SSL & SECURITY

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) improves website security by encrypting traffic between the site’s server and the user’s browser.

Installing an SSL certificate changes your URL from the basic ‘hyper text transfer protocol’ (http) to ‘hyper text transfer protocol secure’ (https).

Having a secure (https) site is vital if you’re running an online shop, and is increasingly seen as being necessary even for other websites.

Some web designers and hosting companies charge for buying and/or installing an SSL certificate – and in some cases also require them to be renewed annually.

However, if you host your site through me, I’ll install a lifetime SSL certificate free of charge, whether you choose a single page, multi page or ecommerce website – so you get added security at no cost!

(Note that ‘lifetime’ means for the length of time your site is hosted with me on Hostinger; it’s not guaranteed to be around as long as you! Also note that the free installation applies only to your main site. If you want a certificate installed on a subsite, then I’ll invoice you for the cost of it – currently about £15.)

Backup and security plugins

The cloud-based hosting package I use comes with daily website backups and, for sites hosted with me, I will also install the WordPress backup and restore plugin UpdraftPlus, free of charge. Daily or weekly backups are likely to be most appropriate, but they can be scheduled as frequently as every four hours.

In addition, I’ll also install the WordFence security plugin which, even in its free version, provides additional protection against malicious attacks.

You might also be interested in my blog post on security issues There’s more to website security than SSL and in my page on domain name search and registration.