Posted by Dave Taylor

I’m building an online store with the help of a consultant and when we started talking about shopping cart backend systems, he told me that a standard SSL certificate was not sufficient for my needs and that I needed an “extended SSL certificate”? What is that, and is he right, or is it a hustle to get more $$ out of me?

Dave’s Answer:

Hmmm… It’s pretty clear that you don’t entirely trust this consultant with which you’re working. I’m wondering if they’re the right company for you to be entrusting this project if you don’t even trust their basic recommendations? Hate to put it that way, but you might want to spend a few minutes checking out references before you go further down the road with this person or company.

Let’s talk about SSL certificates and extended validation certificates too, so you also have a sense of what he’s talking about when he is trying to “sell you” on the more sophisticated type of secure socket layer (SSL) cert.

To start with, an SSL certificate has two primary functions: to authenticate the identity of your site to people visiting it and to allow the information sent between your server and the visitor’s browser to be encrypted. This protects your customer’s privacy, of course, encrypting credit card numbers, addresses, email, phone numbers, and so on.

Just about every decent ecommerce online store has an SSL certificate for at least the shopping cart system (it’s not necessary that all your product pages also be encrypted). Most importantly, it shows your customer that you’re serious about protecting their privacy and confidential personal information.

An extended validation certificate is a higher level of certification and is only available to the following business entities:

* Government entity
* Legal corporation
* General partnership
* Sole proprietorship
* Unincorporated association

In the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox, the address bar actually turns green if you’re on a site with an Extended Validation Certificate SSL: again, it’s a visual mark that helps your potential customers know that you’re serious about security.

That may sound like it’s irrelevant, but talk with people that have stores, online and brick and mortar, and you’ll find that letting customers know how you’re addressing their concerns about security can be just as important - or more important - than how you actually address them.

It’s also worth pointing out that while you can set up a server to have a secure connection (since it’s just a communications protocol, after all) you can’t get a seamless secure connection that doesn’t trigger warnings in your customers browser without purchasing and installing an SSL certificate.

The question, then, is just how secure do you want your customers to perceive your online business? If you want to maximize that, it might well be worth the extra few hundred dollars to get an Extended Validation SSL Certificate.

And if you haven’t settled on an SSL certificate vendor, you should know that there are a number of them out there, including one of my favorites, Register.com. In fact, if you use the following link you can actually save a pretty decent 25% off the cost of either a regular or EV SSL certificate: Get SSL Certificates for 25% off: use coupon code REGCOUSSL25

Hope that helps you get up and online with your store!?

Comments

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 9:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

About the Author: Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and is internationally known as an expert on both business and technology issues. Holder of an MSEd and MBA, author of twenty books and founder of four startups, he also runs a strategic marketing company and consults with firms seeking the best approach to working with weblogs and social networks. Dave is an award-winning speaker and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs. AskDaveTaylor.com http://www.intuitive.com/blog/