Bluehost SSL Does Not Work with WordPress Hosting?

As a webmaster or business owner, your number one concern is security. You want to create a safe and sound experience for your customers by ensuring that their personal and financial information is kept private. Thanks to the development of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), browsing the web securely is now a reality. However, there is one obstacle you need to overcome if you want to make sure your customers feel secure when on your site: you need to have SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certification for your web server.

What is SSL?

The acronym stands for “Secure Socket Layer,” which is a standard developed by Netscape in 1994 that enables users to feel secure while browsing the web. To illustrate how vital it is, just think about how many phishing scams and identity thefts happen every day simply because people aren’t using secure connections when making purchases online. That’s right: if your customers aren’t sure that you can be trusted, then they won’t feel confident enough to enter their credit card information over an unsecured connection – and that could seriously hurt your business.

What is a web server?

As mentioned above, SSL enables users to browse the web securely, but it doesn’t do the trick by itself. For that, you need something called a “web server” – which is basically a computer system that stores and provides web content to other devices connected to the internet. For example, a typical web server receives a request from a user’s computer connected to the internet, retrieves the specified website from its storage, and then provides it to the user.

Is there a difference between a web server and a WordPress host?

The short answer is yes – but it’s also a little more complicated. The main difference is that a WordPress host is specifically designed to provide a self-hosted WordPress environment to customers, whereas a web server is simply a server that provides a website’s content.

The more fundamental difference between a web server and a WordPress host is that the former generally operates on a paid basis, whereas the latter is usually provided as a free service to customers. You don’t necessarily need to have a paid web server to run WordPress – but it certainly makes things simpler.

Why Should You Get An SSL Certificate?

The most basic reason is to protect your customers’ personal information. As a business owner, you have a responsibility to protect the privacy of your customers and keep their personal information secure. One of the simplest ways to do that is by getting an SSL certificate.

An SSL certificate is a small file that contains a digital certificate issued by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). When a user connects to your website over an unsecured connection, their browser will present the certificate as part of the SSL handshake, and it will help establish trust between the two parties (you and the customer). When the customer is sure that you’re legitimate, they will feel more comfortable giving you their personal information – such as their name, email address, phone number, and credit card details.

When users are conducting business on your site, they expect to feel secure. An SSL certificate will greatly enhance their experience because it provides a visual indicator that their personal information is being guarded and protected. It also shows that you take your security responsibilities seriously and are willing to adapt to new methods of payment.

Even if your customers are not buying anything, you should consider getting an SSL certificate because it makes your website look more professional. When potential customers visit your website and see that you’ve invested in a proper certificate, they will assume that you take your security responsibilities seriously and are trying to keep things secure – not to mention that it could also boost your SEO (search engine optimization) if Google thinks your website is serious about its security and has invested in a proper certificate. For that matter, if you host videos or other content that may contain sensitive material, then you should definitely get an SSL certificate.

The Cheap And The Easy Way

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get an SSL certificate for your site, then you should look no further because Bluehost is an inexpensive and popular choice among the webmaster community. What’s more, one of the most popular WordPress hosts, Bluehost, offers a free SSL option that takes only a few minutes to activate. You will not need to pay a penny for the service, and you will not need to provide any personal information.

To get started, visit www.bluehost.com and choose one of the following options:

• Basic Plan: This is the cheapest option offered by Bluehost and costs just $2.95 per month. It provides you with a free domain and the ability to install one WordPress website. In return, you need to enter a brief description about your site (generally on the order of 150-200 words). For the record, this is the plan I recommend for first-time or low-traffic site owners because it’s so affordable. You may also want to consider upgrading to a paid plan, which starts at just $5.45 per month.
• Plus Plan: This is the standard plan provided by Bluehost and costs $5.45 per month. It provides you with a free domain, along with the ability to install one WordPress website. In addition, you get a free backup service, free weekly hosting security upgrades, and a free dedicated IP (Internet Protocol) that does not expire.
• Choice Plus Plan: This is the top-of-the-line plan from Bluehost and costs $11.45 per month. It provides you with a free domain, along with the ability to install unlimited WordPress websites. In addition, you get a free backup service, free dedicated IPs that do not expire, and free weekly hosting security upgrades – plus all of the advantages of the Plus Plan mentioned above.

To get started, click on the appropriate link above to visit the Bluehost website. Once you’re on their site, click on the “Get Started” button to the right of the page to reach their official support forum, where you can ask questions about the service or get assistance in configuring your new site.

Secure Or Not?

On the subject of the trustworthiness of a website, Google offers a fantastic tool that can help you decide whether or not to trust a website you’re considering using: Search Engine Optimization Tools. When a user enters a query into the toolbar, the tool will give a green checkmark if the website is trustworthy, a yellow checkmark if it’s questionable, and a red checkmark if it’s not. The closer the checkmark is to the top, the more trustworthy the site.

This is a great tool to use because it takes the guesswork out of deciding whether or not to trust a website. After all, what is the use of having a tool to check the trustworthiness of a website if you don’t know whether or not you can trust it in the first place?

Should You Get An Annual Renewal?

Even if you have an SSL certificate, your customers may still be unprotected because they don’t know when their certificate will expire. For that matter, even if you have the best certificate in the world and you install an SSL plugin to your site to show it, it won’t mean much if you don’t renew your certificate every year. That’s why it’s important to know when the time comes to renew your SSL – otherwise, you’ll be in for some major surprises when your customers try to log in one day and discover that their login information has expired.

Luckily, renewing your certificate is very easy. You just need to follow the instructions on your certificate’s details page to validate your website’s ownership. For that matter, if you’d like to make things easier for yourself in the future, then consider getting a paid SSL certificate from a reputable company because they will take care of all the technical stuff for you. Doing things the “hard way” isn’t fun, especially when you’re trying to relax and enjoy a vacation.

Pro Tip: How To Install WordPress On Your Own Server

WordPress is the most popular content management system used on the internet, so you’ll inevitably need to learn how to install it on your own server. Aside from the fact that having your own server gives you full control over your site’s contents, it’s also the cheapest and simplest way to go. The flip side to that is that it takes more time to set up and maintain than using a hosted solution.