As of August 2016 some 60% of worldwide internet users used Google Chrome as their web browser of choice and that figure is steadily increasing.

This means that on average, for every five people that visit YOUR website, three of them will be using Google Chrome. So when Google talks about upcoming changes to Google Chrome we don’t have much choice other than to listen to what they’re saying.

The latest changes that Google are introducing will start in January 2017 and will affect EVERYONE who has a website.

The question that should be on everybody’s lips is:

Is my site currently loading via HTTP or HTTPS?

If your website is currently loading insecurely via HTTP then prepare for a decrease in traffic starting early 2017. It may sound a bit dramatic, but Google have announced that if websites don’t load securely via HTTPS they will be labelling all such websites as “Not Secure”.  Like this:

Initially, they will roll out this warning message in January 2017 to websites that collect Passwords and Credit Card details over an insecure connection and will then begin rolling out the warning to EVERY website that doesn’t load via HTTPS.  Other browsers are expected to follow suit.

On the plus side, Google will be ranking HTTPS sites higher than HTTP.

So how do you prepare for SSL Armageddon?

First of all, Pukka Web Hosting is providing all of its clients with FREE self-service Comodo SSL Certificates for ALL websites that are hosted with them; this relieves clients of the need potentially to spend a small fortune on SSL Certificates and their renewals. Our SSL Certificates are already available and are ready to use. Clients can confirm this by logging into their cPanel and clicking on the SSL/TLS icon:

However, just having an SSL Certificate installed doesn’t mean that your website is going to automatically load securely via HTTPS!

If you try and visit your website via HTTPS probably you will find that it loads BUT without displaying the green padlock in your browser’s address bar. The green padlock indicates that the page has been served securely and this is what you need to be aiming for, to avoid getting your website flagged as “Not Secure” by Google.

To get the green padlock to appear, ALL elements of your website (pages, style sheets, images, javascript, etc.) need to be loaded securely via HTTPS rather than HTTP. So you, or your web developer, need to manually edit your web pages and databases (if applicable) to pull all content via HTTPS rather than HTTP. You then need to redirect all traffic to HTTPS and ensure that ALL pages on your website are loading correctly via HTTPS.

…OR we can do it for you!

The Pukka “Done for You” Package

Unless you are an experienced webmaster and fully understand the way websites work when it comes to serving content securely then you may well find yourself punching your computer screen in rage when it comes to the task of trying to get EVERY one of your web pages to load securely!

That’s why we are offering to take the stress away from you by making EVERY page on your website compliant with the new Google SSL requirements. Why spend hours, days, weeks or even months trying to complete a task when you can save a LOT of time, effort and stress by having the team at Pukka Websites do EVERYTHING for you.

This includes:

1. Ensuring that the SSL Certificate has been set up correctly.
2. Editing the source files of your website to ensure all elements are being loaded via HTTPS.
3. Editing your database (if applicable) to ensure all elements are being loaded via HTTPS.
4. Checking EVERY page on your website to ensure that they ALL are loading correctly via HTTPS.
5. Redirecting all traffic to the new HTTPS version of your website.
6. Performing a final check on your website to ensure it is fully compliant with Google’s SSL guidelines.
7. You then will be Google compliant and your visitors won’t see an “Insecure Website” warning when visiting your site.

How much does it cost?

Not as much as you might think! The price starts at $69.95 for one website and if you have multiple websites to convert then we offer a sliding price scale. It usually takes us no more than 24 hours to fully convert a website to load correctly via HTTPS.

Please note: This price does NOT include the cost of an SSL Certificate which, if you are not hosting your website with ourselves and therefore do not qualify for our free certificate, you will have to buy and set up (or have set up) on your present hosting, before we can work on your site.  Should you choose to transfer your hosting to Pukka Web Hosting, then we can provide the necessary free certificate in addition to transferring your site across free of charge.

This upgrade is included in the annual maintenance plan for those of our clients who subscribe to this service.

Is there a guarantee?

Certainly!

In the unlikely event that we are unable to fully convert your website to load securely via HTTPS then not only will we provide you with a full refund but we will also provide existing clients with two month’s free website hosting as well.

So have Pukka Websites convert your website to HTTPS and be safe in the knowledge that your website won’t be listed as “Not Secure” by Google Chrome or Firefox and that your website’s visitors will be able to browse your site knowing that they are doing so over a secure, encrypted connection.

Does my site have to be hosted with yourselves to enable me to use this service?

