A Final Goodbye

A web browser is also referred to as an Internet browser or just a browser. It is application software for accessing the World Wide Web.  When a user requests a web page from a website, the web browser retrieves the necessary content from a web server and then displays the page on the user’s device.

In the Beginning

The first web browser was just called ‘WorldWideWeb’ when it was written in 1990 it was the only way to see the web. It was also a browser editor. It could be used to create web pages as well as browse websites. Eventually it was renamed Nexus in order to save confusion between the program and the abstract information space www, which is now the World Wide Web. In the early 90s, we used Netscape Navigator as a proprietary web browser. It was the dominant web browser in terms of usage in the 1990s, Around 2003 its use had almost disappeared. The reason why was, due to the fact that Microsoft preloaded Internet Explorer on every computer it sold and it was placed right on the start-up page! Genius!

Microsoft was a software company in the early days. It made money by licensing its operating system to computer manufacturers and by selling products that worked with that operating system. The most well-known are Word and Excel.  In the early 2000s, Internet Explorer controlled 95% of the web browsing market.

Browser changed

Most people stopped using IE as their browsers years ago with the emergence of Firefox and Chrome. Of course, we had the diehard last holdouts. As someone who has devoted my career to the web, I had many conversations over the last many years with my clients letting them know that they need to switch browsers. Internet Explorer was no longer keeping things up to date and it was slow, prone to crashing, and vulnerable to hacks. It just wasn’t keeping up with the pace of competitors such as Google Chrome. Internet Explorer AKA IE.

Internet Explorer served from August 1995 to June 2022. It was a slow death but now it has dearly departed once and for all. It had a good 27-year run! 

These days, Google’s Chrome browser dominates the world of browsers with roughly a 65% share of the worldwide browser market, followed by Apple’s Safari with roughly 20%.

There are a lot of options to explore the internet these days.  Below is the current top ten list. As all thing’s web-related, this could change tomorrow!

• Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
• Apple Safari
• Opera
• Brave
• Vivaldi
• DuckDuckgo
• Chromium
• Epic

As always, Grateful Web Services is here to help you get your website on the World Wide Web or if your website needs updating, we are here to help take the chore off of your shoulders. It’s easy to forget that your website is on display 24/7. Even if you aren’t looking at it, potential customers could be. 

Email

You most likely use email every day and many of us do throughout the day. We now have to keep track of multiple email addresses and passwords! If you stop and think about it, email is a huge part of our daily lives.

The invention of email was a  game-changer, especially in the workplace. It seems hard to even imagine the days of using just USPS otherwise known as snail mail. The only way to send communication with someone who is not physically with you back in the old days was through a horse-ridden mail carrier.  For many years after, we just relied on our postal mail carriers in their little trucks.  Now an email can be delivered within seconds. Close to instant! We are very fortunate to be living during the immense acceleration of technology.

Email technology

The very first version of what would become known as email was invented in 1965 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as part of the university’s Compatible Time-Sharing System, which allowed users to share files and messages on a central disk, logging in from remote terminals. All the info is here on Wikipedia

Early players in the email game were companies such as Hotmail (which was purchased by Microsoft), Yahoo, and AOL. My senior citizen father still uses his @aol address. 

How does this all actually work?  It is done through something called Email protocol. This is a method by which a communication channel is established between two computers and email is transferred between them. When an email is transferred, a email server and two computers are involved. One computer sends the email and the other one receives it. The mail server stores the email and lets the receiving device access it and download it if needed. There are four different mail protocols.  IMAP, POP3, SMTP, and Exchange. These protocols differ in the way by which they establish connections and allow users access to emails. 

IMAP and POP

IMAP and POP are most likely the way that you are accessing your email. IMAP is the recommended way to check email from different devices, like your phone, tablet, and computer.

IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) You can access your email wherever you are using any kind of device with IMAP. You aren’t actually storing it on your device or downloading it. You are reading it from the actual email server. The nice thing about this is you can literally access it anywhere. If you are out of the country, at a friend’s house, watching your kid play sports, you can access your mail. More info at Wikipedia

POP

POP, short for the Post Office Protocol, is used to sync email from Gmail to any compatible mail client, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail. Like IMAP, POP is not a Google product; it’s a standardized, RFC-compliant protocol that any email service or client can choose to be compatible with. This is what is used if you are using an email program such as Outlook from your PC and the emails are downloaded to your computer. The sent email is stored locally on your PC or Mac and not the email server like IMAP. Many Internet service providers give you accounts that use POP
More info at Wikipedia 

Webmail

Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, and iCloud are all using webmail. To access you use the internet and sign in to your email account via a link.

Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail are all also email apps, in other words, programs that you install and manage on your computer. You can add any email account to your email app to manage your email.

It is easy to add webmail accounts to your email apps such as Outlook. It will attempt to set it up as IMAP but if you are having trouble, it’s usually because the email account is set up for a POP. If this happens, you just need to ask your email provider the name of their POP and SMTP server information that will look like this

• Incoming Mail (IMAP) Server: imap.<name of service>.com
• Incoming (POP) Server: pop.<name of service>.com
• Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server: smtp.<name of service>.com

SMTP

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. See the Wikipedia page for more info

Grateful Web Services offers email along with our hosting service. Have questions, ask us about it!

Business Checklist

This blog will be touching upon a few things that you will need to have in place, in order to open the door to your new business. Of course, we are not attorneys or tax professionals, so please refer to those experts for the official rules and regulations.

Your business

We love working with businesses! Non-profits, for-profits, any size business from small, medium to large. No matter what size of business, you will need to have certain things in place, in order to really begin. It may feel overwhelming and for some, a bit scary but focus on the excitement, hopes, and joy of starting a business.

Starting your business

There are items like city and county paperwork that will need to be done for licensing, permits, fictitious name filing if you aren’t just using your own name, and operations tax. If you have a brick-and-mortar location, then you need to deal with the landlords for leasing space and set up your services to that location. For a home-based business, you will need to have your city permit to operate out of your home. The city where you live surely has a website with information on getting started.

Market research and a marketing plan

Knowledge and expertise are critically important when starting a business. It is also very important to have some kind of marketing and business plan to establish a road map. This can be an ever-changing document but to start, you must map your direction. Of course, most or all of your research can be done online. There are still lots of book resources out there too. I have always enjoyed the straightforward way that’s Nolo Press presents its information. They have a great website with online forms and books to purchase as well.

You must also choose a business structure. Are you going to be a corporation, LLC, partnership, or sole proprietor? Talk to your tax advisor to help you choose the best one for your needs.

Your Business name

Make sure to do your research in picking the best name for your business. Will people know what you do? Buy the domain name and make sure that you keep paying it yearly or however long the period you purchased it for. This business name is many times your online URL (the address that you put in the search field in your browser). This is best practice but sometimes a business was started without checking to see if the domain name is being used already. You can put it in your search bar and see if it’s available. Also, domain registrars like GoDaddy for example have a search tool that allows you to check if it’s available and it gives you alternatives if your name has already been purchased by someone else. There is a great tool called WhoIs that you can check the domain name and it will give you information like who owns it and when the registration will expire. Also, another resource is the official ICANN website(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and many other similar websites that you can use to find useful information.

The logo

This is the face of your company and it’s going to be used on all of your document’s letterhead, website, social media, and anywhere else that your business needs a “picture” If you have the budget, then a professionally designed logo is really your best option. If you have a product that you are selling, you will need a custom logo. If you don’t have the budget at least, to begin with, there are lots of tools online that can help you for a fraction of a custom logo. Although, this logo is not custom and can be seen if another business is using the one that you chose for their business already. The only way to have one that no one has seen before is to hire a graphic designer to do this for you. Ask us about this and we can help to point you in the right direction.

Website

This is many times, the first glimpse of your business that someone sees. Whether we want to admit it, we all judge and you want the first impression to look sharp and professional. Some people on a budget try to save money by setting up a website themselves. There are tools like GoDaddy site builder or Wix with the promise that it will be easy. The problem here is, unless you are technical, you probably won’t be able to put a good enough product out there even with these tools. Not to mention that they are very limited on how you can design and edit. Also, you may not know, what you don’t know…. meaning your website may not be search engine friendly with some of these methods You will need to be found by Google and many of these options just don’t offer much in that area. What is a website worth if no one can find it? Just like you wouldn’t buy a home without a Realtor helping you. The same is true for a website. Hire a professional like Grateful Web Services.

If the website isn’t programmed correctly, doesn’t look professional, isn’t easy to navigate, and isn’t maintained often, you may be missing out on a lot of business. A unique and custom design is really important to help your reputation. Keeping it updated is critical for Google to keep indexing your website in its ranking for searches.

