SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is the act of protecting your network connections by adding cryptography and a message authentication code for added reliability. Adding reliability aspects such as Secure Socket Layer certificates is important to your website, especially when hosting an e-commerce site because it demonstrates the authenticity of your website to your visitors and allows them to send confidential information over the Internet after that your browser accesses the server’s certificate and establishes a secure connection to the server. This process is also known as “SSL handshake”.
SSL certificates are made up of the following information:
Certificate owner name
Serial number
Certificate expiration date
Certificate owner’s public key
Digital signature of the certificate issuing authority
Some websites also require different SSL certificates than other websites. These are the three options that you generally have to choose from:
Wild Card SSL Certificate – With this certificate, you can protect an unlimited number of servers with a single SSL certificate, offering strong, secure 256-bit encryption, a web seal, and a site seal.
Multiple Domain Certificate – This is the most flexible certificate as it will protect multiple domain names with a single certificate.
Extended Validation Certificate – This certificate offers the best and safest online protection for your visitors.
There are quite a few companies that offer SSL certificates, some companies are more expensive than others and others offer the service for free. However, getting something for free is not always a good thing. Free SSL certificate companies are often not highly trusted and generally do not offer as many features as paid certificates. Here are some companies that offer great SSL security subscription services at prices that won’t break the bank:
Verisign – This is probably the best known and most trusted SSL server host; however, they are one of the most expensive with their lowest protection planning, costing $ 399 per year and offering 256-bit encryption
Thawte: $ 149 will get you a full year of SSL certificate use with Thawte’s lowest cost plan, and it offers the same 256-bit encryption that Verisign offers.
DigiCert – This company offers very strong 2048-bit encryption with all of its plans, and its lowest-cost plan is significantly cheaper than Verisign’s at $ 115 per year.
Go Daddy – Go Daddy is a well-known website hosting service that offers some of the cheapest SSL certificates starting at just $ 49.99 per year with 256-bit encryption.
And if you don’t want to pay for this service:
AffirmTust – Sites like this offer a free SSL service, however they often offer a lower encryption rate. AffirmTrust only offers 128-bit encryption, however this can be a good option for smaller businesses and websites looking for an SSL certificate.
Jeremy Miller is the owner of Bugon Website Services and strongly believes in not only offering superior search engine optimization and internet marketing services, but also providing website owners with relevant and valuable information to help them market efficiently. and effective your website on the world wide web. SSL certificates are very important to any e-commerce website and should be taken into account.
More information on: sslcertificate.ch
