If you haven’t got SSL on your website and are looking for an option that doesn’t cost a fortune, then you have come to the right place. Keeping your website secure for yourself and your readers is paramount to building up a trustworthy relationship, but typically SSL isn’t cheap. I’ll be exploring what SSL certificates are, why your website will benefit from having a ssl certificate and more importantly how you can get 25 websites with SSL for a lot less than you might think? Let’s start with what is an SSL Certificate and Why Do I Need an SSL Certificate for My Website
What is an SSL Certificate?
SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer – it establishes an encrypted link between an internet browser (the reader) and a web
server (the website). It is a way of protected the data passed between the two. Think about when you log onto your online banking, you will see a green padlock in the address bar and the website will start with https://
I have a SSL certificate on this website, because I want to ensure my readers are safe. I take internet safety very seriously.
Why Does Your Website Need an SSL Certificate?
There are multiple benefits to having an SSL certificate, the key one among them is building trust between you (a website owner they haven’t met) and the reader (a potential buyer).
- An E-Commerce Website – if you plan on selling your own products or services, then you will require SSL. If you want someone to hand over their credit card details to buy something, they are going to want to trust you. A website with SSL encryption is a requirement in this situation.
- Capturing Any Data – If you want people to take any action, whether that be sign up to your email list, write a comment on your website or enter their payment details. SSL will help them trust the website.
- Search Engine Rankings – The search engines have recently stated that websites with SSL will rank better than those without SSL. This is a key reason why people are doing extensive research into SSL certificates. Bloggers who didn’t have e-commerce sites didn’t really pay for an SSL certificate, but this could have affected their rankings.
In the past, SSL Certificates have been really expensive sometimes costly $100 per website per year. Many bloggers, affiliate marketers or even small businesses have not been able to afford to pay that on top of everything else.
Then Wealthy Affiliate Came Up with a Better Option!
Let me explain, my website is hosted with SiteRubix, which is included in a premium Wealthy Affiliate membership. I can have 25 full domains, all with SSL Certificates included in a $49/month or $359/yr membership.
Compare that with the 3 sites I have, if I had SSL elsewhere I would be paying hosting fees plus SSL which could easily mean I would be paying well over $400 dollars a year.
Where Can I Get Free SSL Certificates for My Website?
SSL Certificates are so important these days, but that doesn’t mean it has to cost the earth. The reasons I state this is free SSL is down to everything else you receive in that premium membership that can benefit any small business, affiliate marketer or blogger. The benefits far outweigh the cost.
Like I said, elsewhere I have seen SSL certificates for one domain being $100 a year, but I have 3 websites hosted that is almost equal to my annual membership to WA anyway.
But let’s explore the other benefits that Wealthy Affiliate Offer on top of Free SSL Certificates for 25 full domains.
- Step-by-Step Training that factors in all aspects of:
- WordPress
- Website Design
- Content Creation
- Local Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- SEO, Traffic Building, Analytics, Rankings, etc.
- The List of Training is endless
- Top Website Hosting – A Premium Member can host 25 full domains and 25 subdomains, with unlimited email accounts included
- Key features designed to improve your website speed and security done at the server to improve your readers experience
- A WordPress Website Builder that takes 4 easy steps to have a website up and running.
- Expert Help & Support – You would be joining a network of internet entrepreneurs all with the same goals of helping each other and achieving success.
There are many factors that are needed to be successful online, whether you are selling your own products or sharing your story with some affiliate marketing going on.
The search engines are constantly looking at ways of improving the safety and security for everyone, especially with all of these recent data breaches – So it makes sense that they are looking for content that is safe and secure for the people searching for it.
But that doesn’t mean that you need to pay over the odds for an SSL Certificate, Wealthy Affiliate has been the best thing that has happened to my online business, but I leave you to do your own research on that – Here is my full Wealthy Affiliate review for you to check out and WA also offers a free starter membership that lets you make your own mind up about it before investing any money.
If you are looking for a SSL Certificate that doesn’t cost the earth, offers top-notch website hosting that is easy to transfer your current domain over and get some help and support with your online business that will take it to the next level, then do check out Wealthy Affiliate for a Free Starter Membership and make up your own mind.
If you have any questions about SSL certificates, web hosting or Wealthy Affiliate then please put it in the comments below and I will definitely respond with an answer.
Thanks for the taking the time to read this post, take care.
Hi John, and thank you for a great article.
I did not realise that an ssl certificate was this important for my website, but I am learning. I was not aware of that it affects my SEO ranking as well!
Using WA looks like a good option for people that would like to start an online business.
Best regards,
Stefan
Hi Stefan,
thank you for checking out my post and leaving us a comment.
The Search Engines are constantly looking at ways to improve for its users and security is always on peoples minds. SSL helps brings peace of mind to users that their data will be treated safely. It helps with rankings, and building trust. Considering all the recent data breaches, people are really weary of where they place their trust (and their personal information) before entering it. SSL helps so much with this.
That is why Google (in particular) have changed their algorithms to help boost sites with a SSL certificate above those that do not. Bloggers didn’t tend to have an SSL due to the cost associated, but now they kind of need to get one – but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune on it either.
Wealthy Affiliate has built an awesome platform for affiliate marketers, that includes free SSL for 25 websites for its Premium Members for a fraction of the cost.