Hosting

Your website will need to be hosted somewhere. As explained in this blog in further depth. We offer hosting services to make it easier for our clients to have all of their web services under one roof. Either way, there are lots of options out there but make sure that your host has the latest software on their server!

Receiving payments

Hopefully, you will be able to start receiving money for your product, services, or donations for our non-profits! Of course, you must set up a business account at your bank to receive payments to your business name. A sole proprietor can use their own name. It is also suggested that you set up a PayPal account and Venmo account since many people prefer the ease of paying through these methods. Grateful Web Services can also set up your eCommerce, so your website can take payments and our non-profits can receive their donations. Sometimes people can find all of this overwhelming. No worries we can help you navigate all of this and even maintain it for you if requested.

Ready, set, go!

Take time to be happy and to appreciate the process. There is always going to be stress but this is an exciting time and don’t forget to step back and enjoy the accomplishment.

Resources

These are a just few very valuable resources mentioned in this blog

https://www.nolo.com

https://www.sba.gov

https://www.whois.com/whois

https://lookup.icann.org

https://www.paypal.com

https://venmo.com

2022

Cheers to a happy, healthy, and
prosperous new year!

Finally getting to this blog halfway through the month! Better late than never! I need to follow my advice and post a blog at least once
a month.

Happy 2022 to all of our clients and potential clients. We are all ready for a new year with hopes of combating this pandemic. The last couple of years have been difficult but it is more important than ever, to keep looking forward and do our best to make the most out of what we have.

Goodbye 2021

Grateful Web Services welcomed the new year with too much to do to sit and type this blog! A little like the gardener that doesn’t do their own lawn. We have lots happening over here and we are grateful for that. We have several non-profits that we are currently working with and really enjoy helping organizations with a purpose. Of course, we love helping business owners with their web presence and visibility too.

Superior customer service has always been what keeps our clients coming back to us. We care and our clients know that. Each company or organization is treated as if they were our only client. No matter how much we grow, this is a commitment that we will always honor.

The new year brings hope and new opportunities for growth. We are here to help even more businesses and non-profits with their web presence. This could be for a brand new website. a revamp of a current website, maintenance, hosting, and help with your search engine placement.

We realize that there are a lot of other companies that you can choose to work with and are grateful to all of our clients who have supported us throughout the years.

Visit our Testimonials page and Google My Business to see what some of our clients are saying.

Thank you! 

Hosting is necessary, but what is it?

Website hosting is a term that many of our clients find confusing. Hopefully, after reading this, you will have a better understanding!

A website cannot be viewable to anyone on the internet, without hosting. This is a critical piece to launching a new website. A server must hold your website files,so that when someone types in your domain name, the website shows up for them. Imagine trying to get your US Mail without an actual mailbox, it’s impossible.

Your website is comprised of images, files, code, database, and all of this is stored on a computer server. It is “Serving” up the files to be viewed. Without a home to store your files, no one would be able to view your website online. This is essentially rental space for your website files.

It is very important to make sure that your server computer is running the latest versions of software and has security precautions in place in case there is a breach. You need a firewall, backup, and an SSL certificate.

There are different types of Hosting

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most common type of web hosting and is acceptable for most website owners. With shared hosting, your website files sit on the same server (Computer) along with multiple other websites.

These are a few examples of hosting providers

• GoDaddy
• Bluehost 
• DreamHost
• SiteGround

Your web company may need to confirm that the host has

• Backups and Security
• Up to date software and equipment
• Good customer service
• Reliability and fast upload 
• Scalability, if your needs change

There are several advantages to shared hosting including:

• Affordability — It’s much cheaper to share the space on a server than to rent the entire computer.
• Ease of use — Your server is preconfigured, well-organized, easy to use, and your hosting company does all the maintenance and security updates for you.

Although,  it is crucial that your host has a firewall, backups (in case your website becomes infected), and security programs. It is also critical that every website on this shared environment is up to date on its own website plugins. You don’t want one website infecting other websites on the server. This is very important!

Dedicated Hosting

Rather than sharing space, you get a server all to yourself. No need to make sure that other websites are up to date. 

Advantages to dedicated hosting include:

• Customized— You can customize the software and hardware to meet your individual needs
• Unlimited Resources — Since you don’t share the server with anyone, all the storage space is yours
• Full control — You can configure the setup however you’d like

Of course, this is a pricier option but may make the most sense for those who are running very large websites, such as e-commerce and other large sites.

