Securing Your Marketo Instance

Adding SSL to Marketo landing pages and tracking links has become popular recently.

Most companies, however, still run instances that have default non-secured protocols (http://) vs. the secured (https://). Enter Secure Socket Layer, commonly referred to as “SSL.” Usually the push to get SSL implemented comes from internal policies or a drive for greater consistency. The website may already have SSL, but landing pages do not have SSL, for example.

Here are some specifics from Marketo on how the SSL certificate process works and the different options for purchase.

Adding the ‘S’

Considerations

We all are familiar with the awful feeling you get when you miss a step or consideration before a large implementation or change. We’re going to help you out and provide some “got-ya’s” up front!

Be conscious of what on the website also needs to change:

• CSS
• Fonts
• All internal links (reference javascript & links to other pages)

Watch out for guided landing pages: As you know, the guided editor works differently than the old-school ‘free form’ editor. In the guided mode, elements are hidden in the functionality but still load when the page is viewed. So any images, links, etc. that are nested within the elements of these pages need to be manually updated.

Before the Move

If you have time before this transition, you may as well get a jump on the work! Start by going through your instance and edit all landing page and email templates to reference https links instead of http. You’ll want to leave these in draft mode.

After the Move

• Now you can approve all of the landing page and email templates! With those approvals, you’ll want to approve all assets. It’s a good idea to spend the time and go through the live and upcoming assets to make sure all links reference https now, then approve. This includes images, or you may risk the “Insecure Content on Secure Pages” error.
• Are there any links out there that are live that should be updated or redirected? Think social media, webinar followup’s, iframes, third party communications or events, etc.

The ‘s’hort of it

If your company has legal or consistency requirements adding SSL to your instance is definitely worth it! The legal piece is obviously the biggie. Some people also claim an uptick in conversions if leads recognize the secure site and some benefit in SEO.

Take into account the above considerations to figure out if adding the ‘s’ is right for you!