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With some hosting companies, the SSL certificate and installation is free and done automatically.
If your site is hosted someplace where SSL is not offered free, the easiest free option I have found is
SSL For Free - Free SSL Certificates in Minutes
which supplies a free Let's Encrypt SSL cert.
I suggest creating an account at sslforfree.com to keep track of all your certificates.
The process involves first verifying that you own the website where you wish to install the cert. You may do this manually, by creating (if it does not already exist) a file folder
.well-known
in your website, and inside the .well-known folder a second folder called
acme-challenge
and then uploading via the manual verification process, two files into the acme-challenge folder.
After uploading the two files, before you move on to have the cert. issued, be sure to click on the two links that the provides, to make certain that they resolve properly. Sometimes you might find a 500 server error upon clicking on the first link, but just keep clicking it again until it resolves properly.
You may also verify automatically by providing your FTP login details, but I believe these must be the login details for that particular site, not for the server as a whole.
Once you create the cert. you will be provided with three keys:
for the SSL certificate itself
private key
bundle
Take these and go into your cpanel for your server, and find the area where SSL certs. are submitted, copy/paste the three keys, and then if given the option, click to force redirect to SSL, and you are in business!
Unfortunately, Let's Encrypt SSL certs. expire every 90 days, so you will need to repeat this process every three months, unless you find some script such as a cron one that works to renew automatically the cert. on your server.
If your site is hosted someplace where SSL is not offered free, the easiest free option I have found is
SSL For Free - Free SSL Certificates in Minutes
which supplies a free Let's Encrypt SSL cert.
I suggest creating an account at sslforfree.com to keep track of all your certificates.
The process involves first verifying that you own the website where you wish to install the cert. You may do this manually, by creating (if it does not already exist) a file folder
.well-known
in your website, and inside the .well-known folder a second folder called
acme-challenge
and then uploading via the manual verification process, two files into the acme-challenge folder.
After uploading the two files, before you move on to have the cert. issued, be sure to click on the two links that the provides, to make certain that they resolve properly. Sometimes you might find a 500 server error upon clicking on the first link, but just keep clicking it again until it resolves properly.
You may also verify automatically by providing your FTP login details, but I believe these must be the login details for that particular site, not for the server as a whole.
Once you create the cert. you will be provided with three keys:
for the SSL certificate itself
private key
bundle
Take these and go into your cpanel for your server, and find the area where SSL certs. are submitted, copy/paste the three keys, and then if given the option, click to force redirect to SSL, and you are in business!
Unfortunately, Let's Encrypt SSL certs. expire every 90 days, so you will need to repeat this process every three months, unless you find some script such as a cron one that works to renew automatically the cert. on your server.