You will learn to install SSL certificate for free in this article. I will use free platform SSLForFree.com for obtaining the SSL certificate. The process is very easy to follow, those who don’t get it this way, don’t worry, I will be releasing Youtube video soon.
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Why you need SSL Certificates
Cyber attacks are increasing by the day, to keep the attackers away its important that you provide the extra layer of security to your website. SSL certificate is that extra layer of security which keeps hackers and attackers away, rendering the safe browsing environment for visitors of your website.
Last year, Google announced websites that are not HTTPS will be marked unsafe in search results. This will take effect from July or September this year, and will surely have bad impact on the websites that are still not using SSL certificates.
You should install the SSL certificates now if you have’t already!
How to install SSL certificate for free?
I have been using SSLforfree.com for some of my websites, the website provides free certificates. The only thing you need to remember is, their certificates expire in 3 months, you need to renew them every 3 months. Don’t worry, if you create an account with them, they will notify 1 week before expiry 🙂
I am going to use a WordPress website example in this tutorial. The procedure is very much the same for other types of websites!
This is all you need:
- Access to your hosting panel, file manager
- FTP account (optional)
- WordPress plugin Really Simple SSL
Here’s how you do it:
- Visit SSLFORFREE.com, create new account (to get notifications)
- After logging in, enter your URL in respective field, hit Create free ssl
- Next step is to verify that you own the domain, do this by following any of the three steps, I prefer manual verification
- You will be asked to upload two files to the route folder of your domain, download the files and upload using ftp or file manager option(I prefer this)
- Download both the files
- Create a folder on route directory “.well-know”, under this folder, create another folder “acme-challenge”, upload both the files to folder “acme-challenge”
- After the files are uploaded, go back and hit “Manually Verify Domain” , if the files are uploaded successfully, you will be taken to the next page
- On this new page you will have the SSL certificate details you need
- Next step is to go back to your web hosting control panel, find the option “SSL/TLS”
- After clicking on SSL/TLS you will see various options, under “Install and manage SSL for your website (https)” click on Manage your SSL sites
- Next page will give you the option to choose the domain and enter “CRT”, “Key”, “CABundle”. Copy the details from SSLfofree.com and enter them in required fields respectively. Hit “Install SSL”
That’s it! You have the SSL certificate installed now!
Make sure to redirect your http links to https
Next step to follow is to fix all your http links so they automatically redirect to https! For this, if you are using a WordPress website, install a plugin “Really Simple SSL”, activate the plugin! All your http will now redirect to https momentarily!
Hope you find this guide helpful, I will be releasing a YouTube video soon to make you understand this easily. Make sure to subscribe to this channel
I look forward to add more post like this in coming days, do follow me on Twitter for updates!