How To Get Free SSL Certificate From Cloudflare

You’ve probably heard a lot about the importance of an SSL certificate if you shop online.

An SSL protects the information you enter when you’re shopping online, and it also helps protect your website in Google Search results.

It’s important that your visitors know that your website is secure too, which is why you should use a free SSL certificate. A free SSL lets your visitors know that their data is secure when they’re on your website.

You may be aware that Google shows all non-SSL websites as “Not Secure”. This means that if you do not use SSL certificates on your website. So customers or visitors will not cheer on your website.

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What is SSL Certificate?

SSL means (Secure Sockets Layer) is the industry standard for creating an encrypted connection between a web server and a browser. This secure link assures that all information sent is kept private. TLS is another name for it (Transport Layer Security).

SSL encryption is used by millions of websites every day to secure connections and protect their customers’ data from monitoring and tampering.

Why do you need SSL?

The decision to get an SSL certificate is quite simple: it assures your visitors that when they click on a link in an email, they will be accessing the link from the site that they expect to access, that there are no viruses or malware in the system that could harm their system or compromise their personal data and that it is safe to go ahead and use the links or make any transactions. 

How Does it work? SSL protects data and, as a result, decreases the possibility of a hack occurring and any damage being done. 

One important aspect that SSL technology has to offer is the amount of time it takes before a hacker can compromise the data. You can have a full conversation with the person and a video or chat session before any files are sent or a call is made.

How does SSL work?

Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, is a protocol that encrypts information going from one computer to another and prevents it from being read by anyone other than the intended recipient. 

The good news is that SSL certificates are very easy to set up, and there are a lot of different certificate options available to choose from. 

The issue is that many of these companies don’t bother to make their SSL certificates completely secure. As a result, a lot of bad guys are already abusing the internet security certificates and we’re starting to see less secure sites pop up. 

Most secure sites allow you to buy your own Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate and it’s important to do this. If a third party is selling your SSL certificate for you, be wary.

Connect your site with CloudFlare to get Free SSL Certificate

If you are going to buy a new hosting server so they will provide a free SSL certificate lifetime you don’t need to renew it, but only for one website. 

What for other websites?

For that Visit cloudflare.com and click on sign up. 

Type in your email address and a password for your account then click on create an account. 

I already have an account so I will move to next.

You can see in this dashboard I have already added three websites.

Here you’ll need to type in your website name that’s displaying the not secure message and click on add site. 

Now, choose the free version and click on confirm plan Cloudflare will now take a few seconds to scan your website records and once it’s done just click on continue. 

Sometimes you get this screen where you need to click continue with default and sometimes you go to this screen directly. 

But anyway you’ll be presented with 2 name servers that keep this window open for later. 

Now, you’ll need to update your name servers to reroute traffic through Cloudflare securely. 

I’ll use Hostinger as an example here but the process is almost identical for absolutely any web hosting provider. 

As long as you have access to the DNS or domain name system. Once logged into your web hosting provider where you bought your website name navigate to the DNS management area for Hostinger, you just need to click manage here next to your domain name.

In my case I am using a Hostinger server, maybe your server will be different but the process is the same.

Now you’ll see your name servers delete the ones that are here and simply copy-paste the ones that Cloudflare gave you. 

There should be 2 nameservers only that you need to change with your hosting server.

Finally, just click on done and now you’ll need to be patient because the name server update it’s not instant. 

Basically, your server needs to tell the whole Internet that something has changed about your website and that traffic is being rerouted. 

This change can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple of hours in extreme cases. 

Just keep refreshing the page once in a while until you see this screen. Do not do any further steps before the name servers are finished updating but if you see this green checkmark that means you’re good to go and we can continue.   

CloudFlare Important Settings For Better Performance

Now after changing your nameserver with hosting, after some time you will connect with the Cloudflare network.

After clicking on done you can see in this image the Quickstart Guide.

Improve Security

In the security section, you can see this option Automatic HTTPS Rewrites.  Now if anyone types HTTP to visit your site it will automatically redirect to HTTPS.

Always Use HTTPS

Keep this button on, this will act as the same as this function always uses HTTPS to your site.

If anyone types your website with or without HTTP this setting auto redirects to HTTPS.

Optimized performance

When we install any plugins or themes, that time our site uses more JavaScript,  CSS, HTML code, and some of them are not required but still, code is there.

Because of this unused code, your website takes too much load and your speed is also reduced.

Select these three options it will auto-minify all source code and speed up your site.

Brotli

Brotli is a compression algorithm developed by Google and designed to auto text compression from your site.

Brotli is used by web servers and CDN networks to compress HTTP content and make websites load faster.

Summary

After setting all functionality you can see in the summary, all rewrite rules are working for your website and it will speed up your website.

Now Get Free SSL from Cloudflare

Now, After click did check name servers. Here in the Dashboard header menu select the SSL / TLS FULL option and make sure always use HTTPS is turned on. 

Click on SSL/TLS and then set full protection for a website then save.

After that click on the origin server and create a new origin certificate then apply and go next.

Then you can see this window, you don’t need to do any changes here just click next.

After clicking on next, you will get this code. Now copy this code and paste it into your hosting server in the SSL section.

If you have any problem in installing this code comment to me or contact me I will guide you.

Now after adding all keys, they will ask for an Origin CA certificate, by clicking here you can get an Origin certificate and add it to your server.

When you open this Cloudflare origin certificate you can see option number four click on Cloudflare Origin RSA PEM, download this file, and install it on your server.

On my other blogs, I use this cloud flare SSL certificate, and also you can use CDN from Cloudflare free of cost.

What are the benefits of an SSL certificate?

Securing the transfer of sensitive data through an SSL certificate is extremely important for small businesses as it prevents anyone who is trying to intercept or tamper with the data. 

When you add encryption to the equation you have a whole lot more data, files, and information that is protected by the SSL certificate. 

The process of getting an SSL certificate has to go through a series of steps and it can be quite involved and expensive. 

A total of six steps are required by every business looking to get an SSL certificate and these are; Start with getting your own domain name on a .com or .co.UK Make a little effort to keep your URL (web address) secure as hackers will likely create sites with the same name.

Why should you care about this?

That’s simple. It’s not about you. It’s about your clients. And let’s face it, you don’t really care about all the silly people that call you stupid and insult you because you’re not using their ‘exact’ bank details with their ‘exact’ banking app. 

Sure, you get angry. Who doesn’t? But you can keep that channel of communication open with a simple, safe, and secure SSL Certificate. 

This is what we’ll show you how to do below! What is an SSL Certificate? Just as with a regular (web) connection, the fact that you’re on the web means that you’re susceptible to being intercepted by a hacker. 

This is called a man-in-the-middle attack. No matter what you do to secure your connection, your connection will be hijacked. This is not a new concept and has been demonstrated for several decades.

Frequently Ask Questions:

Conclusion

As I hope you’ve seen, SSL Certificate is more than just a ‘Cisco green light’. It’s an important tool for protecting and encrypting data that is going from your customers to your company. 

Get a grip on what this technology is and how it works. It will save you a lot of money and make the online world a safer place for everyone.