This is an important announcement that will affect your website so please read to the end.

Starting in Jan 2017 Google Chrome and Apple are requiring that all websites have https and not just http. If you do not have the https (SSL certificate) they are going to flag your site with an orange triangle that says “untrusted” when hovered over. (For the record, Firefox is already doing this.) So all your website visitors will see that your site is not secure, undermining the trust you are trying to build with them.

The reason they are doing this is to stop hackers. With http, every time you log into your website your username and password can be seen by people who know how to do that sort of thing (people like hackers). And if you have a membership site or any site where people use a username and password, their info is out there for the world to see, too, increasing your chances of being hacked. So Google is forcing us to secure our websites. It’s a good thing, actually.

I’ve been doing some research into this process. The toughness of setting it up depends on who you are hosting with.

Basically you (or I) need to install a program (script) called Let’s Encrypt on your server. Let’s Encrypt gives you a free SSL certificate. It’s the industry standard right now and completely trustworthy, which means you do not need to purchase an SSL certificate from your host – which saves you a hefty yearly fee.

Next, we install a plugin on your website which will go into your database and other private areas and change all the http to https. The plugin is Really Simple SSL which offers a free version and also a premium version. If you have people other than yourself and your team logging into your site, such as a membership site, then you may want to go with the paid version (a very inexpensive one-time fee) to heighten your level of security.

Lastly we need to make sure all your images on your site say https://yoursite.com/imagename and not http://. This includes the images that make up the design of your site as well as images you’ve added such as in a blog post. Even one image without the https will trip the “untrusted” triangle for that page.

Some hosting companies have already adopted Let’s Encrypt so to activate it we check a button within your cpanel. Other hosts haven’t so we would need to install the script. Some hosting companies are still looking into this. They have to make sure this third party script is compatible with what they use so they are rightfully being cautious (they just need to be quicker about it, lol).

I gave you the instructions above but if you need help with this, you know you can contact me for help here.

A Call to Action (CTA) is simply telling people exactly what it is we want them to do on each page of our website. I categorize Calls to Action into 3 main types:  Read More, Lead Generation, and Buy Now.

Some websites are just an online brochure for a business. They simply have information such as the directions to a store or maybe a copy of the menu. But website visitors don’t make a purchase until they get into the store. Often the call to action on those sites are just “call me” or “visit us at”.

Other websites main purpose is getting people to purchase something. If you are reading this, then you most likely have this type of website. Here is my “rule of thumb” for the colors I choose for each and why I choose them.

1) Read more buttons – blend in

When you want your website visitors to go to another page – you may say Read more… Learn more… More information…

These buttons help people to know, like, and trust you. They are simply offering more information without asking the website visitor to do anything more than click the button. Each time the visitor clicks and nothing bad happens, they start to trust you more. And the more they read, the more they will get to know you and start to like you.

I make these buttons blend in so you don’t give your visitor a jolt or surprise them in anyway.

2) Form Submission – contrast

When you want your website visitors to take an action that involves giving you their email address – ie Send It!… Submit…

You’ll see these buttons on your Optin Box, your Contact Me form, and any Polls or Questionnaires that you may have. Anything where you are receiving an email. These are lead generation buttons and should lead people to join your list in some way. These people aren’t quite ready to make a purchase but they are trusting you enough to give you their email.

I like these buttons in a contrasting color – still matching your site. But I like them to stand out a bit more and be a bit bolder than the Read more buttons.

3) Buy Now buttons – stand out

When you want your website visitors to make a purchase or take the main step towards a purchase right now – ie Buy Now… Schedule Now…

These people are taking the ultimate step. They like and trust you. Make sure these buttons…

• Stand out. I make the Buy Now buttons bright and bold, often in Yellow.
• Works! The worst thing in the world right now would be to scare them away by losing their trust.

4) Social Media buttons – blend in/match

I would say no more buttons other than what’s above, but with social media we want people sharing our posts and connecting with us. So… since Social Media buttons takes the focus away from making a purchase, you may want them to blend in with your site. The social media site’s logo is also acceptable.

What do you think of these rules of thumb?