One of the products we offer here at West Bay Media Group is an SSL certificate. A secure sockets layer certificate is now a must for any small business owner that has a website on the internet. There is confusion by business owners regarding an SSL certificate for their Business website. In this article I hope to explain exactly what an SSL certificate is and how it works.

The web is able to work by means of the Hypertext Mark Up Language. HTML, the brainchild of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee developed this language and demonstrated how he could manipulate a web page and have it work on a local computer. HTML, as we know it now, is STILL the backbone of the internet, and even today we code in HTML when we want to make sophisticated changes to a website. From the creation of this language, Mr. Berners-Lee’s goal was to connect computers together to share this information, and this ended up being the birth of hypertext transfer protocol or HTTP.  HTTP allows computers to share information with each other using HTML as the language and HTTP as the “conduit” for the connection. 

Secure Sockets Layer Certificate

You probably remember noticing the first websites starting off with http://www. in front of a domain name. As with all technology, there have been vast changes to the internet since 1990 when Berners-Lee published the first website. For example, e-commerce websites were pretty scarce in the early days. People were afraid to put their credit card numbers online. Now, in 2020, everyday people are using apps on their smartphones to order products with overnight delivery to their homes. Because of these technological changes, there have been more opportunities for hackers to attack and infiltrate websites. The need for security is no longer an afterthought for websites but now plays an extremely important role in the daily management of the small business owner’s website.

A new protocol named HTTPS or hypertext transfer protocol SECURE, ensures that the data being transmitted from the website to the end user (client) is secure. You will notice when a website has an SSL certificate as the browser will show that it is secure. The confusion for the owner is thinking it is THEIR WEBSITE that is secure, which is NOT the case at all!  It is the CONNECTION that is secure. The data is encrypted during transmission to prevent hacking or intrusion.

Website Security

We offer website security as well as SSL certificate installation to your website. Both website security and SSL website certificates are required when a new company decides to work with West Bay Media Group, reason being that Google, the #1 search engine on the planet, de-ranks websites without HTTPS. Google’s revenue is based on advertising dollars, and, therefore, they DO NOT want to serve up queries for websites without a secure certificate, which is why we require one for EVERY new client.

We work with Strategic Partners that desire to grow their business online; hence, staying on top of the tech trends is OUR job so YOU can focus on sales and marketing. We use trusted companies, and we know how to CORRECTLY configure the certificate to work with a WordPress website.

Now that I have explained the difference between browser security and website security, you can feel confident knowing that your business website is secure with the data transmission from your website to the customer. We can install the certificate and give you and your customers the peace of mind knowing their online asset is protected. West Bay Media Group provides ongoing support for all of our strategic partners so that if an issue does arise with the certificate we are able to resolve it.  Please contact us anytime to find out more!