No – we are happy to convert your site even if it sits on third-party servers but, as mentioned above, you MUST have an SSL Certificate installed before we can carry out any work on your site.

How long will it take?

The work itself normally is completed within 24 hours but all orders are queued and dealt with strictly in the order in which they were received so, depending upon our order book at the time your order is placed, it may take a little longer to convert your site.

How do I order?

Simply contact us here, letting us know that you would like us to carry out this work and we’ll send you a payment request.

Google has stated that it intends to use mobile page load speeds as a factor in establishing mobile friendly rankings. We will start to experience the impact of this policy within the next few months.

Last year Google introduced Responsive Website Indexing – a method which favours mobile-friendly sites by placing them ahead of non-friendly sites in search results. See our article ‘Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?’ of 30 April 2015. Google is now introducing an update that strengthens the tests and may omit entirely any web pages that are not easily viewed on mobile devices.

Many people believe that if a website can be seen on a small screen, then it is mobile-friendly. This most definitely is not so! A truly responsive (mobile-friendly) site has the ability to rearrange content and to adjust the layout of a website page so that the viewer’s screen, however small, can readily accommodate that page.  The result is that content is readily accessible and easily read.

Is your website responsive (mobile-friendly)?  Google provides this tool which will test your site free of charge: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/. If your site is not mobile-friendly you WILL be losing traffic already.  We can convert your existing non-responsive site to a fully mobile-friendly at a low, low cost. You have nothing to lose and potentially much to gain by asking us for a free quote to update your site.

A reminder that all of our prices etc on this website and elsewhere are given in US dollars. For the convenience of our clients, we are happy to accept payment in a number of other currencies but, unless stated otherwise at the time, we always will be ‘talking’ US dollars. Please see our FAQ page for details of alternative currencies in which payment can be made.

Since 21st April, 2015 Google has placed considerably more emphasis on mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. The change affects all mobile searches globally, irrespective of the language used, and it is having a significant impact on search results. It is becoming much easier for cell phone, tablet etc. users to receive high quality search results that are optimized for their device.

The change is designed to eliminate situations where users looking at search results on their mobile ‘phone are presented with pages where the text is too small, links are tiny and/or too close together (making it difficult to select a particular link) or you have to keep scrolling sideways to see all of the content of a page. These situations are all too common when a website is not mobile-friendly.

Website pages are considered mobile-friendly by Google if they meet the following criteria:

1. They avoid the use of software such as Flash which is not commonly used for mobile devices.

2. The text on the pages can be read without having to zoom.

3. The content of pages is sized to fit the mobile screen without the need for horizontal scrolling or zooming.

4. There is sufficient distance between links to allow the desired link to be easily tapped without accidentally hitting a different link.

You can check if your site is mobile-friendly by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool here.

All of the sites that we have developed since late 2014 have been designed to be mobile-friendly. However, if your site was created by ourselves earlier than that, it may not meet Google’s new requirements. Websites that do not meet the new requirements can expect to be drastically downgraded in Google’s rankings and suffer as a result.

If your website is not mobile friendly, we can make it so for you, irrespective of whether your site was originally created by ourselves or by others. Contact us for further information.

How people interact with websites is changing all the time. These days, many website visitors go directly to the page they’re interested in seeing. This has resulted in the Home Page being used less frequently than it was in the past. When considering website design, this needs to be taken into account.

In 2003 a research website had 39% of its traffic going to the Home page. In 2009, this same website had just 19% of its traffic go to its Home page. A technology website in 2008 in one month had 22,000 out of 70,000 page views go to its Home page. This same website in 2010 during the same month had just 2,500 views out of a total 120,000 go to the Home page.

A different technology website in 2007 saw approximately 10% of its traffic land on the Home page. In 2010, it was reduced to just 5%. One of the Internet’s largest websites stated that in 2005, 25% of the visitors came to its Home page. In 2010, it decreased to only 10%.

When people are browsing the Internet, they usually have a pretty good idea of what they’re looking for. Usually they don’t go to Google with no clue about what they’re there for. As people get more and more used to using the Internet, the way they conduct themselves online becomes a lot more focused and specific.

People in the past were satisfied to just get to the Home page and from there navigate through the remainder of the website. However, that isn’t the case any longer, as more individuals are using more detailed searches along with external links leading them directly to the specific page they are interested in.

Many marketers and webmasters assume the Home page serves as the billboard for their websites. These individuals frequently are obsessed with making sure they get this one page perfect and spend lots of time designing it. This is one of the main reasons why a lot of people don’t use the Home page as much as they used to, because they don’t view it as being very useful.

