When transmitting sensitive information on a web site, such as credit card numbers or personal information, you need to secure it with SSL encryption. It is possible for every piece of data to be seen by others unless it is secured by an SSL certificate. A domain-validated certificate typically demonstrates that the identity of the applicant has been validated.

An Extended Validation Certificate (EV) is a public key certificate requiring verification of the requesting entity's identity by a certificate authority (CA). EV certificates are used when establishing SSL/TLS connections between web browsers and web servers. Web browsers show the verified legal identity prominently in their user interface, either before, or instead of, the domain name.

Wildcard Certificates use Subject Alternative Names (SANs) to secure a domain and all of its first-level subdomains. For example, a certificate for *.domain.com secures www.domain.com, mail.example.com, etc. A standard SSL Certificate would only secure www.domain.com, requiring you to purchase an additional certificate for mail.example.com.