{"id":6119,"date":"2018-08-20T14:32:17","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T14:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/?p=6119"},"modified":"2025-03-05T18:43:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T18:43:54","slug":"3-small-business-website-alerts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/3-small-business-website-alerts\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Small Business Website Alerts: Don\u2019t Get Blindsided"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you have a small business website, especially one that you haven\u2019t paid much attention to lately, you\u2019ll want to take a moment to read this blog post. Things are happening on the internet\u00a0that will affect your website. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Perhaps, you\u2019ve just checked your site and seen the words \u201c<strong>Not Secure<\/strong>\u201d before your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.verisign.com\/en_US\/website-presence\/online\/what-is-a-url\/index.xhtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>URL<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0in a web browser. Now you\u2019re wondering why.<\/li>\n<li>Maybe you\u2019ve been told you need to add a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/3-small-business-website-alerts\/#privacy\"><strong>Privacy Policy<\/strong><\/a> to your website and you\u2019re wondering why and how.<\/li>\n<li>Perhaps you just discovered \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/3-small-business-website-alerts\/#gutenberg\"><strong>Gutenberg<\/strong><\/a>\u201d when you logged into your WordPress dashboard. &#8220;What on earth is Gutenberg?&#8221; you say to yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This blog post explains each one. It\u2019s not the most enjoyable blog post to read or write. <span class=\"special\">It\u2019s pretty darn serious.<\/span> But it ranks high in importance for owners of small business websites.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t sweat the technical details included with the 3 tips.\u00a0They&#8217;ve been added to help motivate you to take action. If you get bogged down, go straight to the ALERTS.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s get started.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"certificate\">Tip #1: Your website needs an SSL certificate.<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6138 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ssl-certificate.png\" alt=\"SSL certificate\" width=\"410\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ssl-certificate.png 410w, https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ssl-certificate-300x49.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(If you already have one, skip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/3-small-business-website-alerts\/#privacy\">Part 2.<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, SSL was recommended for eCommerce websites and specific pages of websites where sensitive information would be transmitted or received. In <strong>2018<\/strong>, that has changed. Now all websites need an SSL certificate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"highlight\"><strong>What is an SSL certificate?<\/strong> It&#8217;s a digital file that establishes a secure connection between a web browser and a site server. It has a public key and a private key that work together to establish the secure connection with encryption. The certificate also contains the identity of the certificate\/website owner.<\/div>\n<p><strong>3 Levels of Trust<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are three main trust levels for SSL Certificates (from highest to lowest): Extended Validation, Organization Validated and Domain Validated.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>EV Certificates <\/strong>(EV) include the most company data. Companies must meet the highest, most stringent requirements to receive this type of certificate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>OV Certificates <\/strong>(OV) also include business authentication. Information about a company is included, but, is not as prominently displayed as in EV Certificates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>DV Certificates <\/strong>(DV) are the most basic type of SSL Certificate, with the least amount of identity information included.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to Recognize a Website with an SSL Certificate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you visit a website with SSL, the URL says\u00a0&#8220;<strong>https:\/\/<\/strong>&#8221; instead of &#8220;<strong>http:\/\/<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;<strong>S<\/strong>&#8216; at the end of HTTPS stands for &#8216;Secure&#8217;.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Understanding HTTP and HTTPS<\/h3>\n<div class=\"highlight\">\n<p><b>What is HTTP?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6210\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/browser-address-bar-with-http-1.png\" alt=\"browser address bar with HTTP\" width=\"492\" height=\"63\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/browser-address-bar-with-http-1.png 492w, https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/browser-address-bar-with-http-1-300x38.