By Neil Patel

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You want people to trust your site and that requires a valid secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate.

SSL certificates are issued by a certificate authority (CA) and they build trust in two important ways:

1. The CA authenticates the identity of the organization that wants the certificate. This way, people know that they are in fact sending their information to PayPal, for example, and not someone who has set up a fake PayPal site.
2. The SSL certificate encrypts the data travelling between your website and visitors. This way, potential attackers can’t steal the information people share on your site, such as their username, password, or credit card number.

Today, all of the popular browsers like Google Chrome will warn users anytime they attempt to visit a site without an SSL certificate. It’ll say something like “This site is not secure,” or “Any information you share may be vulnerable to attackers.”

It’s not great for business, to put it lightly.

Would-be visitors are going to head to a different site where they feel comfortable entering their credit number. I know I would.

There are a lot of different CAs to choose from and they sell a range of SSL certificates designed to help companies establish their online identity and protect their customer’s privacy.

For some people, going with a free SSL certificate is going to be perfectly safe to use. All that’s required is a quick demonstration that you control a particular domain. These are known as DV (domain validated) SSL certificates.

For companies that need to establish a greater level of trust, OV (organization validated) or EV (extended validation) SSL certificates involve real-world background checks on the organization making the request.

The rigorous authentication process isn’t free, but it conveys a much higher level of trust.

Paid SSL certificate providers also make the process of obtaining and renewing certificates much easier through an intuitive online platform.

So, how do you choose the best SSL certificate provider?

It can seem tricky at first, given that they are all selling the same essential service. There are important differences, though, and you want to figure them out before you decide.

In this post, I’ve reviewed the top SSL certificate providers. These are big names with a long history of protecting websites. The reviews are followed by a short guide that will help you make sense of your options and ask the right questions moving forward.

#1 – SSL.com — The Best for Budget-Friendly SSL Certificates

SSL.com is perfectly suited for small and growing businesses that need to secure their sites, but can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars a year.

They are a nice, mid-range product which works for companies that have outgrown their ability to use entirely free SSL certificates, but don’t have especially complex security needs that justify the premium pricing of DigiCert or GlobalSign.

The best part about …read more

Source:: Kiss Metrics Blog

Author: Aaron