Just a quick update to let you know I have been slowly but surely converting all the sites I manage to https (as this is written Nov 13, 2018). This activates the lock icon in browsers to tell the visitor the site is protected by SSL encryption, and any data they submit on your website forms will be protected.
At this time almost all web hosts offer a free ssl certificate, so the only expense is the cost to have us install and configure it for you, usually around $50.
Headsup Google results will still show your old site urls until their engine crawls your new https site and updates those urls. There are ways to speed the Google re-indexing process up such as setting up and submitting a new sitemap to Google Search Console, and creating redirects on your server. To get information about your specific website don’t hesitate to call Anne at 360-599-3711 with any questions.
If you’re a little geeky and like to try and do things yourself you can login to your hosting account and activate the certificate yourself (call your host’s tech support team if it’s not obvious how). If you’re running WordPress I recommend installing the plugin “Really Simple SSL” to help convert all the mixed content to https so browsers show the happy green lock icon. If after installing the plugin you still see mixed content warnings there may be places a little deeper in the code that need updating from http to https; if you run into this give me a ring.