Purchasing an SSL Certificate
You can purchase a security certificate yourself from a certificate authority.
In order to obtain an SSL certificate, you will need:
Corporation name. This is the name of your Web site. It can be in the form www.sampledomain.com or sampledomain.com, but not both.
Dun and Bradstreet Number. This is also known as the Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS). The DUNS is an internationally-recognized nine-digit company identifier used for EDI and electronic commerce. If you do not have a DUNS number, you can apply for one at no cost at http://dnb.com. If necessary, you can provide the Article of Incorporation for your business license instead of a DUNS. If you are going to use your Article of Incorporation, you will need to fax it to the company issuing the SSL certificate. Once you have your DUNS number, you can purchase your own SSL certificate.
Certificate Signing Request. This must be generated on the Web server hosting your Web site. We generate the CSR for you when you fill out the application for an SSL certificate or make a request for an CSR and provide us the required information.
Using the shared SSL certificate vs. purchasing your own SSL:
The only difference between using your own secure server name (or SSL certificate) and using our free, shared secure server name is a cosmetic one. Please compare:
Shared URL: https://mysecureservernamehere/mydomainhere/myorderform.htm
compared to...
Your own secure server URL: https://mydomainhere.com/myorderform.htm
Functionally, they are the same, but the user experience is enhanced when you have your own secure server name. Example: If you use the shared secure server, and your customer is at the www.joestshirts.com website, when they go to the secure order form, they would see something like this in the browser:
https://id289.securedata.net/mydomainhere/myorderform.htmBut if you had your own SSL certificate, when the customer went to the secure order form, it would use the same domain name as your website, and would look something like this:
https://www.joestshirts.com/myorderform.htm
Purchasing the SSL certificate on your own
If you decide to purchase an SSL certificate directly from a certificate authority, you must complete the following steps. You should allow a minimum of seven days for the entire process.
1
Log in to SiteControl and click Website.
2
Under the Added Functionality section, click SSL.
3
Click View SSL Certificates.
4
Choose the certificate and click Purchase.