Research shows that individuals usually do not purchase products from advertisements they view on a website’s Home page. For this reason, many websites these days are looking into dual marketing strategies that use both indirect and direct marketing.

It is very important for webmasters and marketers to abandon the old idea of trying to control what visitors see and do. On the Internet this doesn’t work too well. The World Wide Web provides customers with a degree of control that they desire. When online searches are used by individuals they usually have a destination in mind.

Today’s consumers are searching for specific destinations and your webpages need to be designed to work well with this in mind. What people really want these days is the quickest possible way to reach the product or information that they seek. When you are able to offer this to consumers, they are much more likely to want to interact with you.

Another reason why consumers aren’t interested in the Home page as much anymore is because it tends to be viewed as a page that is full of links. Although it is possible for a Home page of this sort to be made so that it works well for you, many website owners negate this potential with useless messages and graphics.

When considering your website design, it is very important for you to consider what the Home page of your website offers to your visitors and customers. You won’t get the results you desire if you work with outdated marketing techniques.

Still not sure?

Further to yesterday’s article, if you remain unsure about the need to switch from MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) to a different anti-virus product, read this:

The senior program manager of the malware protection centre at Microsoft stated to Dennis Technology Labs “the company only follows a baseline strategy”. Or in other words, the purpose of Microsoft Security Essentials is to protect against only the most active threats. Furthermore Holly Stewart (the aforementioned manager) said that Microsoft will always rank towards the bottom of the anti-virus product test results in view of its policy of always sharing with third-party partners everything it knows about security threats.

Microsoft came onto the antivirus playing field when it launched Microsoft Security Essentials, or MSE, in 2009. This is a tool that will run on Windows XP, 7, and 8. The industry praised this move because it was felt that it was long overdue that Microsoft provide antivirus protection. At the outset, MSE seemed to be just as good as many of the other paid security options out there.

The early praise soon evaporated however. Later tests revealed MSE to be lacking in features that an effective antivirus programs should offer.

Protection Is Everything

The level of protection offered by antivirus apps varies widely. They are not the same. The best apps are very different from the worst ones and the most important requirement of an antivirus program is being able to detect threats and remove or quarantine them.

MSE has failed to stay up with its competition. This shows how quickly the security industry can change. An app that is at the top of the game can drop behind its competitors in just a year or even sooner if it is not constantly updated to cope with new threats. This is why the smart consumer will consult with organizations that conduct independent testing, examples being AV-Comparatives or AV-Test, before making a decision on an antivirus program.

There Should Be More To An Antivirus Program Than Basic Scanning

Microsoft was undeniably on the right track when it launched MSE for Windows, but it transpires that it was terribly outdated, even at launch. Nowadays, consumers need much more than just simple antivirus protection.

For example, an antivirus suite should include features such as being able to identify questionable URLs and it should have tools that combat phishing etc. Unfortunately, MSE does not include these features.

These features are not the only ‘extras’ offered by an antivirus suite. Most of them also offer a way to securely shred your computer files, spam protection powered by the cloud, a sandbox for safe payments and a tool for removing the strongest threats, such as rootkits.

The Problem With Popularity

Windows is a major target of malware because it is the operating system used by a large majority of computers. Following MSE’s launch and its use by millions of people, it also has become a prime target.

It is hard to say if MSE’s reputation as a popular malware target has contributed to its low score in independent tests. Whilst difficult to prove, it most certainly is conceivable that when the developers of such malware create a new virus or Trojan, they include MSE as a target of their attacks.

What is unquestionable is the fact that fake anti-virus program developers have brought out many MSE fakes. Other security giants are similarly targeted, for example McAfee and Norton, but MSE tops them both. There is no guarantee that relative obscurity will protect an antivirus program from being targeted, but developers of malware are much less likely to spend a lot of time targeting lesser programs like F-Secure and Avira.

Conclusion

An effective antivirus program protects against and blocks a wide range of threats. Even if fakes exist and are designed to circumvent the real thing, its effectiveness is not reduced or otherwise affected by them.

Unfortunately however, MSE comes up short in these areas. Initial excitement soon faded away as users were disappointed by its lack of features. It has become apparent that a free, third-party antivirus program remains the best choice for users who do not wish to pay for such a program. There are many free apps that offer better performance and better protection, with more features, than does MSE and if a free, third-party antivirus program can do that, there is no need or reason to hang on to MSE.