SSL Setup: 12 questions answered.

Yes. We’ve installed SSL on Nginx, Apache, LiteSpeed/OpenLiteSpeed, cPanel/Plesk, and cloud VMs (AWS, GCP, Azure), as well as managed hosts like Cloudways and Kinsta. We work with any stack, Magento, WordPress, Laravel, Node, or a static site. The only thing we need is either SSH/panel access or, for some setups, DNS access at your registrar. If you’re on fully-managed hosting that handles SSL itself, we’ll tell you so you don’t pay for work you don’t need.

Let’s Encrypt certs last 90 days, so we automate renewal rather than relying on memory. We install certbot or acme.sh with a scheduled cron that checks daily and renews ~30 days before expiry, plus a reload hook that restarts the web server so the new cert goes live with zero downtime. Once it’s set up correctly, you should never see an “expired certificate” error again. We test the renewal with a dry-run before handing over.

Yes. Cloudflare (and CDNs like Fastly) add a second SSL layer: the cert at the edge between the visitor and the CDN, and the cert at the origin between the CDN and your server. The common mistake is using Cloudflare’s “Flexible” mode, which leaves origin traffic unencrypted and can cause redirect loops. We configure Full (Strict) mode with a valid origin certificate, so the connection is encrypted end-to-end and there are no loops.

Fixed-price, billed at $25/hr so the math is transparent:

• Essential SSL Setup, $99 (~4h): one domain, install + force-HTTPS + auto-renewal + quick padlock fix
• Pro SSL & Hardening, $299 (~12h): wildcard / multi-domain, full mixed-content sweep, HSTS, A+ hardening
• Multi-Site / Enterprise, custom quote: multi-server, CDN, OV/EV, mTLS, internal CA

Free Let’s Encrypt certs cost nothing. If you choose a commercial / OV / EV / wildcard cert, that authority fee is paid to the CA and passed through with no markup.

If we set up auto-renewal, expiry shouldn’t happen, but things change (server migrations, DNS edits, hosting moves). Every setup includes a short period of post-setup support to fix anything related to our work at no extra charge. Beyond that, we offer an optional low-cost monitoring + renewal retainer that watches your cert’s expiry date and alerts (or fixes) before it ever lapses. You’re never locked in, the renewal automation we install keeps working whether or not you take the retainer.

A single-domain install with a force-HTTPS redirect and a quick mixed-content fix is usually live the same day, often within a couple of hours once we have access. A full HTTPS migration with a complete mixed-content sweep, database rewrite, and A+ hardening typically takes 1-2 days. Multi-server, load-balanced, or CDN setups are scoped individually. If your cert has expired and the site is down, we fast-track it.

HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) is a response header that tells browsers to always use HTTPS for your domain, even if someone types http://. It blocks downgrade attacks and is required for an A+ SSL Labs grade. It’s safe once your HTTPS is fully working, but you should only enable HSTS preload after you’re confident every subdomain has a valid cert, because it’s hard to reverse quickly. We enable it as the final hardening step, in the right order.

For 95% of sites, free Let’s Encrypt is perfect, it offers the exact same encryption strength as a paid cert, browsers trust it equally, and it auto-renews. You only need a commercial cert when you want: a financial warranty, an OV/EV certificate that shows your verified company name, a longer validity term, or vendor support guarantees (some enterprises and banks mandate this). We’ll recommend the right one for your situation, no upsell.

Mixed content means your page loads over HTTPS but still pulls some assets (images, scripts, fonts, iframes) over insecure HTTP. The browser then refuses to show the full padlock and may block those assets. The usual culprits are hardcoded http:// URLs in your theme, page content, or database. We sweep your pages and run a safe database find-and-replace to rewrite every offending URL to HTTPS, so the padlock is clean site-wide.

Done correctly, it helps, HTTPS is a confirmed Google ranking signal. The risk is in a sloppy migration: if you don’t add proper 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, update canonical tags, sitemap and internal links, you can temporarily lose rankings. Our HTTPS migration always includes server-level 301s, canonical and sitemap updates, and a base-URL change, so search engines treat it as the same site, no ranking drop.

An SSL/TLS certificate encrypts the connection between your visitor’s browser and your server, turning http:// into https:// with the padlock icon. You need one because: (1) browsers now flag any HTTP site as “Not secure”, scaring off customers; (2) Google uses HTTPS as a ranking signal; and (3) payment, login, and contact forms are unsafe without it. For an e-commerce store it’s effectively mandatory, card processors require it.

A wildcard certificate secures a domain and all of its subdomains with one cert, e.g. *.yourdomain.com covers www, shop, blog, api, staging, and any future subdomain. It’s ideal for multi-store, multi-app, or microservice setups. If you only have one or two fixed subdomains, a standard or multi-domain (SAN) cert is cheaper. We’ll advise based on how your subdomains are likely to grow.