In this present age, when websites are falling prey to various cyber threats, it is quite natural for consumers to lose their confidence in them. However, businesses can take measures to protect their consumers and save their websites from these threats by shifting their websites from HTTP to HTTPS. It sends a message to your consumers that you are using an SSL certificate and you are treating all the information of your customers with safety. Consult a web development agency in Charleston in this regard. In this article, we are going to share with you the top reasons to make your website secured.
What is HTTPS and SSL Certificate?
Firstly, you need to understand the meaning of HTTPS and SSL certificate as it would help you understand the importance of installing them to your site. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the process of encrypting information exchanged between a browser and a server. It protects sensitive information such as your users’ credit card or login details from external online threats.
A Secure Sockets Layer or SSL certificate is a set of data files that you can add to your server. It helps to set up an encrypted connection between your browser and the server. When you install it, a padlock is displayed that implies your website is secured. Therefore, while SSL certificate is the product you purchase and install on your server, HTTPS is the final result of having that certificate installed on your server.
Reasons to Make your Website Secured
Now that you have learned about the SSL certificate and HTTPS website, let’s discuss the reasons to make your website secured.
The Data of your Users is Encrypted
The average cost to the company in the event of a data breach is quite expensive, about 3.6 million dollars approximately. Encrypting consumer data can help in preventing such forms of undesired expenses. Encryption of data means converting them from a readable format into an encoded format that even when being intercepted by a third – party cannot be decoded. In terms of making your website secure, you can consult Charleston website development companies.
One of the most important reasons to install an SSL certificate to make your website secured is to ensure that the consumer data is encrypted. During an online transaction, most of the bank card requires your website to be a secured one. Therefore, if you are dealing with online payment, ensure that you are using an SSL certificate, and the transactions are processed through an external payment gateway.
Better SEO
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a critical aspect in terms of improving the online visibility of your business website and driving web traffic. Making your website secured can help in SEO as well. Search engines such as Google and others prefer websites that are secure in terms of ranking them. It is safe to say more than half of the results that appear on the first SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) on Google are HTTPS. Any SEO company in South Carolina will also highlight that making your website secured will help in boosting your SEO efforts as well.
Your Website will Appear Authoritative
As securing a website ensures encrypting user data, and they appear professional, most of the brands are opting for making their websites secured. At present, your browser will display a ‘not secure’ note next to the website’s address if it is an HTTP site. On the other hand, a padlock symbol shows if the website is on HTTPS. Consult a web development agency in Charleston today to help you make your website a secured one.
Most of your audience might not clearly understand the concept of HTTP or HTTPS. However, if they view a ‘not secure’ note beside the website’s address they are visiting, it might raise their doubt about the credibility of the website even though it doesn’t involve any payment process. It might prompt them further to leave the website shortly after visiting the.
It can have two negative impacts on your audience. Firstly, you will lose their trust. Secondly, it would increase your bounce rate that may lead to poor rankings on SERPs. Therefore, another of the major reasons to make your website to HTTPS is to gain your audience’s trust and add credibility to your brand. It will lead us to our next point.
Audience’s Trust Helps in Improving Conversions
Taking a cue from the previous point, we would like to mention that gaining the audience’s trust is critical in improving conversion. The more they trust your brand, the likelier they are to spend more time on your website taking various actions (subscribing to the email list for the newsletter, downloading eBook). It would help in generating leads that you can encourage to make a purchasing decision. For instance, in eCommerce websites, you can highlight the aspect that your website is a secured one that can further boost business conversions.
Website Clean-up is Expensive than Protection
If you ignore the security of your website, chances are that they can be exposed to malware threats or be hacked by third parties. In such cases, you had to search for information such as ‘the procedure to clean a hacked site.’ Even if you get information online, then also it would not be easier for you to perform such tasks. So, in the end, you would have to hire a professional. Trust us; it is not an inexpensive option. You can avoid these expenses by making your website secured.
Having a secured website offers numerous advantages, whereas ignoring the same can not only make your website vulnerable to cyber threats but also cause search engine penalties. Therefore, you need to understand that with time, importance, and the need to make your website secured will increase. Since it has become easier to acquire HTTPS for your website, more and more websites are choosing to install them. As a result, even search engines are going to be stricter in recommending a secured website to users on SERPS. Therefore, you must make your website secured to protect both your as well as your user’s data safe.
Simple Brands Media is a digital marketing agency Charleston, SC, that can help you in making your website secured. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any concerns regarding your website’s security or other digital marketing aspects.