I wish you luck with your online business and thanks again for your comments.
John
SSL is a wise decision regardless of point of sale. Even a blog needs one because we collect data such as login credentials and name and e-mails and use cookie tracking etc.. Every piece of UN-encrypted data transferred is a easy target for website hackers. SSL is also an absolute must for SEO rankings with Google already starting to use lack of SSL to penalize websites and blogs and in some cases totally DE-list websites and pages. Thanks for the timely information and information about FreeSSL at Wealthy Affiliate.
Hi Andy,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments. You come up with some fantastic points. Hackers are always looking for easy targets and it is becoming a necessity to have SSL.
Wealthy Affiliate including it in its premium membership for 25 websites is also a bargain.
thanks
John
Nice awesome article and review. I didn’t know about the SSL and much less that we get that included with our premium membership! That’s awesome, one more reason to love Wealthy Affiliate. Very informative and detailed, I say WA is the way to go. Thanks again for the article, I am sure not many knows about the SSL.
Hey Andrea,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments. I personally believe SSL will soon become a necessity for all websites. People are so wary about where they enter their personal data – people do not even want to enter their email address unless they know whats being done with it. Added to the ranking effects of non-SSL sites dropping, I think everyone will need to ensure their site is safe.
thanks again
John
Hi John, thanks for this article, I did not realize that if you didn’t have SSL your website rankings could suffer. I noticed that you mentioned in the past these have been as expensive as $100 but does that still hold true today? I am just curious about the options that are currentl available today.
Hey Huy,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments. Google are always looking at ways to protect their customers but also follow what they are doing – people will not trust a non SSL site as much as an SSL site. More people are using their smartphones to search.
Google will always follow what the customers are doing and obviously with all of the data breaches we hear about. People are conscious of where they enter their personal details. SSL helps with that.
It can still cost $100 a year, but more providers are realising they need to include in their premium membership rather than an extra. But their price plans are still complicated and normally the more traffic you get the more you will need to pay.
Most have limits on the amount of data you can store, so when you reach a threshold you need to upgrade to the next plan.
That is why I recommend Wealthy Affiliate – it offers websites with free SSL, which are hosted on their server – but also tools and training to grow your online business with a very high limit on what you can achieve. A Wealthy Affiliate Hosted website can house monthly traffic of 500k. In one monthly fee.
You cannot build their platform for what they offer – learn more in my review.
thanks
John
What a great article. SSL certificates are an extremely important aspect of a website in this day and age. With all the issues with website breaches and such in this day and age, security is very important. I have purchased a few SSL certificates for websites in the past and you are right. They are not cheap that’s for sure. I personally will not enter any information into a website that doesn’t have security in place. The fact the Wealthy Affiliate provides them with the membership shows that they want their customers to succeed.
Hey Dan,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments. You’re right, SSL is not normally cheap. Someone I know was paying £100 a year just for the SSL, their hosting was £30 a month just as a starting rate.
Wealthy Affiliate offer everything people need to get started, you just need to add time and effort to learn it and do it.
Thanks again
John
SSL Certificates are indeed important for ranking of websites, and Wealthy Affiliate has also included it free of charge even in their free packages.
I agree with you on all the great features that Wealthy Affiliate offers with their hosting because I’m using their hosting service as well. And the uses of SSL Certificates well defined especially with regards to the security of our payment information.
This post was really helfpful. Thanks for sharing.
Hiya,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments. I think it is awesome and shows how much the guys at Wealthy Affiliate care about their members that they offer 25 full domains and 25 sub domains with free SSL for its premium members.
One of their key messages to their members is build trust with the audience – SSL is a must, but they do not expect to pay any extra for it other than the membership fee and hosting fee.
Thanks again
John
Great article, thank you, John!
It’s hard to believe that people pay so much for something that Wealthy Affiliate offers for free. I mean, we get free SSL certificates for 25 domains and some people are paying up to $100 per year for an SSL certificate?!
I have three websites and they all have an SSL certificate; however, for some unknown reason one of my websites stopped showing the green padlock icon in the address bar; it was showing I had mixed content. I had to use a plugin to get the secure icon back in the address bar. Is there a way to circumvent this, i.e., manage mixed content without having to use a plugin?
Hey Princilla,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments.
SSL is such a must nowadays, without it you will find it very hard to rank as Google and the like are really working on making sure their users are safe.
You are right, mixed contents can affect your padlock. To be honest, the biggest reason is normally images. If you click on the info icon that appears next to your URL in the address bar, you can actually identify which images are affecting it and you could always replace them.
Otherwise, the plugin is really helpful and to be honest I am using it, because of a couple of images. I would only worry about the plugin if it is bogging your website down.
Hope that helps
Thanks
John
Hi John, thanks for sharing this information. This is very informative to those of us that think we don’t need an SSL cert on our website. Thank goodness you found wealthy affiliate that doesn’t charge you that much. Like other’s had mentioned it’s a peace of mind have it on your website. Even if the website only collects names and email addresses even those are still pieces of information some of us are reluctant to give out.
Hey Kelyee,
thanks for checking out my post and leaving some comments. I am glad you found the information useful. SSL is so important to put people at ease about sharing that sort of information. Scammers are eager to gain this information, but with SSL it helps.
thanks again Kelyee
John