by dawh | Oct 27, 2017 | News
Two smart steps to improve your website performance
(or Whats all this about SSL Certs and Http / HTTPS on web addresses?
Short Version:-
Of course you want to get the most visitors to your website. You don’t want to be excluded from google searches on smartphones. You don’t want visitors to see warning messages that might drive visitors away from your website…..
To avoid these situations We strongly recommend that your website is
a) Responsive – i.e. that it works fluidly across all screen sizes from Desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone. This is done by building your website in a manner that presents differently to different screen sizes, so the website visitor has a very positive experience no matter what size screen they are looking at.
b) HTTPS – Adding the S for “Secure” to your web address will both improve your ranking and avoid warnings such as “this site may not be safe” when visitors arrive. Adding the “S” requires a secure socket layer that encrypts data transferring to and from your site from visitors and adds authentication to your website that says it is safe for visitors.
Longer Version….
From 1996 to 2014 it was all about growing businesses into deciding that they should have a web presence. Some did it just to be there ( in case they might miss something ) and very slowly others took to a web presence and grew their effort to maximise its effectiveness.
Recent History
In the last 2 years – the biggest driver of web usage has been the “smartphone” which effectively makes everyone connected to the web ( either in their pocket or their purse).
Amazon , Ebay, Netflix and Youtube have been strong drivers of bringing more and more users online and Google has made this very easy for all visitors online to quickly get to what they want to find.
Today – This is how Google sees the world….
The focus has now changed from “just having a website” to delivering the best possible service to the web user. The focus has moved away from the website owner to delivering a high quality service to the person browsing.
Two particular recent steps by Google show clearly that that is what is driving them in this direction.
First: Smartphone Friendly– up to 2 years ago very few websites were “Smartphone friendly” ( or Responsive to give it its correct name). When you viewed a website on a smartphone it was all over the place, you had to scroll left and right and up and down – just to see the contents of one page and it was a real pain.
Even today many websites continue to be like this – and Google have decided that their “customers” ( the people searching google for something) – deserve better than this.
So Google introduced a rule they are fast implementing – “If your website is not smartphone friendly ( i.e. responsive) then your website will not be included in search responses on smartphones! With over 65% of all searches taking place on smartphones – this is a big impact on all websites. The positive for the person “googling” is that they see quality websites that are easy to read and follow – when they search on smartphones and they have a good experience ( and a natural follow-on – is they are happy to continue to use google to help them with their enquiries). The bad news is that if your website is not “responsive” then most likely you won’t appear in any searches on smartphones.
Second: Websites must be secure for Visitors
Yes – not alone google chrome but other browsers are already popping up warning messages when a URL with HTTP: is clicked on – e.g. “Do you want to proceed, This site may not be safe etc.”
For website owners this is a big negative – someone is just about to visit your website and they are now being warned away, because you are HTTP and not HTTPS! Why.
Again the focus is on the visitor first and the website owner second. When searches are done on Google, they wish to ensure the websites they are advising as most appropriate to your search – ARE SAFE!. Yes, Google and other browsers are now focussed on the visitor – and saying to you as the website owner “IF you don’t care enough about your website to make it HTTPS, then you don’t care enough about your potential clients”.
For websites that are just information – this appears at first to be a bit strong but adding the “S” to HTTP adds a secure socket layer to ensure data is encrypted and therefore protects the website visitor. This matters when they are entering personal details and other information in relation to credit cards or payments.
Now – the bottom line is that if you do not have a HTTPS on your website – visitors are likely to reduce due to warnings and lower rankings.
If you do add HTTPS ( using a Secure Socket Layer) then you are seen to respect your potential website visitors and you are rewarded by Google and the browsers by not having warnings showing to visitors.
WHAT ARE SSL CERTIFICATES
SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organisation’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. … A domain name, server name or hostname.
As Chrome is fast becoming the defacto web browser – this is what happens on Chrome browser.
When you go to a site that uses HTTPS (connection security), the website’s server uses a certificate to prove the website’s identity to browsers, like Chrome. Anyone can create a certificate claiming to be whatever website they want.
To help you stay on safe on the web, Chrome requires websites to use certificates from trusted organisations.
On Chrome browser, you will now see to the left of the web address:-
-
Secure
-
Info or Not secure
-
Not secure or Dangerous
Talk to Handyweb today and we will report back to you on how your website complies with the above. Email your query to Support@handyweb.ie – including your website name and we will get back to you
by dawh | Oct 13, 2015 | E-commerce, News
Owners of Ecommerce Websites usually focus on delivering a high quality user experience, so that visitors will enjoy their buying experience. Other than the way products are presented, Ecommerce Security should be a crucial topic for both owners and users.
Unfortunately, most Ecommerce owners do not give enough consideration to security until something goes wrong, which is generally too late.
Hackers always try new ways to attack websites to gather information, deny access to your website, extract customer information, or redirect payments to their accounts.
