Last week I did something I should have done for my daughter’s photography website when I first launched it back in the spring.

It’s a mistake I don’t want you to make as well.

The error is to forget to install an SSL Certificate on all website pages.

In her case, the only truly secure web page was the one that opened separately to process a photograph purchase through PayPal.  All other pages including “pre-cart” pages were not encrypted and while it was not required for those pages, the error may have sent the wrong message to site visitors, leading to abandoned online carts (more on the reason why in a moment).

What is an SSL Certificate

SSL is kind of a geeky term. It stands for Secure Sockets Layer, an encryption technology patented by Netscape back in 1995 for its popular web browser.

If you are a Gen X’er (like me) or a Baby Boomer, you may remember Netscape!

Netscape eventually sold out to AOL and transformed into the Mozilla Organization (think Firefox browser), but once upon a time, Netscape controlled 90% of the internet browser market.

Eventually, some software company run by Bill Gates took over the famous Netscape Navigator browser with a product of its own called Internet Explorer.

SSL secures the connection between your web page and your visitor’s web browser so information is not compromised.

In other words, it helps protect your visitors’ information such as name, email, personal address, and form of payment.

Like me, you will recognize a web page with an SSL certificate by the “https:” prefix in your browser address bar.  The extra “s” after the standard “http:” (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) stands for Secure.  This website is one example.

While an SSL is required by financial institutions for web pages that handle online commerce (such as processing customer credit card transactions on your website), it is now a best practice to install an SSL Certificate across your entire website, even if you have nothing for sale yet.

3 Reasons to Install an SSL Certificate

Here are at least three reasons to install an SSL Certificate on your current or future website:

1. It helps protect your site visitors

   The protection of personal information of others is one of your top priorities even if you are just getting starting and building a mailing list.  A secured web page even for an opt in form for email subscribers speaks volumes about your priorities.

   I no longer opt in to someone’s mailing list with my first name and email address unless the page is secured. I encourage you to follow the same rule to protect yourself from spam.

2. Google will reward you

   While an SSL Certificate won’t boost your website to the top of Google search results (high-quality content coupled with good SEO metadata settings over the long term is still the rewarded path), Google announced in 2014 that HTTPS was a ranking signal for websites.

   In other words, Google factors security into its search algorithm.

3. SSL certificates are inexpensive (if not free)

   When I launched my first website in 2008, I did so to sell a product to help job interviewers ace their upcoming job interviews.  I had no choice but to purchase an SSL Certificate. I did so through GoDaddy and it was pricey.  Now an SSL Certificate through GoDaddy (they are one of the largest SSL Certificate Authorities in the world) is about $60 per year.

   It’s worth every penny for just the first reason listed, but you can also get an SSL Certificate for free. For example, Certificate Authority Let’s Encrypt is, in fact, a free SSL Certificate, and the one I used for my daughter’s website through WordPress host WP Engine (who I use and recommend – here’s why).

How to Install an SSL Certificate

To install an SSL Certificate on your website, my best advice is to contact your host company directly or, if applicable, your designated web designer. The steps to set up an SSL Certificate vary by host company, but it’s likely easy than you think if you are working with a company with good customer service.

Often, it is just a matter of ordering the SSL to set things in motion and then handing off the technical installation side of things to someone else.

If you host a site through the Rainmaker Platform which is what I use for Graceful Resources – here’s why, the Rainmaker support team will install an SSL certificate for you at no cost. Just ask!

One final tip when requesting an SSL Certificate:

Ask your website host or designer to also load all images on your website over HTTPS. There are some extra steps involved for your tech support contact, but if images (such as your featured blog post image) are not secured, your site visitors will see a “mixed content” error in their browser address bar.

A “mixed content” error may be nothing more than an unsecured logo on your website, but to your site visitor, it could easily lead to confusion and uncertainty over site security for them.  If that happens, they will likely not opt in to your mailing list or purchase one of your products.  They will also likely never return to your website.

As always with any changes to your website, test it out yourself in your browser to make sure everything looks right!

Hope this helps,
Brent

Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback via my contact form or in direct response to my free Graceful Journal email mailing list.

As a certified project management professional (PMP) specializing in web design and lead generation strategies, I’m here to take away the pain of figuring out how to seamlessly integrate web and email software resources to grow businesses online.

One project step at at time.

Ironically, it took a spammer to notify me that this website you are on now had a big gap in its design. It is the same error that inflicts all websites until something creative is done about it.

The error is the infamous “404 Page Not Found” message that we’ve all run into on the web visiting other sites.

Technically speaking, according to Wikipedia, here is the definition of the 404 error:

The 404 or Not Found error message is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) standard response code, in computer network communications, to indicate that the client was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested.

Translation for you and me:

A visitor to your website clicks on or types into their browser a broken page link.

For example, an Error 404 Page Not Found message will be displayed on a screen by default if someone types in your domain name correctly (e.g. https://GracefulResources.com) into her browser but not the page address (e.g. https://GracefulResources.com/testmonials instead of https://GracefulResources.com/testimonials).

The Dangers of Error 404 Page Not Found

In my case, the helpful spammer ironically revealed to me that my Error 404 Page Not Found was also displaying my entire sitemap including a resource I have for sale to help job interviewers.

In other words, if people have access to the full sitemap, they could access any resource without actually paying for it.

The more common danger of Error 404 Page Not Found is simply that your site visitors will abandon their visit to your website if they run into this roadblock, and they most likely will never return.

How to Fix and Benefit from Error 404 Page Not Found

The platform I use to run my WordPress site is Rainmaker and I discovered there is a built-in feature to automatically re-direct any site visitor from an invalid page address to a landing page of my design .

(Rainmaker Platform has a built-in landing page creator too – here’s a summary of my favorite features of this all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs.)

To truly benefit from an Error 404 Page Not Found message, I recommend creating a “Page Not Found” landing page that becomes an opt in page for your mailing list.  Here is my example and a screen shot:

Once you’ve created your landing page, simply go to Settings / Content from your Rainmaker Dashboard and then scroll down to the 404 Page section and select the page name you gave your landing page.

In my case, I literally gave the page name “Page Not Found” so that when anyone uses an invalid page address, they will be redirected to https://gracefulresources.com/page-not-found/.

You can again check out the landing page directly from this actual web address (https://gracefulresources.com/page-not-found/) or you can try out any invalid address for my website (e.g. https://gracefulresources.com/not-a-real-page/) and see how the infamous 404 error message is now fixed with an extra benefit!

Other Solutions to Error 404 Page Not Found

If you are using other software comparable to the Rainmaker Platform as the foundation for your online business, I encourage you to investigate whether there is a similar feature to re-direct any broken page links.

If you have a standard WordPress site, there appears to be a couple plugins available to address the infamous Error 404, but I strongly encourage you to test any plugins first in a staging environment for your website (the WordPress hosting service I use for my non-Rainmaker clients is WP Engine and it has a great built-in staging environment for customers.)

Another solution to consider is LeadPages which has a landing page template for the very purpose of converting a page not found problem into an opt in opportunity.

The Ironic Benefit of Error 404 Page Not Found

Thanks to technology, a broken page link on your website is no longer a bad thing if you set up a solution that instantly turns the error into an opportunity to promote your business and grow your mailing list.

Hope this helps,
Brent

Please let me know if you have any questions via my contact form or in direct response to my free Graceful Journal email mailing list.

I’m here to take away the pain of figuring out how to use new web technologies so you can gracefully profit online from your passion in life.