By now we all know how important it is to have an SSL certificate installed for all of our domains. Without one, your visitors will likely see a warning pop up if they try to access your site.
Some hosting companies include an SSL certificate for your domains, so you don't have to do it yourself.
My hosting company included free SSL certificates for all of my domains for the first year. After that, it would cost around $8 per year to continue using their certificate. I could get that down to around $6 a year if renewed for 5 years.
I did a search, and came across the site LetsEncrypt, where you could get an SSL certificate for free. Unfortunately, my hosting provider was not on the list of companies that were making it easy to use this option.
There was a way I could do it, but there were a lot of steps involved. I could spend the time to figure it out, but I wasn't sure that it would be worth the time.
I was about to go ahead and pay the fee to renew the SSL certificate. It wasn't a lot of cash, but I had 3 sites that I had to pay for, and 3 more that were due in the next month.
I was going for the yearly option, which in the end would cost me over $60, and that bothered me. So I went back and did another search.
I found a listing for a WordPress plugin that was supposed to make it easy to install an SSL certificate for free, from LetsEncrypt. They also have a premium version, so I figured that the free option was too good to be true.
The plugin is called WP Encryption, and you can get it at the WordPress site at https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-letsencrypt-ssl/
I decided to install the plugin, activate it, and see what I could get for free. I was very glad to find that I COULD install an SSL certificate for free!
Once the plugin was installed, you have the option to use the free version, or pay for the premium version.
The main difference is that the premium version makes it much easier to get the new SSL certificate generated and installed. And the certificate auto-renews so you just install and forget it.
The free version requires you to install a new certificate every 90 days.
Being a miser, I decided to try out the free way.
Once I activate the plugin, it led me through all the steps needed, and included links to videos that showed how to do each step.
The first thing I had to do was to verify the domain. There are 2 options.
The first option is to download 2 text files and then upload them to the appropriate folder in my hosting account's file manager. Once I did that, I had to click the confirm button. Once the site was verified, it was on to the next step.
One big thing I need to point out when using the file manager is that there are a few snags that come with this method. The first is that you have to create a new folder and use the provided name. The file has a dot in front of it, which means that to see it you have to make sure to go to the options while in the file manager and click on the link to show hidden files.
Once that is done, and you have the file created, you have to open the file and create a new folder where you will upload the text files you downloaded to your computer.
I completed the folder creation and uploaded the files, and I go an error message. What I found was that the 2 text files that I uploaded from my computer had a .txt at the end of the file name. I had to rename the files without the .txt, and then everything worked.
The other option is to include 2 text links in the DNS zone manager. They include the data that you need, so all you have to do is to copy and paste into the form fields. Click on the confirm link and on to the next step.
Of the 2 options, I found that the DNS zone manager was a lot easier.
On to the next step, which was where the LetsEncrypt certificate had been generated and the 3 areas that I needed were displayed.
Then I went to the Security section in cpanel and click on the SSL/TLS icon, and then go to manage ssl sites. Click on the "Upgrade Certificate" link and you see that there are 3 text areas that you need to fill in.
This was really easy. There was a button that, when clicked, copied the data from each of the 3 text areas to the clip board. I copied the first text area, went to the first form field in cpanel and pasted it in.
Two more times, and I was done. I exited cpanel and went back to the wordpress dashboard. The final step was to wait a few minutes, and then click the activate button.
It worked like a charm. It was a bit of work, and it took me around 20 minutes, which wasn't too bad.
I had 2 more sites to do, and they went a lot faster.
WP Encryption was a pleasant surprise. The free version did exactly what I needed, and I got my SSL certificates for free.
I am going to have to update the certificates every 90 days, unless I go premium, but that's not a bad deal. There is a WP Encryption icon on the left side of your wordpress dashboard, and when you click it, you can see how many days you have before you have to upgrade the SSL certificate.
If you are faced with having to get an SSL certificate for your site, and want to save some money, give WP Encryption a try. After all, it's free, and it works really well.
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