How to Choose the Right SSLCertificate for a Business?
Choosing the right SSL certificate for your client’s business can be a challenging task. This is because there are many different brands of SSL certificates:
Each brand further offers different types of SSL certificates, namely Domain Validation (DV) SSL certificates, Organisation Validation (OV) SSL certificates and Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates. In addition, SSL certificates can also be classified based on the number of domains they secure, namely single domain certificate, wildcard certificate and multi-domain certificate. Therefore, it is not surprising that you might find it quite confusing to choose the right SSL certificate for your client’s business needs. The question is, what factors should you consider when choosing an SSL certificate for your clients?
The Factors to Consider When Choosing SSL Certificate
- The nature of the business and the data collected
Every business’s nature is different and operates with different data requirements. Some businesses might need to collect more confidential and personal data, whereas some businesses do not need to collect as much data. For example, financial institutions require more personal information, whereas a blog usually requires less information from the readers. The nature of the website and the data collected is an important consideration factor when deciding on what SSL certificate to choose.
The main takeaway point here is, if the nature of the business requires the collection of highly confidential personal data, such as credit card info, personal identity info, bank details etc., then an OV or EV certificate is strongly recommended. On the other hand, if the business does not obtain any financial info, then a DV certificate should be sufficient.
- Website structure and the number of domains you need to secure
Every website has their unique construction and architecture. It is an essential factor when it comes to choosing the right SSL certificate. It is an undeniable fact that the design of the customer experience for each website can be very much different. Some websites have all their critical pages under one domain/subdomain, and some websites can have their key pages on multiple domains. Some major websites even need a large number of domains or subdomains for its operations and contents, such as a news website (BBC, CNN), a multinational corporation website (Toyota, Adidas) or a content-heavy website (YouTube, Amazon).
Therefore, to choose the right SSL certificate for your client’s business, one of the most important factors to consider is the website structure and the number of domains to be protected. The main takeaway, buy a wildcard certificate if the website uses only a main domain, and its subdomains are not more than one level from the main domain. Buy a multi-domain SSL certificate if the website uses multiple domains and subdomains.
- Budget
SSL certificates can cost anywhere from a few couple of dollars to a few hundred dollars per year, and the budget your clients have is a factor to consider when choosing the right SSL certificate for business. It is the best interest of any website owners to reduce their costs of running a website, and saving on SSL certificates is one of the main ways to cut cost. As mentioned in the previous points, it is important to do a detailed analysis of the website to understand the best SSL certificate that suits their needs and sell accordingly.
The important takeaway here is to choose the right SSL certificate that fits your client’s budget. It is not necessary to sell them a certificate that exceeds their needs, or they cannot afford, nor is it feasible to sell them a certificate that cannot protect all of their websites. Align their budget with the most suitable SSL certificate.
- The importance of trust level in the industry
Trust level is an essential factor when it comes to determining the right SSL certificate to buy. Some industries require a high level of trust in order for a business to operate in, such as the financial industry, the healthcare industry, the e-commerce industry, etc. As these industries deal with extremely confidential data, it is only natural that a high-level trust certificate is required, and that is the EV certificate. If a business takes customers’ trust seriously, it will buy a high-level trust certificate to safeguard its customers as much as possible. Or if the trust level in the industry determines the life or death of the business, then it is to the best interest of the business to choose SSL certificate with a high trust level. On the contrary, if the industry does not rely heavily on the trust level, and a certain level of trust is sufficient, then expensive certificates might not be necessary.
The key point, choose the right trust level of SSL certificates that matches the required trust level of your client’s business industry.
- Other factors worth consideration
There are also more factors you can consider when choosing the right SSL certificate for your clients. Some of them include the brand of the SSL certificate, the time it takes to issue, the validation type and the warranty. It is important to buy from well-known and trusted brands. Some brands might not be reliable and will cause you headaches. Another thing to consider is how fast do you need the certificate to be issued. If fast issuance is a priority, then DV certificates are the right choice. If trust is a priority, then OV or EV certificates are more suitable. A stronger validation type of SSL certificate requires more human work and therefore, will be slower in terms of issuance time. The certificate’s warranty can also be taken into consideration. If a business deals with a high amount of transactions, then certificates with a high amount of warranty are preferred.
The key point here, you can consider brand, issuance time, the validation level and the warranty amount when choosing the right SSL certificate for your clients. Choose good brands, select certificates that fit their timeframe, their validation level requirements and their preferred warranty amount.
- Customer support
Customer support also acts as an important factor in choosing a suitable SSL certificate. There might be times when your clients’ certificates face technical errors or installation errors. You will need support, and this is why it should be a consideration factor when selecting the right SSL certificate for your clients. You certainly would not want to choose SSL certificate providers that offer a bad customer support experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many types of SSL certificates on the market, and it can be quite challenging to recommend the right one for your clients. Every client has different needs, and you need to be able to identify the most suitable SSL certificate for them. If in the future you are unsure how to recommend, you are most welcomed to refer back to this article for help. Remember to consider these when choosing the right SSL certificate, the business nature, the website structure and its domains, the budget, the specific industry’s trust level, other factors such as brand, issuance time, validation type, warranty and last of all the customer support.
WebNIC offers a wide range of SSL certificates that fit different business needs. No matter what nature of the business your clients are in, what their website structures are, what their budgets are or what level of trust is required, our SSL certificate products can satisfy different requirements. Most importantly, we offer 24/7, 365 days of customer support. If you need assistance on any SSL certificate issues, we will always be there to help you. Check out our range of SSL certificates now!
About WebNIC
WebNIC is accredited registrar for ICANN, and various countries including Asia, Europe, America, Australasia, and Africa. With offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan, we serve 4,500+ active resellers over 70 countries. To join us and become a reseller, live chat with us or email us at inquiry@webnic.cc.