One thing I should start with, this forum is the first of its kind that somehow keeps me interested enough to come back every 2nd day. Very addictive. And because I learned a lot about technical issues lately, here's a post as well, that could be of interest or help for some of you.

The thing with many hosts is they may know how to config. a server (well some do), but when it comes to market themselves they make a lot of mistakes. Here you have to look how the big boys do it, because
some things they actually do right.

When I was shopping for a host I couldn't believe that most hosts didn't get the fact that a lot of people will use their website to sell some kind of product or service from a site, that includes the necessity of accepting credit cards.

Now when you start a new site, you don't usually start with spending money on your own secure cerificate, so it's cool to find a host that offers shared SSL. Ok, many got that point right, but when I look at the names of their secure server that's when I usually dropped the host from my list.

https://redbull85.yourgreathostco-name.com may make sense to you, since you know its secure, right? And your customers know that too, as long as they have some sort of required technical understanding.

OK, but that's not the point that matters, it actually will kill a lot of sales of otherwise brilliant hosts instantly. What matters is, when I am looking for a host I have MY customers in mind, that I want to order from my site, and I don't assume they know anything about SSL, what they need as a little assurance is a secure server with a heart-warming name like: safe-order.net or secureorder.com ...etc.

Here you can learn from companies like OLM, Hostway and a few others that have servers named that way. For you tech profs it may mean nothing, for me as your customer it means everything, because I have to write email follow ups to my clients, also reminding them how to order in case they want to. Nothing could turn off a sale faster than a "non-secure-sounding" printed server url in that message. I have tested that both ways, our clients are 95% non-techies, and it absolutely is important as the responses show.

For you that don't offer shared SSL because of security issues, have a look at how OLM does it. With some sort of cgi-wrapper, no client files are actually on the secure sever, but all order forms of shared hosting accounts
can be processed over that server. What makes the admin a lot easier, clients don't have direct access to your secure server domain.

Ok, that are my 3 cents to explain what professional clients also look for in a host, and those clients are usually people with lots of web sites, you may consider them a serious factor in the balance sheet.

cheers

GEO
__________________________________________

around the world, in outer space...and today enjoying a glass of Mango juice

If someone wants to take money over the internet and won't spend $100 or less on an SSL cert for their domain... well I wouldn't want to pay money to them anyway.

You have to draw the line somewhere and I see shared SSL as a good marketing trick but I don't think it's for everyone.

Thanks for that insight GEO. So basically you are saying that when a host gets their SSL cert they should use it with a domain such as http://secure.domain.com or are you suggesting that a host goes for a specialised domain for the SSL such as https://secureorder.com

felix you have a good point too, i never really noticed it much, but I guess in my mind I was thinking the same thing all along, as I only shop online with the bigger more reputable shops.

Thanks for your comments,

well with SSL certs its a bit like this:
Yes you can pay under $100 for your own.
Again, thats a technically correct move,
that won't touch the client's mind a bit.

They only heard about Verisign before. I
always thought it was a waste of money to
buy a Verisign instead of a Thawte or low
priced on. When one of our competitors in the
travel biz bought a Verisign cert, it made me
think very hard, why they would do such a
"foolish" thing. I think I got it, they only
have their customers in mind. Because it does
do the trick best, and the difference in sales is
substantial in this market. You have to imagine
a non-tech audience with a average amount of
$450 spend per order to understand the picture.

And hey fruitsalad, every good company starts
small, give them a chance. I started 3 years ago
with a $10 account with a shared SSL on one domain,
and it grew with that exact setup to average
$30.000 per month in sales.

Was our service in the beginning worse than
from "bigger more reputable shops"? You gotta
be kidding, you only have a change when it's
a lot better than from the big shops.

cheers

GEO
__________________________________________

around the world, in outer space...and today enjoying a glass of Mango juice

One thing I maybe should mention: What can you get out of my "customer views"? Well this is what I would do
if I would be in the hosting biz: Get a familiar cert
and offer it in shared hosting to new clients.
Promote it to small bizness owners, there are millions
of them. As I said, some of us are busy guys having
10-35 domains, many active. I cannot be bothered with
a cert for each domain I own, nor do I want to think
about how to put it under one administration, yet.
A host that comes with a fast and simple solution, that
also makes bizness sense to me everytime I have a new idea for a mini-site, clearly has an advantage in this market.

And yes, to put "secure" in the yourhost.url helps, but a
clear name that sells security, and not hosting, and maybe a Verisign logo on the order page is even better.
Before we had that, we got mails like: "...as I see you
don't provide a secured site, so I won't order from you.."
Needless to say my explanation that we in fact had a secure site back then didn't change their mind.
They believe what they can understand, logic won't change that.
But hey, they are our clients that pay the bills.

cheers

GEO
__________________________________________

around the world, in outer space...and tonight having lots of really black coffee

With all the various options for shopping carts and payment processing, etc., it's almost a rarity to see a site's secure site that's the same as the site's main domain name, especially for smaller businesses (ie, not Amazon). Usually you're shuffled off to ibill or something like that.

As a consumer I personally don't have problem with the sitename.secure-whatever.com type shared certificate. If I want to buy something from a site and I see a domain name I don't recognize for the secure server, I start doing whois lookups to try and figure out whats going on. I don't have a credit card yet, just one of those "Visa ATM cards", so I have to be extra careful because you can loose money easier than with a "real" Visa. If something doesn't seem right I'll just send a check or money order.