Virtual Private Hosting

This is a blend of shared and dedicated hosting, This is designed for users whose website may have outgrown their shared hosting environment but don’t need a server all to themselves. Virtual Private Hosting or VPS for short allows for multiple clients to use a single server.

Each website on a VPS server is partitioned into its own space so that it uses its own allocation of server resources and can run its own operating system and applications.

• Space – Each website has its own allotment of resources
• Safe from other websites on the  server – Users can only access their own control panel and are not affected by malware and other contaminants from other websites on the shared server
• Control –  Each website has its own virtual space and users have complete control over their site files

VPS hosting could be the right choice and makes it less likely that a sudden spike in usage from someone else on the VPS will slowdowns other websites, unlike shared hosting. 

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is often considered the most reliable of all of the services. Rather than relying on the disk space of a single server, it pulls its power from several resources, making sure you never have any downtime. Other benefits include:

• Scalability — You can add to your cloud space at any time.
• Unmetered bandwidth — You don’t have to worry about your site going down due to a server failure.

However, Amazon’s cloud service recently went down. So, when it comes to anything computer-related, things can happen!

WordPress Managed Hosting

Periodically our clients come to us to either build a new website or make updates to their website. If they happen to have WordPress-managed hosting, this limits what files can be edited. Managed WordPress hosting, is an all in one service, where all technical aspects of running WordPress are managed by the host.

• Updates to WordPress — all updates to WordPress core and plugins taken care of for you
• Daily backups included — You don’t have to worry about your site going down due to a server failure.
  

More often than not, our clients ask us to handle their hosting. This way, all of the website services are under one roof, so to speak.  We have a shared server for the convenience of our clients. Many times, we also host our client’s emails as well. If something goes wrong, you just need to reach out to Grateful Web Services and we will handle the situation and get the website up and running! Only one phone call with a live person 😊 We are also very attentive to emails as well if you prefer.

Website Animation

At the beginning of the year, when planning out ideas for the Grateful Web Services blog, paying homage to Flash was on the list. For me, this was the start of animating the world wide web. It made an otherwise static website, come alive. Before Flash, it was just animating GIFS. Graphics Interchange Format. We used this as an animation tool for businesses to rotate their logos or specific text. By setting the rotation to 360 degrees, giving the illusion of 3D on the screen.

When Flash emerged on November 3, 2002, it was revolutionary and oh so cool. It was first a Macromedia product and Adobe would go on to acquire Macromedia in 2005 along with its products; Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Director, Cold Fusion, and a few other lesser-known titles. These were my favorite tools from “back in the day” when I first started in this ever-evolving technology industry. This was pretty early on in the Internet’s life span. Of course, before search engine placement was really even a “thing”. Now of course it’s everything. Old technologies and website features that are not recognizable by the search bots can’t or shouldn’t be used. As it’s been said so many times, a website can be beautiful but if no one can find the website and no one visits, it’s close to useless.

Adobe, as well as all web browsers, discontinued supporting Flash back in January of 2021. Of course, this means that Adobe will not issue any more updates or security patches. Web browsers will no longer display Flash content, and any website will just give users a broken experience. This also applies to web games using Flash, after January 1, 2021, they are no longer playable.

This just came into play with the 20th anniversary of 9/11
Journalism is often considered the first draft of history, but what happens when that draft is written on a software program that becomes obsolete? Some of the news coverage of the September 11th attacks and other major events from the early days of online journalism is no longer accessible. For example, The Washington Post and ABC News both have broken experiences within their September 11th coverage, See the full story for more information on this, at CNN

Many of us spent a lot of time learning how to use Flash. Technology is always changing and this is a big part of the reality for those of us who work in this ever-changing technology space. It is fun, exciting, and frustrating all at the same time. These days, we have other ways to use animation in websites that don’t hinder searches, and most are much easier to implement.

There are lots of ways to add movement to your otherwise static website. I will keep this part short so you don’t start to glaze over. This is why you hire someone else to deal with these details! Your developer can use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which is a special set of style rules and helps to keep designs consistent. This is used for simple animations and it won’t work if you need more than three animations in a row. So that leads us to JavaScript, which can handle sequential animations and is more powerful and flexible. Another choice would be to use SVG’s, which stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. SVG elements can be animated with CSS.

