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SSL Certificates- Finding the best SSL certificates can be confusing at times with so many companies offering cheap SSL certificates. In this SSL certificates tutorial Business Merchant Account is going to discuss all the features of SSL certificates.

Business Merchant Account can’t stress how important SSL certificates are when it comes to eCommerce websites. They are crucial to your business and your clients. Business Merchant Account has written this tutorial on SSL certificates and addressed certain aspects of SSL certificates. Those aspects are:

• What are SSL certificates?
• How do SSL certificates work?
• What are the benefits of SSL certificates?
• How do you install SSL certificates?
• What are the types of SSL certificates?
• Who offers the best SSL certificates?

What are SSL certificates?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and simply stated SSL is an encryption protocol that assists in the hiding of customer’s personal information from outside people who aren’t privileged to know that information. Outside people are anybody that is not involved in the online transaction.

How do SSL certificates work?

SSL certificates takes the sensitive information from the transaction and converts it into a code that can only be read with the proper software. The simplest way to think of SSL certificates and how they work is by comparing them to tinted windows on a vehicle. A vehicle without tinted windows can easily be seen into. This is the same for online purchases that don’t utilize SSL certificates. A vehicle with tinted windows is difficult to see in. Again, the same goes for online purchases made with SSL certificates in place. The SSL certificates act as a barrier and block outsiders from seeing the sensitive information.

What are the benefits of SSL certificates?

The benefits of SSL certificates by far outweigh the costs of SSL certificates. Not only do your customers benefit from you having a SSL certificate, but so do you! Your customers can shop at ease on your site knowing that all their personal information is protected. A lot of customers won’t even do business with eCommerce websites if they know they don’t have SSL certificates. As far as you go, you are going to benefit from SSL certificates by gaining customer’s confidence and knowing that your SSL certificate is protecting you from fraud.

How do you install SSL certificates?

There are three key steps to installing SSL certificates:

1. You need to generate what is known as a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). The CSR is created to validate your computer’s identity and to attach it to something trustworthy. The CSR is also the information that is used on your SSL certificate to provide further information about your online business to customers who examine the certificate. A lot of customers will examine SSL certificates before making purchases.
2. You need to locate and purchase an SSL certificate.
3. The company you purchased your SSL certificate will verify all your information on the CSR and then provide you with instructions on how to download your new SSL certificate. Almost every time SSL certificates are downloaded via secured downloads.

What are the types of SSL certificates?

There are a few types of SSL certificates. Those types are:

• Free SSL certificates- Free SSL certificates obviously don’t cost you any money. They are typically offered as part of your web hosting package. While they are decent, you shouldn’t relay on free SSL certificates for anything over a small business.
• Shared SSL certificates- Shared SSL certificates provide a little more protection than free SSL certificates but are also routinely found in web hosting packages. Shared SSL certificates are when you share SSL certificates with another person, most of the time that is your web host.
• Wildcard SSL certificates- Wildcard SSL certificates are expensive because they provide protection for your entire website including all of your subdomains.
• Dedicated SSL certificates- By far the best type of SSL certificates are dedicated SSL certificates. These types of SSL certificates are purchased by you and strictly for your website.

Who offers the best SSL certificates?

The best SSL certificates are offered by GoDaddy. GoDaddy has three levels of SSL certificates and each level provides great security. Because there are three types of SSL certificates offered by GoDaddy it is best to visit the GoDaddy SSL certificates blog or their official homepage for further information. Business Merchant Account only uses GoDaddy for our SSL certificates.

GoDaddy SSL Certificates- 10% off!!! Official Site

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