Hi Everyone,

Today I'm here to discuss something extremely exciting that is coming to WA. Today marks the day that we will be allowing SSL Secure Certificates to be installed on websites hosted here at WA. This is a big deal, but to make it an ever BIGGER deal and to continue to put the SiteRubix offering into a new league, we're making SSL completely free...Yes FREE

Ok, I'm going to back up a minute here to give a quick explanation about SSL and what it is exactly.

What Exactly is SSL?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it's a technology that allows a website to transfer data over an encrypted connection. You'll notice that the WA Members area is over an SSL connection by the "https://" protocol at the beginning of the domain name. This means that any interaction that you have from your browser, to WA is completely secure over a 256-bit connection meaning that it's all but impossible to hack.

...but what exactly does this mean for a website?

A website that is running over SSL can securely accept payments for one, but another big thing is that the search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo etc, are starting to give some weight to sites that are served over SSL. In other words, your site may benefit from being secure for your visitors.

SSL can cost upwards of $100/year, plus setup fees, and special server requirements that a lot of web hosts charge for. We believe that everyone has a right to have a SECURE website for their website visitors, and this is why we are offering it for FREE to any websites hosted here at WA.

So Carson, Do I Need SSL?

The short answer is no, you do not NEED it - look at websites now that are not SECURE, they are doing extremely well. However, adding SSL can add an extra layer of security, and even a bump in how the search engines favor a website. The goal of SSL is to offer secure websites first and foremost, and this is what Search Engines like to see.

For those who are accepting payment directly, or wanting to setup e-commerce websites that allow for payment processing SSL is a definite requirement. Until now we have not accommodated for this at WA, but that has all changed!

When Can I get SSL?

This post is to tell everyone that Free SSL is coming to WA very soon and will be available for websites on domains other than SiteRubix.com domains.

**The Free SiteRubix.com websites offered at WA are not candidates for SSL because that is a shared domain and not everyone will need secure connections**

More about SSL and the benefits in coming posts once anyone can take part and start serving their websites securely.

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Thank you to everyone who has submitted sites to take part in the early SSL beta release. At this point we will stop taking submissions but everyone will be able to enjoy adding SSL to websites very soon!

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I would love to hear your comments and feedback below!!

Cheers,

Carson