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you type a website address (URL) into your browser, the browser (such as Google Chrome) sends an HTTP request message to the server, asking it to send a copy of the website to your computer. The server response contains the web page you requested. It is sent to your computer using HTTP. When you send information back to the website, to log in to it for example, your computer also communicates with the server using HTTP. But, communications such as these are sent in &#8216;<strong>plain text<\/strong>&#8216; and could be read by hackers that manage to break into the connection between the browser and server.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This is where the secure version of HTTP, known as <b>HTTPS<\/b>, comes in to provide a more secure connection.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6209\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/browser-address-bar-with-https-1.png\" alt=\"web browser address bar with HTTPS\" width=\"492\" height=\"63\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/browser-address-bar-with-https-1.png 492w, https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/browser-address-bar-with-https-1-300x38.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6217\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/web-browser-padlock-icon.png\" alt=\"web browser padlock icon\" width=\"147\" height=\"190\" \/>Using HTTPS, the messages sent between the server and computer are scrambled so that no one in between can read them. This keeps your information safe from hackers. They use a\u00a0Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to send the information back and forth. You can tell if a site is protected by SSL encryption, when you see a \u201c<strong>padlock<\/strong>\u201d icon and HTTPS before a page\u2019s URL in the address bar of a web browser (such as Chrome or Firefox).<\/p>\n<p>In the past, SSL used to slow page load times by 3-4 seconds per page. Now the delay is barely noticeable. SSL not only secures information transmitted between an online business and its customers, it also has SEO benefits.<\/p>\n<p>If that is not enough to get you to take action, this probably will.\u00a0In 2018, Google is no longer just encouraging website owners to install SSL Certificates, it is putting more and more pressure on everyone to do it.<\/p>\n<p><b>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/serverguy.com\/security\/google-forcing-ssl-certificate-websites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why Google is Forcing You To Have SSL Certificates on Your Websites<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/alert-icon.gif\" alt=\"alert icon\" width=\"84\" height=\"73\" \/>ALERT: If you don\u2019t have an SSL Certificate, Google Chrome is going to flag your website.<b> <\/b>It has already begun marking all HTTP sites as \u2018<strong>Not Secure.<\/strong>\u2019 In October of 2018, websites without HTTPS certificates that are visited with Chrome 70\u00a0will trigger a <span class=\"special\">RED<\/span> \u201cNot Secure\u201d warning.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6167\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/not-secure-browser-warning.png\" alt=\"not secure browser warning\" width=\"410\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/not-secure-browser-warning.png 410w, https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/not-secure-browser-warning-300x49.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>READ: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/article\/282712\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>A Step-by-Step Guide to Migrate Your Site to HTTPS.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"privacy\">Now we&#8217;re moving on to Part 2 with Tip #2.<\/p>\n<h2>PART 2<\/h2>\n<h3>Tip #2: Your Website needs a Privacy Policy.<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6139\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/privacy-policy.png\" alt=\"privacy policy\" width=\"410\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/privacy-policy.png 410w, https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/privacy-policy-300x49.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"highlight\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6160\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/website-user-data-protection.png\" alt=\"website user data protection\" width=\"208\" height=\"216\" \/>What is a privacy policy?<\/strong> A privacy policy lets your website visitors know what type of data you\u2019re collecting from them and what you\u2019re doing with that data. It may also provide information about how you\u2019re collecting data, how you\u2019re storing it and for how long.\u00a0If your website is incorporating third-party tools such as <strong>Google Analytics<\/strong> to capture user data, your privacy policy needs to mention this too.<\/div>\n<p>Privacy policies provide a safeguard&#8230; not only for your visitors, but also for your online business. They are also legally required if you are collecting any type of information from your visitors, such as names and email addresses.<\/p>\n<p>Read: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/privacypolicies.com\/blog\/privacy-policies-legally-required\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Policies are legally required<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-6156 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/alert-icon.gif\" alt=\"alert icon\" width=\"84\" height=\"73\" \/>ALERT: You must also comply with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/quora\/2018\/02\/14\/what-is-general-data-protection-regulation\/#3a3855d62dd8.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GDPR<\/a> if you\u00a0&#8220;collect and process data&#8221; belonging to European Union (EU) citizens, even if your company is located in the <strong>United States.