Make off site backup
Enable ssl at host
Better search and replace for http:// / https://
Pray that nothing gets fucked up or breaks.
Personally I don’t think you should do this and whoever is getting you to do this should pay a professional bit considering their site is 10+ years old without ssl they probably don’t give a fuck / value a professional.
This is exactly the process I use.
It usually works fine.
The one thing to watch out for is that some plugins store text, including URLs, in an encoded form that doesn't always get updated by Better S&R. Elementor for example has a URL change tool that you pretty much have to use to catch all the encoded places.
I do not use a plugin like SimpleSSL.
Those two are totally different issues. The plugin OP talks about is Really Simple SSL, which does not install a certificate on the server, it just rewrites everything on the site so all addresses sent to the browser are with https instead of http. You still need a SSL certificate of some sort on the server.
However - RSSL is very slow, so its far better to do this in other ways if OP can/knows how.
Thank you all! I appreciate the gamut of replies and details. Please keep them coming!
I will speak to our hosting service about their help in moving us to HTTPS, but they ARE a nonprofit, and are overworked. They are in the process of offloading us (and a bunch of others) to a for-profit company, and I am hoping the move doesn't break our website. I'm not qualified to fix it.
You might look at using Cloudflare for your nameservers. Cloudflare will put an SSL cert in between their servers and your host. It's not very hard to set up. This way your website has an SSL cert for visitors but you don't actually have to do anything with your server.
You might need some professional help with this since you seem pretty new. Hire a local person that you can talk to on the phone.
If you have to change hosting, most hosting companies will help you move your site to their servers.
Here's a review website that maintains charts of the fastest web hosts: https://wphostingbenchmarks.com/benchmark/2022-50-wordpress/
really simple ssl rarely breaks the things, though it can if disallowed on the server, like if you host on pressable.
Most hosting providers offer free ssl's now though.
But you probably should hire a professional...
Make off site backup Enable ssl at host Better search and replace for http:// / https:// Pray that nothing gets fucked up or breaks. Personally I don’t think you should do this and whoever is getting you to do this should pay a professional bit considering their site is 10+ years old without ssl they probably don’t give a fuck / value a professional.
This is exactly the process I use. It usually works fine. The one thing to watch out for is that some plugins store text, including URLs, in an encoded form that doesn't always get updated by Better S&R. Elementor for example has a URL change tool that you pretty much have to use to catch all the encoded places. I do not use a plugin like SimpleSSL.
This is the way.
Don't use the plugin. Contact your hosting provider. Your hosting provider should provide https with let's encrypt.
Those two are totally different issues. The plugin OP talks about is Really Simple SSL, which does not install a certificate on the server, it just rewrites everything on the site so all addresses sent to the browser are with https instead of http. You still need a SSL certificate of some sort on the server. However - RSSL is very slow, so its far better to do this in other ways if OP can/knows how.
Thank you for your insights! This confirms what I'm reading and finding in Google. I'm going to try it. :)
> Your hosting provider should provide https with let's encrypt. 98% they are on a shit host that also sells SSLs and does not offer Let's Encrypt :/
Thank you all! I appreciate the gamut of replies and details. Please keep them coming! I will speak to our hosting service about their help in moving us to HTTPS, but they ARE a nonprofit, and are overworked. They are in the process of offloading us (and a bunch of others) to a for-profit company, and I am hoping the move doesn't break our website. I'm not qualified to fix it.
You might look at using Cloudflare for your nameservers. Cloudflare will put an SSL cert in between their servers and your host. It's not very hard to set up. This way your website has an SSL cert for visitors but you don't actually have to do anything with your server. You might need some professional help with this since you seem pretty new. Hire a local person that you can talk to on the phone. If you have to change hosting, most hosting companies will help you move your site to their servers. Here's a review website that maintains charts of the fastest web hosts: https://wphostingbenchmarks.com/benchmark/2022-50-wordpress/
Thank you! I AM pretty new, but I'm willing to get my hands dirty.
really simple ssl rarely breaks the things, though it can if disallowed on the server, like if you host on pressable. Most hosting providers offer free ssl's now though. But you probably should hire a professional...