Caution - Don’t add the SSL to your website unless your IDX is also SSL compatible!
Dear Readers -
Today is January 10, 2017. Laura Allen, Lake Tahoe - Truckee Real Estate for Sale www.TahoeLauraLuxuryHomes.com has shared a very important set of observations with us.
All the comments about switching to https:// for better this and that will be of no benefit if it disrupts access to your information.
As a successful REALTOR with an international company, Laura offers in depth data in her posts. Check out Correct Business Planning, Five Things I am Most Happy to Have and an extensive series of "What is My Home Worth in ..." which are probably all the areas she covers with her real estate practice.
Lots of CONTEST EXCITEMENT at ActiveRain right now!! Check it out!!!
All the best - Lynn
PS If I haven't thanked you personally for reading my Blog, let me do so right now! I really appreciate your stopping by and (perhaps) commenting! L.
Caution - Don’t add the SSL to your website unless your IDX is also SSL compatible!
It’s a great post on why your website should have SSL. I bookmarked the page and reminded myself to double check to make sure my website, which I purchased the SSL package from GoDaddy several months ago was in fact working.
I didn’t remember that my http:// was green, so this was a great post to make sure I was ahead of the curve.
To my surprise my domain name www.TahoeLauraRealEstate.com had an small i with a circle around it. If you look at the ActiveRain address bar you’ll see the same thing. It means no SSL.
I called GoDaddy and it was an easy fix to get the SSL working. In order for SSL to work on a WordPress site you need to have a widget and they recommended installing “Really Simple SSL”.
I installed the widget and like magic the http:// turned green and became https:// the extra “s” at the end of the https indicated a secure site with the SSL certificate.
- http:// - No SSL certificate – doesn’t matter on the color
- https:// - The “s” at the end indicated an SSL certificate. It may be green, or not, but if the extra “s” is there, you have the SSL in place.
You can imagine the pure panic that set in as I was just checking to make sure the blog links were working. I could hear myself saying "I have service, I have service, no really, I have service - what has happened?"
I had no idea of the problems it would create with my IDX feed. I have Diverse Solutions (DS IDX), as an FYI, and you guessed it the IDX feed provider is not SSL so no listing would appear on the site.
- Do not upgrade your website to SSL until you have confirmed with your IDX provider that they are also SSL and compatible!
It never occurred to me that there would be this kind of issue. I’ve spent the past 24 hours undoing and fixing the new problems that were created from the non-compatible issues after the widget was uninstalled.
Once the site was working again, and listings were reappearing from DS IDX, I found that my most recent blog posts from the time the SSL was in place all had bad hyper-links on my site.
Again, I had no idea that the https:// would need to be changed back to http:// for the links to work given that DS IDX is not SSL.
Off I went and I manually removed the “s” from each link, as the blog post links were directing to a sercured page that was no longer was there.
In case you’re trying to get ahead of the curve make sure to check with you IDX provider before making any changes.
All Real Estate Agents that have a website that has an IDX feed should call your IDX provider now - today and ask if the IDX provider is SSL compatible and if not, when they will be. The more agents that ask, the more likely this will be a fix sooner rather than later!
It’s a real bummer since I can see T has SSL, but Z currently does not, which you know won't be for long.
It means if you’re using an IDX provider that is not compatible, we’re at a real disadvantage in keeping our rankings and being competitive.
My last tip of advice to everyone is – NEVER make changes on your website at the end of the day. Always do them early, so if there is a problem you have a chance to make a same-day fix, otherwise you’ll have a very sleepless night!
For all of your Tahoe real estate needs – Laura Allen, Broker Associate, Tahoe REALTOR®, CRS, Tahoe City Real Estate Agent, Laura@TahoeLaura.com
Cal BRE# 01473598
Coldwell Banker CalBRE# 01908304
Caution - Don’t add the SSL to your website unless your IDX is also SSL compatible!
Laura A. Allen
BROKER ASSOCIATE
Tahoe REALTOR®, BRE# 01473598
Tahoe Real Estate Agent, CRS
Certified Preview Property Specialist
COLDWELL BANKER RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE
Tahoe City, CA 96145
(530) 414-1260
Laura@TahoeLaura.com
www.TahoeLauraLuxuryHomes.com
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