Buzz
One solution to protect your website and its visitors is to use SSL certificates. SSL certificates allow encryption of all data traffic transmitted between your site and its visitors, preventing eavesdropping or tampering by hackers.
However, the process of installing SSL for WordPress is not always straightforward. Many WordPress sites run on shared hosting, which often imposes significant limitations. If you're using shared hosting, your host may block SSL certificate installation, attempting to sell you their own certificates, or even require you to purchase a premium plan. It's absurd to spend a considerable amount of money, and possibly even double the hosting cost, just to install SSL for your small WordPress site. CloudFlare provides an ideal alternative solution, enabling you to obtain free Flexible SSL certificates.
Create a CloudFlare Account
Access CloudFlare and log in. You need to provide your email address and password. Then, the program will prompt you to enter the domain name you want to use to log in to CloudFlare before scanning the DNS records of the site and analyzing these records. They will display records with yellow cloud icons to enable the CDN service. The decision to use the CDN service depends entirely on you. Click on the cloud icons to turn off this service.
Once you've selected the records, proceed with the following steps. The next screen will allow you to choose service packages. Unless you want to use one of the paid packages, you should select the free package.
Then, CloudFlare will ask you to change the DNS servers you're currently using to their DNS servers for two main purposes: to allow CloudFlare to redirect requests on your site to the HTTPS version and to allow them to act as a CDN for web content. This process largely depends on your DNS provider or host, so you should refer to CloudFlare's documentation for more details. Typically, you'll still copy the website addresses from CloudFlare to your DNS provider and update them.
This process typically takes a few hours, even up to a whole day, to be truly completed. So, please be patient.
After that, CloudFlare's dashboard will open. At the top of the dashboard, you'll see a box labeled 'Crypto' with a lock icon. Click on that.
In this first box of the page, you'll see a dropdown list of SSL. Choose 'Flexible'. CloudFlare will automatically install the certificate, which will take some of your time.
WordPress Plugin Utility
You need to utilize a WordPress plugin for the program to function properly. The plugin connects to CloudFlare to integrate SSL certificates into your site.
Log in to WordPress and go to the Plugins tab. Search for 'CloudFlare Flexible SSL'. Install this plugin. Alternatively, you can download CloudFlare Flexible SSL here
Always Use HTTPS
Return to the CloudFlare website, access the 'Crypto' section again, and scroll down until you see the option to always use HTTPS. Turn this mode on.
Now, check if your website is using HTTPS for all connections or not. If it is, it means everything has been configured and is working correctly. Thus, Mytour has just guided you through installing SSL for WordPress. Besides, you can also refer to how to enable HTTPS for WordPress without purchasing SSL certificates, wishing you success!
