What are the advantages of SSL certificates for a small business website?

With the rise in internet penetration and the explosion of social media, small businesses are no longer at a disadvantage. They can sell their products and services to customers around the world, target audiences in any segment and region, and position themselves for growth. While the infrastructure on the ground must match for success, the Internet has ensured that small businesses have a reliable and affordable new marketing avenue. They are able to explain their offers and are assured of an upward trajectory, as long as their strategies are correct.

However, the hub of all operations is a website and all factors revolve around it. When visitors land on a small business website, they should be able to get an intuitive feel and easily get what they’re looking for. Additionally, visitors are looking more from a data security perspective whenever they interact with someone on the Internet. Therefore, the security of a website is a very important factor and visitors must be sure of the same to maintain trust and create a link.

This is where the role of SSL certificates comes into play. The term SSL extends to Secured Socket Layer and this certificate is a small data file that digitally binds a cryptographic key to organization details. Organizations need an SSL certificate to be able to initiate a secure session with browsers. After installation, the application protocol changes from HTTP to HTTPS, and depending on the browser, a lock or a green bar is displayed.

The main advantages for a small business are

1) SSL is important to boost home business credibility

By proactively installing an SSL certificate, companies indicate that they care about data security. Installing an SSL certificate is not a standard operation. A governing authority performs various checks to authenticate a company before the certificate is issued.

2) Data integrity

With SSL certification, there is data encryption, files are prevented from being damaged when they are transferred, and there is protection against malicious attacks. This ensures that the information only reaches the intended recipients and is not intercepted by any third party.

3) Google supports SSL

SSL certification is one of the parameters considered for Google SEO. Roughly close to 40% of the organic listings on the first page of Google are HTTPS. HTTPS is also a signal in the Google algorithm since 2014.

All of the above will translate into an increase in customer confidence and conversions, which is the only objective of a company with a website. So it is obvious that SSL certificates are vital for any small business website.