E-commerce has become an integral part of today\u2019s business economy.\u00a0 To no surprise, a number of web hosting companies have emerged to cater to the demand.\u00a0 These firms specialize in services that are specially designed for people who want to sell goods and services online.\u00a0 They generally offer features such as shopping carts, merchant accounts and payment gateways.\u00a0 However, those looking to indulge in e-commerce need to be far more selective when it comes to choosing a web hosting provider.\u00a0 With credit card numbers and personal data involved, the consequences of a security breach can be far more catastrophic than someone running a personal website.\u00a0 For this reason, the use of security features such as SSL is a must.<\/p>\n
SSL is one of the most widely used tools for website security.\u00a0 Short for Secure Sockets Layer, SSL is a protocol that protects transactions between the buyer and seller with a cryptographic technology known as encryption.\u00a0 Anyone who sells products or services online is required to implement SSL or higher for security.\u00a0 This is why you see online services such as PayPal and various e-commerce sites with security seals representing that they are protected by SSL encryption.<\/p>\n
Shared vs. Private <\/strong><\/p>\n Most e-commerce hosting companies provide their customers with shared SSL certificates.\u00a0 This basically means that a company purchases their own private SSL certificate, and shares it with all customers residing on its server.\u00a0 While this does not mean that your site is lacking in security, it can be make potential customers very suspicious.\u00a0 When someone visits your site and checks for an SSL certificate, they will see that the certificate is owned by the web hosting company.\u00a0 This could either cause the visitor to question your credibility, or conclude that your site has been compromised by a hacker.\u00a0 You have to keep in mind that many consumers have no idea about web hosting, what company provides you with service, or the difference between shared and private SSL.<\/p>\n Although a private SSL certificate isn\u2019t exactly cheap, it can be very advantageous for your online store and web presence.\u00a0 Once you purchase it from a CA (Certificate Authority), the certificate is yours and yours alone.\u00a0 Now when potential customers visit your site, they will see that you own the certificate, giving them reassurance and the confidence they need to feel safe when shopping on your site.\u00a0 There are fewer questions about whether your website is secure and no questions about who owns the certificate.\u00a0 And because it requires a dedicated IP address, you can ensure that you do not endure penalties as a result of sharing a server with spammers that cause trouble for the shared IP.<\/p>\n Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n Almost all web hosting companies that specialize in e-commerce solutions offer support for private SSL certificates.\u00a0 As we mentioned above, there is nothing wrong with the shared variety, but having your own certificate can work wonders for your credibility.\u00a0 It could be considered a small investment that shows your audience that you are a serious business owner who can be depended on.\u00a0 Rewards for this investment could be customer loyalty and long-term profits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" E-commerce has become an integral part of today\u2019s business economy.\u00a0 To no surprise, a number of web hosting companies have emerged to cater to the demand.\u00a0 These firms specialize in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[186,67,250,316,3385,261,83,110],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-commerce","tag-credit-card","tag-ecommerce","tag-ip","tag-merchant-account","tag-payments","tag-paypal","tag-shopping-cart","tag-ssl"],"views":129,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}