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Simple Methods of Adding SSL to Your WordPress Website

Posted on by Mario

SSL WORDPRESS

People choose SSL mostly because it provides more secure information and gives more benefits, especially from a user’s perspective, as any information they share with your site via a form, shopping cart, etc. is encrypted – it is safe from the third party. However, few web developers that know the very same principles also apply to site administrators.

In fact, running the WordPress admin in https also brings huge benefit, since you can secure all the sensitive information you input daily inside of WordPress. All of this information needs protection; therefore, it is essential for every WordPress website out there to renew the certificate in every three months.

If you are in a tight budget, you can opt on the market for low-cost certificates that do the job nicely in most cases. Remember that ecommerce sites might be better off with higher level certificates that offer features like identity validation which allows customer to know you better.

This makes us have no reason for not giving a little time and money to understand and apply an SSL certificate. So, if you are committed to integrating SSL with a WordPress installation, now it’s time to discover the ways.

HTTPS Your WordPress

Before, we setup WordPress to utilize an HTTPS connection; you have to make sure that you already have an SSL certificate installed on your server. Actually, it is quite simple to setup WordPress to utilize an https connection, as follows:

  • Back up the site
  • Change the Site URL
  • Ensure all internal links and attachments use https
  • Run the WordPress admin in https
  • Automatically forward http requests to https

Change the Site URL

First, navigate over to settings > General inside the WordPress administration area since you’ll want to change the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) from ‘http://www.yourdomain.com’ to ‘https://www.yourdomain.com’. Scroll down to the bottom and save the changes when you’re done and then, WordPress will automatically log you out. If you want to log back, you can use the newly-secured URL.

Make Sure All Internal Links/Attachments Use HTTPS

Even though you change the URL, image or attachment URL throughout WordPress, it will not suddenly switch your website into HTTPS. In order to discover ways to change the URL site, you can conduct a search and replace area of your database. One thing for sure, you need to back up your site to prevent anything from going wrong.

Nowadays, you can find many searches and replace plugins available for WordPress, but you can give a try to Velvet Blues Update URLs, as it can be an effective solution. Furthermore, this plugin only touches the areas of the database that need changes, so you will not mistakenly change the right thing. In fact, you can update URLs to get started once you’ve installed and activated the plugin, head over to tools > Update URLs to get started.

Don’t worry as using plugin is as simple as adding the old and new URLs for your site. All you need to do is make sure that all the settings look are correct then click “Update URLs Now” when you’re ready and let the plugin take care of the rest. You’ll see a report on the screen that says how many URLs are changed and where the plugin found them, once the URLs have been replaced.

Run the WordPress Admin in HTTPS

In order to ensure that there will be HTTPS in the WordPress back end, you should grab the latest version of your site’s wp-config.php file and add the following line just above “/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */”:


Now, you can save and upload the file to your server.

Automatically Forward http Requests to Https

The last step is to make sure that you only use https URLs for your site. First, you need to download the latest copy of your site’s .htaccess file and add the following just underneath the line “RewriteEngine On”:

Then save and upload the file to your server. You can try and enter an http URL for your site in a browser to test it. If you do it right, it should automatically forward you to the https version. Bear in mind that every server has been set up differently, so you should find other ways to make this work. Feel free to contact your web host for suggestions.

Troubleshooting a ‘Broken’ Lock

Discover if there are any broken padlock icons in your browser’s address bar and/or mixed content warnings. If you find any, then something is trying to load in from an http address. Usually, it is caused by a script or other outside resource being called from your site’s theme or CSS. As a solution, you can refresh the page and see if that clears up the issue.

If the problem is still going on, you can visit “Why No Padlock?” and input your URL that you want to analyze. The site will scan and analyze it for you.

Conclusion

Keeping user’s information private is an important thing, especially if you are doing a business in digital world. By seeing the green padlock in your site’s address, users will think that your business takes their personal information seriously. This will surely increase their trust and interest to buy something from you or even fill out a simple contact form.

Find Out the Right Types of SSL Certificate for Your Website

Posted on by Mario

Find out the right types of SLL certificate fo your website

Since, Google cybercrime gets bigger and bigger nowadays, the way Google assesses a website is change. In fact, Google is among the most proactive, they give better rewards to sites whose adding SSL certificates (or HTTPS). This makes many SEO engineers put a good attention on SSL certificate for their better SEO service. But, you need to be more careful in choosing the right SSL certificate, as there are many types of SSL certificate. Each SSL types use the same standard encryption methods but each option has their own requirements and distinct characteristics.

Option #1. Single Domain

Single domain (or single-name) SSL certificates protect a single domain. This SSL type really works well for simple and straightforward content-based sites. These sites include B2B sites, e-commerce ones where all transactions occur on a single domain. Someone has to get an authenticated domain ownership when she/he wants to get a “Domain-validated”.