Ecommerce owners have a responsibility to protect their clients against such events. Small brands, big brands they all have been attacked by hackers. The flaws in their safety can lead visitors to lose faith and trust in their services. Nobody likes having their financial and personal information exposed where they would not wish!
The good news is that you can do something to increase your Ecommerce’s security. Here are 6 quick, general tips:
1. Secure your website with HTTPS
Over 17% of online customers will leave the shopping process when they notice that a website is not secured with a HTTPS protocol.
The HTTPS protocol keeps the conversation between your website and your customers’ computer confidential. This means that when they submit their private or financial informations these are not easily subject to being intercepted by hackers.
You can notice whether a website, page or service is HTTPS-secured just by looking at the URL bar of your internet browser. If there is a little lock icon, or if the URL of the website starts with “https://”, then it is HTTPS-secured, otherwise is not.
Some browsers warn you when a website is not HTTPS-secured but you should always be wary when you are about to provide personal or financial informations.
2. Use strong passwords for your website accounts and change them frequently
Clients often ask us for easier passwords to remember for their website accounts. While we do not force them to keep their passwords strong, our suggestion always points towards that direction.
A strong password has at least 15 characters, is composed by both lowercase and uppercase letters, contains numbers and symbols (such as ? % ^ $ *). You can use this useful website to create a strong password.
3. Backup your website often
If you don’t do this yourself, arrange with your web developer to set up an automated website backup, possibly away from your premises.
This is a low cost solution that avoids a nightmare situation if your website ever gets hacked and all your products disappear.
4. Log out of your website when you’re not working on it
Frequently we find out that clients do not log out of their website and just walk away from the computer that remains logged on.
5. Avoid Open Wi-Fi hotspots when managing your website
Wi-Fi is great and, of course, we all love free Wi-Fi! Security levels on free Wi-Fi are often limited, though, and can easily be hacked.
This means that anything you type while connected to such Wi-Fi is open to being captured and used by hackers.
Being careful about what you do on free Wi-Fi is a general security rule and we share the common strong suggestion to wait until you are using secure connections before you use a credit card or give banking or password details that matter to you.
6. Update antivirus on computers and devices you use to manage your website
As obvious as it may be, we strongly suggest you to keep your antivirus and antimalware software updated. Also we invite you, of course, not to open emails from persons you do not know.
Also, don’t open attachments or click on links that you are unsure of. Email spam keeps getting more sophisticated. Spam emails don’t always carry a subject as silly as “Click here to download an important message”.
They can infect your computer and some of your actions can make the malware spread to your website, therefore to its users.
7. Also update your browser
Many good browsers, including Chrome and Firefox, can be extended with an increasing number of apps (or extensions or plugins). These apps can make life easier for you in many different ways.
Still, our suggestion is to always ensure that both these apps and your browser are up to date. Also, keep an eye out for those apps you didn’t install on purpose. They could be the kind of malware that opens up dozens of spam popups whenever you try to do something on the internet!
We develop Ecommerce, can we help you?
At Handyweb.ie we can help you improve your Ecommerce Security, as we can provide quality advise, put in place secure certificates (HTTPS) and setup automated backups.
We can perform a scan on your website, then clean, protect, and monitor it every day, preventing attacks from hackers and other vulnerabilities from arising.
by dawh | Sep 16, 2015 | News
As more and more businesses go online – there is more pressure on ensuring your website visitors trust your e-commerce website. In recent times some web browsers are pro-active to their users and identify websites that do not have a high level of security – and tells them before they actually go on to the website with messages like the image above.
This is good for web users but bad for e-commerce website owners who do not not have a security certificate on areas where visitors give their personal details.
You may not be aware that your website is losing customers other than seeing a downturn in sales – as you may not realise potential visitors are turning away from your website once they see the message above.
THE SAFE SOLUTION
There is an effective solution which is strongly recommended by Handyweb.ie for all e-commerce websites and websites that collect any information about their visitors via forms. By adding SSL ( secure socket layer ) to your website you will immediately stop warning messages appearing to potential visitors, will improve your google ranking ( as google sees this as a trust element) and will build trust with your visitors who will know you care about their security and safety on your online business. Visitors will now see your website address starting with the serure https:/ rather than the standard http:/
Talk to Handyweb.ie today for further information or to have this implemented on your existing website or if you are thinking about launching an e-commerce website then talk to us today.
Phone: +353 (0) 44 93 45145
email: info@handyweb.ie
Services: Web and App Consultants, e-Commerce, Responsive Web Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Digital Marketing, Social Media, App Development, Online Payments, Online Business Automation.
by dawh | Aug 25, 2015 | News
Different colours are associated with different emotions. The power of Colour in your logo design is immense. This fantastic infographic from Colourfast gives you a great sense of how careful consideration of colours can deliver great results in your logo design.
Phone: +353 (0) 44 93 45145
email: info@handyweb.ie
Services: Web and App Consultants, e-Commerce, Responsive Web Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Digital Marketing, Social Media, App Development, Online Payments, Online Business Automation.
