A little ‘s’ makes a big difference. There are tonnes of acronyms when it comes to online jargon. One big one you have probably heard of, but may not know much about, is HTTP. It doesn’t so much matter what it stands for (HyperText Transfer Protocol) but more why it’s important for your storage company.
As a self-storage business, there’s no doubt that you pride yourself on being secure. That security shouldn’t just apply to your physical storage centres, but your online security as well.
That’s where HTTPS comes in.
Put simply, HTTP and HTTPS are both ways of transmitting data online. So, any time a customer gives you something like their credit card information, their data is transmitted using one of these protocols. They both deliver a message – but in very different ways. The ‘S’ at the end of HTTPS stands for ‘Secure’. And that’s exactly what it is. It uses encryption to prevent any sneaky so-and-so from intercepting that data and using it.
Here’s how it would look when data is being transmitted from point A to B:
- Sending the message ‘hello storage’ using HTTP? What you’d see: hello storage
- Sending that same message in HTTPS? You’d see something like: dtwvbz5+o2wdkr1j2gHCB3Q3RFERsLCzaSaSBZ28
For customers giving you their data, like through quote forms, it’s sure to put their minds at ease and make you trust them as a provider. Encrypted data protects you and customers from those pesky hackers; protection means trust, and trust means increased usage of your service. And it’s not just there that the benefits lie. HTTPS will result in more visibility of your business in Google search results.
It Can Help Your SEO
Another acronym that you probably hear a lot online is SEO. Put simply, the better you are at optimising your website, the higher you will rank in search results. The higher you rank, the more traffic your site will get.
HTTPS is crucial in achieving that.
Here’s how:
- Sites using HTTPS load faster and are more likely to rank higher
- Businesses using HTTPS feature higher on Google than HTTPS-less companies.
- HTTPS has been built into Google’s search algorithm since 2014, meaning it prioritises HTTPS over HTTP
- Google Chrome now notifies users when the site is insecure
Google is now the first port of call when people are looking for a storage company, so ranking as highly as possible within those results is a no brainer. Users trust security, especially when it comes to giving you their personal information. For example, did you know that 84% of users would abandon a purchase if they knew their data was being sent over an unsecure connection?
So How Do You Get It?
Setting up HTTPS requires something called an SSL certificate. Think of it like sealing an envelope before sending a letter. The certificate proves that the provider (you) is who they say they are and shows that you own the domain. There are two main ways to get that SSL certificate for your site:
- Use a web host service with SSL security – like SiteGround, HostGator, or many others
- Purchase an SSL certificate from a Certificate Authority – you can find them for free too, like on Let’s Encrypt.
There are more than three billion people now online. Whether they’re buying their milk or signing a contract, being secure is more important to them than ever.
Give your customers the same faith in security when using your service online as you do with their possessions.
Be more secure – just add an ‘s’.
