Blog - WellCreated

Should I Get SSL for my WordPress Website?

Starting in January 2017 Google is going to show website visitors a big warning that the site is not secure if it doesn’t have an SSL certificate. This can turn people away from visiting sites that do not have https in the address. Read Google’s announcement: Moving towards a more secure web.

Eventually, Google is planning to label all HTTP pages as Not Secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to a red triangle warning sign.

Starting in January 2017, Google Chrome browser will start flagging some unencrypted sites as plain old “Not Secure.”

1. What is SSL and HTTPS?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server (your website) and browsers remain private and integral.

To be able to create an SSL connection a web server requires an SSL Certificate. When you choose to activate SSL on your web server you will be required to verify your identity and that you own the website. Some SSL certificates require more verifications.

How do I recognize secure and not secure websites?

Secured websites with valid SSL certificates are prefixed with https and a green padlock.

Not secure websites do not have https in front of the url and a green padlock. Google Chrome browser will start flagging these websites as “Not Secure” (see picture above).

Example of a Secure Site with SSL Certificate

You can view the SSL certificate of a secure site by clicking on the green padlock. What you see depends on the web browser you use, but all of them will tell you if the connection is secure and show you the certificate.

2. Should I Get SSL for my Website?

Yes, you should get SSL and as soon as possible.
By getting SSL, you will sleep better knowing that the connection between your website and your visitors is secure and encrypted. Getting SSL also means that your visitors will see a green padlock and not a red triangle with “Not Secure” warning that may turn them away from your website.

3. So, what should I do about it?

The easiest solution is to get SSL from your host. Some hosts offer free and paid SSL options so first check your options with your host.

Here are links to few popular hosting companies:

Host Gator – Domain Validated SSL Certificates for Single Domains

In Motion – How to Purchase an SSL

1&1 SSL Certificate

Liquid Web SSL Certificates

Some hosts will allow you to install a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt. Check with your host.

The important thing is that you do indeed get one.

If you want to talk to someone about getting your website 100% secure with SSL then drop us a line.

What is Lifecycle Marketing

The Lifecycle Marketing framework provides a simple model that you can use to attract leads, grow sales and wow your customers.

The beauty of Lifecycle Marketing is in the simplicity of the framework, which can be applied to any small business, regardless of industry or business model. When put into action, Lifecycle Marketing will help you grow sales AND give you more time to focus on the things you love.

The 3 phases of Lifecycle Marketing

The Lifecycle Marketing model includes three phases: Attract, Sell, and Wow.

Each Lifecycle Marketing phase includes 3 stages.

ATTRACT is the first phase in the Lifecycle Marketing framework. The Attract phase will help you clarify who your best customers are, identify what they need and understand how to connect with them.

Know Your Target Customer
Attract Interest
Collect Leads

SELL is the second phase in the Lifecycle Marketing framework. The Sell phase helps you to create content that connects with your customers and guides them along the buying process.

Educate
Offer
Close

WOW is the third and final phase in the Lifecycle Marketing framework. In the Wow phase, you’ll learn how to anticipate your customers’ needs, go the extra mile and deliver more than what you promised. This phase is designed to help you create raving fans and keep them coming back for more.

Deliver and Wow
Offer More
Get Referrals

Lifecycle Marketing was developed by a team of sales and marketing experts and has helped thousands of small businesses achieve success.

If you want to learn more or feel ready to implement Lifecycle Marketing in your business, schedule a free consultation and we would devise a plan that fits your needs.

Membership Site Basics for Small Business Owners

“Membership site” is one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot in the small business web community. It may seem like everyone either has a membership site or needs one. If you’re not sure what all the fuss is about membership sites, we’ve got the answers for you.

1. What is a membership site?

The answer is surprisingly simple. A membership site is just a protected website, or an area on a website, that is accessible to members only.

Usually, the point of restricting access to members only is so that you can control access to content on your website. This allows you to charge for access to your content or, perhaps, to simply require some data from visitors in exchange for access. For example, you might require people to log in and pay in order to take an educational course, or you might just ask for their email address in exchange for access to an informational PDF.

2. Who uses membership sites?

Membership sites are often used by coaches, speakers, experts, and other businesses that need to deliver content while keeping it away from the general public. Whether it’s offering paid memberships or free content, there is a wide array of uses for membership sites.

3. Should I have a membership site?

This might surprise you, but the answer is probably yes. Without one, you could be leaving money on the table. While there’s certainly something to be said for providing a level of free information on a site (such as maintaining a blog to build credibility), you might want to think twice about giving away all your knowledge and materials away for free.

As an example, we created a membership site for coaches Jennifer Barley and Karen Sullivan. Jennifer and Karen deliver multiple online courses simultaneously, and they used to do it without a membership site.

Here’s how Jennifer describes it in her own words:

I was really looking for a solution to my seemingly complex situation. I had seven different programs running, and I needed to share the files with various participants in multiple programs. Keeping track of multiple files, audios, videos, documents, and over 100 participants was overwhelming and really pushing our organizational limits.

The solution to their problem was immediately clear: they needed a membership site to automate all of this for them. Well Created designed the site to allow members 24/7 access to their course material. After each weekly session, all the recordings, slides and supporting documents are now available on the site for their members to read, watch and download.

The new system saves Jen and Karen countless hours and provides them a platform that can easily scale from hundreds to thousands of students with very little work. According to Jen,

Our Kickstart site is up and running, and our clients love it.

