Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private data via the Internet.  Utilizing SSL, certificates are issued by third party providers (Certificate Authority) and are one of the most important tools you can use to help increase customer confidence, thus increasing your customer sales and click through rates. 

 What are SSL Certificates Used For?

SSL Certificates are used to prevent hackers from stealing private information.  They do this by encrypting the data; utilizing two different keys, a public key and a private key.  The public key is what everyone sees.  The private key is secret and is known only to the recipient (such as a credit card processing company).  URLs that have an SSL connection will use https instead of http.  The ’s’ at the end of http stands for secure. 

Do You Really Need an SSL Certificate?

If customer payments are being processed by a third party provider such as PayPal, you will not need an SSL Certificate.  However, if your customer transactions are being processed through e-commerce, an SSL Certificate is a must.  People ask, “Why should I get an SSL Certificate when my hosting provider has a shared one?”  But here lies the problem: your customers will receive an error message about the validity of the certificate because it is shared.  This will cause your customers to purchase from another, more trusted website.  The only way to avoid this is to obtain your own SSL certificate. 

Here are some reasons why you should consider using an SSL Certificate:

Keep Your Customer Information Private – An SSL Certificate will keep your customer information private and help ensure that their personal data is not stolen or tampered with.

Gain Customer Confidence – A secure site will help you gain customer confidence and increase your chances of converting clicks to sales.  Many savvy customers are smart enough to look for the ‘https’ in the url to ensure that their data is kept private and will seek out another, more reliable website to conduct their transactions.

Give Yourself a Competitive Edge – A secure site will help you gain a competitive advantage over those who do not secure their customer data.  Again, savvy customers will click away from a website when conducting transactions or giving private data if the site does not appear to have secure areas.

Help Your Site Appear Legitimate – An SSL Certificate will help your site to appear legitimate and trustworthy. 

The bottom line:  if you want to increase your sales and encourage customers to purchase from your website, then you need an SSL Certificate. 

Watch the video related to SSL certificate

An overview of VeriSign SSL Certificates.

Help answer the question about SSL certificate

About Author

Robert J. Miller provides web hosting information, free webmaster scripts, articles and resources at TenBestWebHostingSites.com

The seamless world of the Internet has broken open the physical barriers that existed across regions on the Globe. Today, therefore, you could be sitting in Munich and buying goodies from Seoul. Very convenient, and thrilling. But, when you pay for your goodies and swipe you’re Credit Card, are you sure, you are paying only for what you paid for? Chances are your Credit Card Information traverses through alien territory into the wrong pair of hands. The result, the next morning, you will find your Bank account eroded or emptied? Not a situation that most of us can afford or enjoy.

How do we then transact on the Internet and yet safeguard our hard earned monies from those Electronic pirates? The answer is relatively simple. Every time you choose to buy product or services through web-sites, before entering your Credit Card and other personal information look for information on whether the payment gateway is secured. Informed customers would always prefer to transact their business through secure sites and this will automatically bring in more business to Websites secured through SSL certificates from well known providers.

Payment gateways are secured through SSL or Secured Socket Layer. When you enter your personal and or Credit Card information into a secure site, an encrypted public key is created. This is termed as a handshake to authenticate safe transaction. The unique encryption method which gets established in the process will have a unique session key. This process protects theft of valuable data and only the transaction that you intend to complete is processed.

SSL certification has been found to be very reliable across, Internet users and also among the customers. These certificates are issued by a reliable and trusted authority, the Certificate Authority. The web-site through which you are attempting to transact business carries signs of the agency which has issued the SSL certificates. There are other similar agencies too, which offer these SSL certifications. When you click on the sign, the details of the certifying agency are displayed.

When you click on such secured domains, your system generates a SSL handshake which is accessed by the web-site server. The unique encryption method employed then allows a secure transaction to go through.

Why all this bother?

When you are transacting valuable business or even sending across precious data, it is necessary to route them through secure servers which have the seal of security such as an SSL certificate. In the absence of this Security, it would compare with sending a snail mail in a transparent envelope.

For E-Commerce and other Web-site owners, the SSL certification acts as a stamp of credibility and assurance of safety to their valuable customers.

For the Service Providers and other Vendors/Merchants in the Internet world, exhibiting their site security sign – a reputed one at that, not only assures the customer that the information he parts with will be securely handled, but also separates them from the crowd. Informed customers would always prefer to transact their business through secure sites and this will automatically bring in more business to Websites secured through SSL certificates from well known providers.

Watch the video related to SSL certificate

An overview of VeriSign EV SSL.

Help answer the question about SSL certificate

Thanks

About Author

http://SSL.resellergenie.com/, SSLGenie reseller/partner program is an exclusive service available from a Global Certification Authority that provides you with the ability to promote your own SSL security solutions to customers in your own BRAND.