Buy SSL Certificates -7 Simple Money-Saving Tips to Secure Your Website

In this digital era, keeping business online is a must and it is increasingly important to have a secure online presence. From payment card data to identifiable information to intellectual property, organizations need to secure all kinds of data to safeguard their customer information and protect their brand.

One of the effective ways to protect the website and keep out bugs, hackers, and other online nasties, is to install a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. SSL encryption is especially important for companies, which accept online payments, transferring files, or asking for login details. However, staff resources and costs are hindering many businesses when it comes to data security.

Without proper encryption, data is unprotected, hence vulnerable to hackers. SSL security doesn’t need to be expensive, but it is crucial. This section will outline the most critical factors you should consider to achieve data security on a budget.

7 Cost-Effective Strategies for Buying SSL Certificates and Securing Your Website

1.    Secure the Right Kind of Certificate

Instead of divulging into finding the cheap SSL certificate, you need to find what SSL certificate is going to be the best fit for your website else you’ll end up with multiple certificates, renewal dates, installations, and price points. Identify your goals and perceive what exactly your requirements are. Some crucial questions to ask yourself are:

• What are the applications and systems in your enterprise that rely on SSL certificates?
• Do you need a solution, which also offers managed PKI?
• Do you want to secure more than one main domain?
• How many subdomains do you want to secure?
• What type of SSL certificate does your site need? Whether you are running a company website or an eCommerce site or a simple blog and then decide exclusively for that.
• Are you eligible to buy an OV or EV SSL certificate?

Take the time to understand all your needs and possible options and come to a proper decision about what will suit your needs. Therefore, you save money and time to find the best-suited SSL certificate for your website.

2.    Choose Your Certificate Authority Wisely

You might ask, why should I pay for something that is free? The whole world would be using free SSL certificates if there wasn’t any difference between paid SSL certificates and free ones. When a user visits a site, secured with a free or cheap SSL certificate, most browsers will show an error message. While purchasing digital certificates, there is more to the decision than cost alone.

Make sure that you are choosing a trusted CA, otherwise, you are going to stick into the same issues you would have with the free SSL certificates where the browsers warn about your site’s trustworthiness. Better CAs like Entrust offer packages with other security offerings with their SSL certificates and include more a familiar trust seal that is proven to boost consumer confidence and lead conversions. So, choose wisely.

3.    Read Vendor’s Money-Back Guarantee and Guidelines

The best SSL providers always value their customers’ money and trust. Most reputable vendors offer 30 days (or 15 days) unconditional money-back guarantee when you are dissatisfied with a certificate and want to cancel your order. This is a common standard, but make sure to check whether the days are considered from the date the cert is issued not from the date it is purchased.

4.    Make Sure to Compare SSL Certificate Price

Don’t hire because they’re cheap. The cheaper the quote, the cheaper the output. There are hundreds of CAs out there selling similar certificates at different prices. Some may offer the cost low but have slow issuance processes or hectic to work with. Some tend to be a little costly, but it could be because of the additional value in the form of bundled security products or better customer service.

While comparing SSL certificate prices of various vendors consider the aspects like the pricing of individual certificates, billing increments, up-front discounts, discounts for multi-year commitments, and bundling of services. Thoroughly review the SLA contracts before signing them to avoid any hidden costs.

5.    Choose Wildcard Certificate for Multiple Subdomains

If you are managing a site with one main domain name and multiple numbers of sub-domains, purchase a wildcard certificate. Another possible option is investing in individual SSL cert for every single subdomain, which would comprise installation, tracking renewal dates, etc. Wildcard SSL certificate aids to secure an unlimited number of subdomains. For example, you can secure domains like

• Domain. com
• Login.domain.com
• Mail.domain.com
• Ftp.domain.com

This SSL certificate is beneficial in two aspects –

1. It prevents you from troubles of purchasing and installing several individual certificates and saves a substantial amount of time
2. It saves you a significant chunk of money – you do not have to pay for each single SSL certificate

6.    Buy SAN SSL Certificate

This certificate type offers an upgrade over a wildcard certificate. It enables the users to secure multiple main domains along with several sub-domains. If you want to secure more than one main domain and seek a pricing model, which increments based on the number of Subject Alternative Names (SAN) you are using, a multi-domain SSL certificate is a way to go.

7.    Buy SSL Certificate for More Than A Year

The validity of SSL certificates is reduced to one year to ensure robust web security and data protection. Businesses need to renew their certificates every year. However, most CMS (Certificate Management Systems) offer discounts for enterprises who are purchasing them with more than a year lifespan. If you decided to stick with an SSL service provider like Indusface for two or three years, you could receive a considerable discount if you pay for 2, 3, or 4 years upfront based on our budget-friendly subscription model.

This can also save you the headache of re-install your cert on a yearly basis. Some SSL providers focus only on new SSL installation, not on renewals. This can be due to a lack of a proper certificate management system to handle communication preferences, client orders, and billing systems. As a result, the client’s certificate will be unencrypted, unsecured, and untrusted. Hence, choose an SSL provider who has automated most of the tasks like certificate renewals, reissues, and reporting. They should remind you before your certificate expires.

The Closure

Make sure that you are paying the best price for the encryption certificate you have selected. Seize a time to make a good degree of research and compare SSL certificate prices across vendors before you purchase. If you want a solution that meets your budgetary goals along with security goals, you have come to the right place. You can get around acquiring an SSL certificate altogether with Indusface partner Entrust and ensure secure transactions, as we will keep your site secure on your behalf.

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