You can use videos as a background, create button animations, content that slides in, fade-in, and website loading features. There are many loading plugins that can help keep the ever-impatient human entertained while the website loads. Otherwise, users have to wait while everything loads: website pages, PDF files, maps, videos, and other content. This brightens up the wait and creates the sense that your website is there and loading. You can use an image or logo or even, progress bars, and shape-changing animations.

Animations can be a great addition to a website’s look and feel, but they have to be worked in the right way to fit your style and goals. Animations definitely add to the user-friendliness of a website. When subtly added, animations are capable of building a strong connection between users and the content on the screen. Just use it thoughtfully and sparingly. Too much or careless integration of animations into your website can be a real eyesore – and no one wants that 😊

We have easier and better ways to do things as time moves forward but it is apropos to honor the official passing of one of the early tools. This was the beginning of giving visual appeal to websites that were no longer just a static, dry place for information. This breathed in life and stylized a user-friendly approach. The appeal and psychology of placing information in a visually pleasing way, that is received best by the user, are just as important as the content itself. The need for things to be aesthetically appealing is hardwired in all of us and part of our human experience.

Why should I Blog?

The importance of a blog seems like an appropriate subject. I always tell our clients that they need to update their blog at least once a month. I should follow my own advice since GratefulWebServices.com hasn’t been updated in quite a few months. It’s like the analogy that the gardener’s own garden is overgrown with weeds. So much time is spent taking care of other people’s websites that at the end of the day, Grateful Web Services blog is put on the back burner.

Yes, a blog is very important to your business. This is probably one of the best things that you can do to help your search engine ranking. Adding new content, lets Google know that your website is alive and breathing. Google wants to rank websites that appear to have more activity. Those with the least, head to the end of the line.

Blogging is an inexpensive way for small businesses to drive traffic. This means more business, equaling more money!

Increased website traffic, in the form of pageviews from organic and social sources, can help your business. Every time you publish a new post, you get another opportunity for web crawlers to find your website and suggest it to those who are searching Google with relevant keywords.

The amount of traffic that you can earn from your blog depends on the topic, how much you promote the articles, and how good the content is.

According to HubSpot, the average business can get 55 percent more visitors with a blog.

I recommend to our clients, to make a list of 6 topics so that each month, for the next 6 months, you know what you are going to write about. This makes it much easier to plan ahead. Now, I will take my own advice!

Goodbye to the old and hello to the new!

I imagine everyone is looking forward to a brighter 2021!

2020 was tough for all of us but especially for the many who have been ill, lost loved ones, and jobs. Most of us have lost the ability to go out and enjoy a movie, concert, or even share dinner at a friend’s home. My heart goes out to all of the people we lost to this pandemic and their grieving loved ones.

There were also a lot of good things that happened! For me, it was a chance to really focus on learning new things. I felt so stagnated for years being a paper pusher as a project manager and working for someone else. Although I still love managing website projects, I also filled in a lot of gaps in my own knowledge base learning new technologies that are ever-changing. I love learning and finding that place in myself again has been really wonderful. I wake up every day with gratitude that I am the captain of my own ship, that I am not living someone else’s dream but my own. I love working with other entrepreneurs who are small business owners themselves. The web is always changing with new technologies coming out constantly and although in my early years I was in a constant state of learning, I am once again enjoying my growth.

My 83-year-old father has spent his life seeking learning experiences, which have brought him all over the world and this has included learning and speaking multiple languages. One thing he always taught me was to seek new information, love learning, and that you are never told old to learn! He took up learning to speak Mandarin in his later years which has been quite a challenge! He also imparted to me the importance of having interests because that will sustain you throughout your life. I have so many interests and found that I am rarely ever “bored”. So, with alone time being plenty, I have truly made the most of it. Building my website development skills, design skills, creating art, cooking, and really taking time to better myself. Now the goal is to stay healthy and make the most out of each day. I am grateful for my health, my loved ones, my ability to learn new things, and having a natural thirst for knowledge. Most importantly, I take one day at a time and focus on what I can control in this time of uncertainty!

Laura Rider
Owner
Grateful Web Services

Your choice of website companies plays a big part in helping you get the most out of your online image. Your website is the first place where potential clients go to learn about you and your services. If your website doesn’t reflect a professional look and is not easy to use, you could be losing business without even knowing it. Below are a few of those benefits:

Relationship

Hiring a smaller company usually allows you to interact directly with the owner of the firm. They will know you by name and you will remember theirs. There isn’t a big turnover of employees
which is often the case in larger companies. This way you get to really know the person that you are working with and they will get to know you and your needs. 

