You are probably wondering what SSL certificates are and why do you want one?

In simple terms an SSL certificate encrypts any data from your web browser to your website. This data can be part of a sign-in screen, contact form, or credit card form.

This means hackers who try to see your data over a wifi signal can’t, because of the encryption.

Other Advantages of an SSL certificate are:

• Gives a you a level of protection equal to an ecommerce site that takes credit card information.
• Gives your website an additional level of credibility by showing you take security seriously.
• Gives you better search engine results.

Google Chrome browsers now make it clearer to visitors when a site does not encrypt their data by adding a non-secure notice in the browser address bar on any page where you can send information to the website.

Your website isn’t any less secure than before Google Chrome made this change. They are just making the point that your information is not encrypted

After you get an SSL certificate, your entire site will be marked as secure, Your Chrome browser address bar will look like the image below and the your site address will start with https instead of http.

I do take security seriously and I now have the opportunity to give you a SSL certificate for free. If you want this advantage, the first step is to go here and fill out my request page.

After approval, I will make changes to your website within two weeks.

I highly recommend that you take advantage of this free offer. Even if you do not log into your website or have a contact or comment form, Google will still rank you higher with this added security feature.

This offer is only available to clients who host their websites on my server. If you do not, I highly recommend that you talk to your hosting company about getting a SSL certificate for your website.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

Click here for your free SSL Certificate*

 

*Only available to clients who host with Listen to the Wind Media

Many of my clients, friends, and family know that I am a stickler for having strong passwords.

A strong password will not guarantee that a website won’t be hacked, but it can go a long way to keeping the “cyber-baddies” away from your confidential information.
Typically, a strong password consists of at least six characters, (I tend to use ten or more) that are a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. You should have both upper and lower case letters in your password.

Don’t be the weak lock in the neighborhood.

If you make your home hard to break into, a burglar is not going to waste their time on it. They are going to head to your neighbors to see if their house is an easier break-in. It’s the same with password attacks. If the password is too complicated, the hacker moves on to the next account.

I see this in the activity logs of my hosting server all the time. Hackers will try to log in with a common username such as “admin” and use a weak password. Once they find they can’t hack in, they leave my serverand move on to someone else.

How to get strong passwords and make them easy to use.

For about five years, I have been using a program called 1Password. This is a nice little application that integrates into your web browser and keeps your passwords and other important information in an encrypted software vault. To access any password protected website, all you need to do is push a button on your web browser, type in your one secure password for the program and 1Password with then auto-fill your user information and password for that website.

This is a really great program. 1Password will create complex passwords for you so you can be sure that each website you log into has its own strong password.

The program can also keep other personal data safe such as credit card numbers, secure notes, and other important information.

There are other programs out there such as LastPass that do close to the same thing. I am just not as familiar with them so I cannot give you an informed opinion.

I feel it is vitally important to make sure you have strong and secure passwords and you are organized and safe with them. Please, don’t be the Post-it note person.

Disclaimer: I do not make any money off you buying any product I discuss in this article.