Option #2. Multi-Domain (SAN)

Multi-domain SSL certificates are also what they sound like. Multi-domain SSL certificates are also referred to as “SAN” (for Subject Alternative Names). With SAN and one multi-domain SSL certificate, it will cover a suite of sites. So, they provide flexibility for covering sites that might go away or not yet exist.

Option #3 Wildcard

If you want to cover all subdomains on a single root domain or host name, wildcard SSL certificates will be suitable for you. It uses an unsecure, content-driven ‘marketing’ site on the primary domain. Fortunately, this SSL’s type can run all purchase-related through a secure subdomain. With this single wildcard SSL certificate, you can simplify the mess, and it also protects the main site.

Option #4 Organization

Organization SSL certificates works to authenticate a company’s identity and information, such as the company’s primary address, and etc. You may think that this is similar to single domain. But in organization SSL certificates, you will get more content-based sites. By this, you don’t need to secure an e-commerce or payments component.

Moreover, you also will be asked to confirm and authenticate the other organization-related details as well.

Option #5 Extended

The last option, called as extended is better known as the most secure option. They do the extra organization validation bit by verifying the domain. It also double checks the legal corporation. It will also show a green address bar on most modern browsers for your troubles. In Chrome, you’ll also get the company name like this Twitter example below:

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Credibility is what you’re paying for here. But, the secure connection uses on your site are that different than any other reputable SSL connection.

Hence, by selecting the right SSL certificate types, you’ll get a single certificate to purchase and set up to protect multiple different sites.

Reasons Why Your SEO Campaign is Failing

Posted on by Mario

reason-why-your-seo-campaign-is-failing

Do your SEO efforts satisfy you? If the result doesn’t produce what you have expected, then your SEO efforts may be failed. Below are several things that you consider about as these things can be the greatest source why your SEO effort is failed. If you work in SEO service field, this article is for you.

  1. Your Website is Outdated

Check on to your site and see if there are few main aspects of your website that can cause your site rank bad.

Website Architecture

Figure out if your site cause high bounce rate. Bounce rate can be caused by a too complex website structure which users require three or more clicks to get to the page they’re interested in. The other factor is difficult navigation between pages and drop-down menus.

Here are some good website’s qualities that you can apply on your site:

  • Main pages should be available from a header on the homepage
  • Site structure should follow a logical and predictable order
  • Use breadcrumbs to help with navigation
  • Optimize HTMLS and CSS code to improve crawlability

Website Speed

Speed is also one of the biggest factors that will keep the users satisfy. You can install Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to improve the loading time for your site. Here are several things that can be improved:

  • Upgrade your server or invest in better hosting
  • Use external hosting (such as dropbox or AWS) for large files
  • Resize and compress images
  • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to deliver images
  • Minimize redirects
  • Clean up your code

Responsiveness (Mobile-First Indexing)

Recently, mobile is quickly overtaking desktop in terms of searching and browsing the internet. That is why responsiveness becomes important. In fact, Google has showed more seriousness by issuing few recent moves, such as the creation of the AMP project in 2015 and the newest one is the announcement on mobile first indexing.

HTTPS

Provide your site with better security by moving from HTTP to HTTPS.

  1. You Haven’t Nailed On-Page SEO

There are many SEO elements that you need to look for. They are:

URL

Create a clear URL structure that will not confuse users and search engines.

Meta Tags

In order to make your page appear in SERPs, you need to add good and relevant Meta tags. Meta tags have two most important aspects, title tag and meta description. There are several was that you can try to improve your meta tags:

  • Include the primary and secondary keyword in the title tag + brand name
  • Don’t go above 60 seconds in your title tag
  • Use unique title tags for every page
  • Aim for relevance, avoid keyword stuffing
  • Make the H1 heading different from the title tag

Link Structure

On-page SEO is not complete without a good link structure and without cleaning up your broken links. The more internal links you have that go deep and are relevant, the better for users and for your ranking. Here are some things to keep in mind for your internal links:

  • Link between pages and posts on your site including to “deep” content
  • Use relevant links
  • Make anchor text comprehensive, natural, and relevant
  • Use follow links
  • Do not link excessively

Moreover, you need to investigate whether you have any broken links.

  1. You’re not Building Links Properly

Building inbound links is considered as the second most important ranking factor after content. So, you need to follow several strategies such as follows:

  • Vary anchor text when publishing guest posts
  • Do not participate in link networks
  • Disavow any low-quality links pointing to your site
  • Focus on generating content on your website that is valuable and can be used as a resource by others so that they will want to link back to it
  • Discover your competitors’ backlinks and learn about their techniques and sources
  • Build relationships, ask for links, and suggest that mentions are turned into links
  1. Your Content is not Performing well

Content is the core of SEO campaign. Therefore, it is important to make your content long enough and relevant.

  1. Your Content is Not Converting

A good content will speak to everyone who reads and as a result readers will be interested in becoming customers. Here are several ways that can turn readers into customers.