Grateful Web Services has great reviews from all of our clients! This is because we provide excellent service and quality. We spend as much time with you as you need. We communicate with you regularly throughout your project.  

We take the time to analyze your brand and build a website that is creatively designed and developed based on your company image. We build long-term relationships with our clients and they trust us with their projects.

We are committed to providing our clients with the best experience possible. We have clients that have been working with us for over twenty years. That kind of loyalty says loud and clear that they are happy, well taken care of, and know that they won’t find the same level of service in many other companies. We have clients that have redesigned their websites several times over the years and remain with us to this day. We are a shoulder to lean on for any web-related needs!

Quicker turnaround

Smaller design companies are more flexible and don’t use the cookie-cutter approach. We respond to you in a timely manner and you can expect that your project will go quickly from the proposal stage to launch.

Cost

Larger firms have larger overhead, this is a simple fact. They have multiple salaries to pay, rent, or mortgage payments for their locations along with operating costs like power, etc. That overhead is factored into your website costs. Our lower overhead means lower prices for you.  

Satisfaction

Here at Grateful Web Services, we will do our best to keep you happy! We call you back when you leave a message, email you back promptly, and look out for your website’s best interest. If we maintain your website, we will make sure that everything is kept up to date. 

We provide website maintenance for many of our clients. We recommend hiring us for ongoing Maintenance because your time is better spent running your business. Do you really have the time or expertise to keep your website updated? Our clients take comfort knowing that the most important advertising asset that they have is professionally managed and updated regularly.

If you host with us, we make sure that your website is managed 24/7 and will work with our vendors to fix any outages as soon as possible. We also make sure you are using an SSL to help keep your website secure.

The bottom line is, you are in good hands (not to plagiarize the Allstate commercial) and want you to know that we care. Check our Testimonials and Google reviews. 

The importance of an SSL

Have you ever noticed the URL (your domain name) in the browser bar? Does it either start with an HTTP or HTTPS? HTTPS sites are secured with an SSL certificate and HTTP sites, are not. Chances are, you have heard the term “SSL” but what exactly is it and why do you need it?

Whenever we develop a new website here at Grateful Web Services we make sure that our clients have an SSL certificate. This is always part of the hosting discussion that we have at the beginning of every project and it is included in our basic hosting plan. The acronym SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. In layman’s terms, this is your website security. This security is no longer something that is really optional. If your website does not have an SSL certificate, your user will see a message that says your site is unsafe. Yikes! Of course, this is not anything you want on your website. Also, Google will no longer index your website. This means any hope to be seen on searches has now become a lot harder.  So to put it plainly, if you don’t have an SSL certificate, your website may still function as always, but it will be vulnerable to hackers and Google will warn visitors that your website is not secure. Ultimately your website traffic will greatly suffer. Google gives priority to websites that have an SSL certificate.

The function of the SSL is to allow secure connections from a web server to a browser. SSL is the standard in online security. It is used to encrypt data sent over the Internet between a client (your computer) and a server (a website’s computer). This automatically prevents many types of attacks. If a hacker intercepts encrypted data, the hacker can’t read it or use it without the private decryption key.

In the early web days, the SSL was used only to secure credit card transactions, data transfer, and logins, but more recently it has become the norm due to such an increase in website threats and now required by Google. 

Once your SSL is installed you will see your website address change from HTTP in front of your web address to HTTPS. The “S” stands for Security and if you are remotely curious, the rest stands  for Hypertext Transfer Protocol

We don’t want to bore our readers but If you want to know more, you can check the Wikipedia definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security

HTTP is the foundation of any data exchange on the Web.
To read more  go to Wikipedia for their definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS)

In short, the purpose is to

• Keep data safe
• Don’t scare your users away
• Increase your Google Rankings
• Build customer trust
• Improve conversion rates

We can help!

If you sign up for our hosting package, a shared SSL is included. A shared SSL certificate can be used by all domains running on the same server. For an additional fee, there is a “dedicated” SSL you can choose as an add-on.

Now you are wondering why do I need a dedicated SSL over the one included in the hosting plan? A dedicated SSL certificate is purchased for a specific domain name and will only work with that one domain name.  a dedicated SSL is preferred for protecting credit card information for eCommerce websites. In the end, you have to weigh the cost against other considerations.  We will recommend it if we think it is necessary for your project.