actually have a very good reason for doing this. SSL certificates perform two very important functions that form the foundation of modern Internet security: 1. They provide each website with unique encryption keys that will help ensure that you and your customers can't be eavesdropped on when communicating sensitive data (such as credit card numbers) and 2. certificates serve as a form of "ID badge" that proves that a trusted third party (the company that issued the certificate) has verified the website the user is on isn't an imposter. A site that lacks an SSL certificate is unable to partake in either of these important benefits and leaves itself (and more importantly, its customers) open to identity theft and privacy breaches.
When a website has a valid SSL certificate the user sees nothing but a happy little padlock icon and an "https://" prefix on the URL, ensuring them they're safe. When a website has an invalid certificate (or worse, no certificate at all!) then the user sees these new messages plastered everywhere, warning them that the site is untrustworthy and urging them to navigate away as fast as they can.
The good news is that an SSL certificate is exceedingly easy and low cost to obtain. Certificate authority resellers such as Complete Webdesign Solution can vet your site quickly and issue valid, trusted SSL certificates to you. The certificates themselves are just a couple small files that upload and import to your website easily - many site control panels have built in certificate import wizards so you often don't even need to mess around with complicated server configuration.
At the end of the day, no business can afford the nightmare of having their own home page plastered with messages telling customers you can't be trusted. Contact Complete Webdesign Solution now and don't lose another cent of revenue to an easily resolved security flaw in your website!
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Website Industry Changes