We are going to explain how you can Get your FREE SSL Certificate with Let’s Encrypt to your Website, to increase your credibility and reflect your professionalism by getting FREE SSL Certificate and transform your HTTP URL to HTTPS in just 5 minutes. So, you won’t need to pay around 50-70$ yearly for SSL Certificate to your website anymore, just bring your coffee and follow these simple steps! ☕☕☕
Before reading the actual article – You need to know that it is not a hack or a trick to get free stuff, it is a legit and safe way using Let’s Encrypt which is a free and open Certificate Authority
In this article, I am using GoDaddy, if you have a different Hosting, you might find some minor differences!
*You don’t need to be a Web Developer to do it. Literally, anyone can do it!
1) Go to SSL For Free
Write your current HTTP website and hit “Create Free SSL Certificate” button
2) Choose “Automatic FTP Verification” or “Manual Verification”
*I don’t like the “Manual Verification (DNS)” method, I think FTP is much easier!
➯ Using “Automatic FTP Verification”
All you need is to fill out your FTP Details and hit “Download Free SSL Certificate” button to get to step 3!
*Don’t try to see the hidden characters! 😂😂
➯ Using “Manual Verification” with FTP!
After picking the “Manual Verification”, click on “Manually Verify Domain” then you will need to follow the very simple instruction by downloading the required files, create the “.well-known” directory and inside it create the “acme-challenge” directory and paste the downloaded files there, then hit “Download SSL Certificate” button.
3) Certificate Successfully Generated!
Note: SSL Certificates will be expired after 90 days, so you will need to re-generate it before its expiration date. Create an account with “SSL For Free” website to get notified in 1 week before the expiration date, or set a reminder on your calendar, don’t forget it!
We are almost done, click on “Download the SSL Certificate files” button to save the essential data which we will be using for step 4! ( You can copy/paste the “Certificate” and “Private Key” in a notepad instead of downloading them )
4) Use the SSL
Till now, you didn’t install the certificate on your website, only one step ahead!
➯ Pick “SSL/TLS”
➯ Choose “Manage SSL Sites”
➯ Select your “Domain” then copy/paste your Certificate and Private Key
Finally, click on “Install Certificate” button, and now you got a FREE SSL Certificate to your Godaddy Domain!
I don’t know exactly what “Certificate Authority Bundle” and “SNI” are doing now, but yeah, I might be writing about them later! 😉😉
Well, that’s all. Here is my website 👇
One more thing
If you have already distributed your HTTP in many places, now you will need to go and edit it to HTTPS, Right? WRONG!! 👊
All you need is to make an automatic redirect to your HTTPS, to do so, you can check this guide on GoDaddy or search for a similar guide based on your Hosting.
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Finally, I would like to say that I didn’t write an article before, I was always hesitating to start writing… But this time, I didn’t think about it at all, I just did it. So please, let me know your feedback in the comments below and I am sure that it won’t be my last one, it is just the beginning!! 😉😎
Go and get your FREE SSL Certificate now! 🙈
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This article was originally published on my LinkedIn on December 20, 2017