4. How can I create a basic members area?

The easiest way to create a members only area is to password protect pages on your website. This is easily done from the WP page panel.
When you edit your page or post, look for the Visibility Edit link in the Publish section.
Click to edit, change settings to Password Protected, type in a password and click OK to save changes.

Next time visitors land on this page they’ll be asked to type in a password in order to view the page.

5. How do I create a member site?

Depending on the level of complexity and your technical abilities, you may want to create your own member site, or you may want to contact a web company like ourselves for help.

If you have a WordPress website, there are several membership plugins that will allow you to build your own membership site:

S2Member (free)
Paid Membership Pro (free)
MemberPress (paid)
Wishlist Member (paid)
MemberMouse (paid)
iMember360 (paid) Works with Infusionsoft.

We will cover some more advanced techniques in future articles. In the meantime, if you have any questions please use the comment area below or send us an email.

Website Marketing: The Call-to-Action

What is a Call-to-Action?

A Call-to-Action, often abbreviated as CTA, is a marketing term for a very simple concept that every business website should include. Simply put, a Call-to-Action is when you prompt your customers or site visitors to do something. It’s a call for them to take an action.

What the action is depends on your business and your sales funnel. Your CTA might encourage users to buy something right then and there. Or, you might ask them to sign up for a newsletter, download a free guide, or attend a sales event.

Or all of the above. There’s nothing limiting you to a single Call-to-Action. In fact, we recommend having a CTA on every page, with the CTA relating to the content and purpose of that page. In order to keep visitors from getting confused, however, it’s best to stick with one CTA per page.

Design-wise, Calls-to-Action typically stand out from the rest of the content. It’s common to design a CTA with different colors, fonts, shapes, and so forth.

Don’t Forget the Value Proposition

Calls-to-Action shouldn’t just be about you and your business. You can’t just say, “Give me your email,” and expect to build a huge email list.

Instead, CTAs are about offering something that the user can benefit from — an informational newsletter, free guide, coupon, etc. — in exchange for something you can benefit from — permission to email them, a sale, a chance to tell them more about your services, etc.

Every action you ask of your visitors should come with a reward. They scratch your back, you scratch theirs.

Why Do I Need a Call-to-Action?

The concept of CTAs is so simple that it’s often easy to overlook. You might assume that of course your visitors know what you want them to do. But in a busy world where web surfers are looking at a thousand things and thinking about a million more, their focus is not on your business or what you’re offering. They might not know about your newsletter or your event, and that’s why you have to tell them in plain, straightforward terms.

The Call-to-Action rises above the deafening noise of today’s world and says, “Hey! Do this and you’ll be better off.”

The Risks of Shared Web Hosting

If you’re a small business owner with a website, then that website is most likely hosted on what’s called shared web hosting. Here, we’ll explain what shared web hosting is and some of the risks associated with it.

What is Shared Web Hosting?

Behind the scenes all websites are simply a group of files (such as images, page templates, blog posts, databases, etc). These files are combined to display the layout and content of your website. All the files are all stored on a server somewhere so when people surf the internet they can type in the URL and visit the site.

Shared hosting is very popular because it’s affordable and often is good enough for small websites with little traffic. There are many hosting companies that offer shared hosting and, while we don’t directly recommend any one specifically, we’ve had good experience with HostGator. Prices of shared hosting run around $10 per month.

Shared Web Hosting as an Apartment Building

We love the analogy comparing shared hosting to an apartment building. Imagine you live in an apartment building with tens or even hundreds of neighbors. You all share the same building, elevator, maybe a parking garage, front building entrance, and so on.

Shared web hosting is similar in that your website (the files we mentioned earlier) resides on a web server together with tens or hundreds of other websites. With shared web hosting, your website and all the other websites on it share that one server’s resources: hard drive, memory, power supply, internet connection (that’s the main entrance in our analogy). Surprised? This is why it’s called shared web hosting.

Your website also shares the same IP address with all its neighbors. An IP address is a unique number that identifies the web server and looks something like this: 74.125.239.41. This number is like the street address of your apartment building.

Like in an apartment building, it’s very unlikely that you know all your website neighbors, what they do, and what kind of services they offer. And you probably didn’t much care about what they were up to. But maybe you should be.

How Your Neighbors’ Behavior Can Affect You

Unfortunately, your neighbors’ illicit activities can affect you in the world of shared web hosting. If one or more websites on your server are engaged in illegal operations such as email spamming, then the IP address for the entire server may be flagged and even blocked by outside services. This can prevent visitors from accessing your website or keep emails from being sent out of your website, even though your website had nothing to do with the illegal activities of your neighbors.

Want to learn more about your website neighbors? There’s an free online tool that shows you a list of all the websites that share a single IP address. Visit the site, enter your website address, and you’ll see a list of all your neighbors. It might even tell you if they’ve been flagged for illicit activities.

Nosy Neighbor

Now that you better understand how shared web hosting works and some of the risks involved, you are better prepared to keep an eye on your neighbors and, perhaps, make the decision to move into a server of your own if the situation calls for it.

While many small businesses successfully run their websites on shared web hosting, it’s always good to understand where you stand so you can be prepared and aware when something goes wrong. We suggest that you pay attention to feedback from your visitors and use the above link to check on your neighbors every once in a while. If you see anything suspicious, you can ask your hosting provider to move to a different server, upgrade to a stand-alone server, or consider paying for a unique IP address.