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u00a0offer <strong>products<\/strong> or <strong>services<\/strong> to European Union (EU) citizens through your website, and are not following their regulations, you could receive a fine for noncompliance.<\/p>\n<p>When writing your privacy policy, try to keep it clear and explicit so anyone can understand it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"gutenberg\">Now we&#8217;re on to Part 3 with Tip #3 for WordPress website owners.<\/p>\n<h2>PART 3<\/h2>\n<h3>Tip #3: Become familiar with &#8220;Gutenberg.&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gutenberg.png\" alt=\"Gutenberg editor\" width=\"410\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gutenberg.png 410w, https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gutenberg-300x49.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"highlight\"><b>What is Gutenberg? <\/b>\u201cGutenberg\u201d is the new visual WordPress editor that will be coming in the next big release of WordPress (5.0). The current TinyMCE text editor that you have been writing content in for blog posts or pages will also soon be deprecated.<\/div>\n<p>(NOTE: you will be able to install the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/classic-editor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">classic editor plugin<\/a> to continue working the way you have been.)<\/p>\n<p>Gutenberg has a cleaner look than the current TinyMCE editor. It has been created to be &#8220;free from distractions&#8221; and\u00a0is supposed to make writing posts and pages easier. <strong>But it does take some getting used to.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Right now, WordPress developers have started allowing WordPress users to try it out as a plugin. (Once you activate it as a plugin, you will see a DEMO post where you can try out the new features.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gutenberg Content Blocks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One thing you\u2019ll notice right away is the introduction of\u00a0<strong>content blocks<\/strong>. Content blocks let users add headers, text, images and other elements with the click of a button.\u00a0By clicking inside any part of a post, you will see what type of \u201c<strong>block<\/strong>\u201d is being used.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6152\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/my-gutenberg-post-example.gif\" alt=\"my Gutenberg post example\" width=\"650\" height=\"355\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Paragraph Block is the most important one in the Gutenberg Editor. You will likely work with it more than any other block. Here&#8217;s a helpful guide:\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/gutenberghub.com\/paragraph-block-overview-how-to-use-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paragraph Block \u2013 Overview &amp; How to Use Guide.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why You Want to Know about Gutenberg Now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/alert-icon.gif\" alt=\"alert icon\" width=\"84\" height=\"73\" \/>ALERT: There is some concern about the compatibility of Gutenberg with existing plugins and themes and how it may affect existing WordPress pages and posts. Beta testing is currently going on to try to address these concerns.\u00a0Since there are thousands of WordPress plugins available, it is fair to say that some of them might not work with Gutenberg. For this reason, you should test your favorite plugins to determine their Gutenberg compatibility before it becomes the default editor.<\/p>\n<p>Read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elegantthemes.com\/blog\/tips-tricks\/how-to-check-if-your-wordpress-plugins-are-compatible-with-gutenberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>How to Check if your WordPress Plugins are Compatible with Gutenberg.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Summary<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6201\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/dont-get-blindsided.gif\" alt=\"don't get blindsided\" width=\"324\" height=\"253\" \/>Now&#8217;s the perfect time to examine your small business website so you don&#8217;t get blindsided at the end of 2018.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look for HTTPS in your site URL.<\/li>\n<li>Check for a link to a privacy policy in the footer of one of your web pages.<\/li>\n<li>Log into your WordPress dashboard (if you have a WordPress site) to check out Gutenberg. It will be worth the effort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have a small business website, you\u2019ll want to take a moment to read this blog post. Things are happening on the internet in 2018 that will affect your website. Perhaps, you\u2019ve just seen the words &#8216;Not Secure&#8217; before your URL. Maybe you\u2019ve been told you need to add a Privacy Policy to your website. Perhaps you just discovered &#8216;Gutenberg&#8217; when you logged into your WordPress dashboard. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[305,306,307],"class_list":["post-6119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-small-business","category-web-browsers","tag-gutenberg","tag-ssl","tag-website-security","cat-3-id","cat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7752,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119\/revisions\/7752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimsondesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}