In our October 12, 2018 blog, “The Benefits of Using SSL Certificates for Realtor® Websites”, we discussed the reasons why having a secure website is so important. Every business website should be secure, even if you aren’t selling products or doing financial transactions. As a real estate professional, you are running a business and your website should reflect that. Here are a few salient points from that blog to support the need to have a secure website.
What is the Difference Between a Secure and Unsecured Website?
The SSL Certificate is the element on a website designed to prevent unauthorized access and alteration of the site by outside forces. It means the data coming to the site, such as from visitors, and leaving the site, such as through contact forms, is encrypted with a unique code. This means outside forces are not able to intercept the data or hack into the website. These forces may be intentionally malicious, such as hackers, or may even be your internet service provider or public wifi connection. Without the SSL certificate, these forces can access and alter data both on your site and to visitors of your site.
You know a site is secure if if has HTTPS before the rest of the URL. Search engines like Firefox and Google are making it clear when a site is not secure. If you don’t have the SSL certificate, your visitors will be alerted that they are on an unsecured site, and that is NEVER good for business.
What are the risks of NOT having a secure website with SSL certificate
As a professional real estate agent, marketing your services, attracting new clients, and generating leads is extremely important. If you are a new agent, it’s absolutely critical. If you don’t invest in a quality secure website, you’re setting yourself up to be at a disadvantage from the start. Using a page off your broker’s site is also of little use to you if your page isn’t secure. Why is this so?
Designing and developing secure websites for Realtors® is what we do. We understand the importance of it, know exactly how to do what’s in our clients’ best interest, and we see the negative consequences when agents don’t take this seriously. Please reach out and let us show you how a professional secure website can make all the difference to your real estate business.