You can find the same article in my dotnetspider article from the following link
 What is SSL(Secure Socket Layer ) - Certificate Info

The following article gives information on Secure Socket Layer on a question-answer basis (the popular FAQ type). The answers are suited to comfort readers of all categories - from beginners to experts.

What is a SSL certificate? 

SSL web server certificates are used to secure and authenticate web sites, thereby ensuring safe electronic commerce across the Internet.

Why do I need a SSL certificate? 

A secure web page to accept sensitive information such as the credit card number is a standard on the internet. Without the SSL certificate to make your web page secure, you are turning away potential buyers from purchasing products/services from your web site.

How does SSL certificate work? 

The SSL certificate, once "applied" to your web site, allows the web server and the web browser to encrypt the data that's transmitted between them.
How do I know when a site is "secure"?

When a user enters a site that is SSL enabled, he will see a "pad lock" at the browser's status bar indicating that the page is protected by SSL. When a site is SSL enabled, it means that the data transmitted between the browser and the site is encrypted.For example see HDFC site 
https://netbanking.hdfcbank.com/netbanking




How much does a SSL certificate cost? 

Please check 
http://www.verisign.com for the most current pricing

How do I make a page secure. 

Once the SSL certificate is obtained and applied to your web site, all you will need to do to make a web page secure is by adding a character 's' at the end of "http". For example, if your payment page is at this URL, "http://www.yourdomain.com/payment.htm", just change it to "https://www.yourdomain.com/payment.htm". Notice the 's' in "https".

How do I apply for a SSL certificate? 

There are a few things that needs to be done to get a SSL certificate. First, we need to generate a "Certificate Signing Request" (CSR). The CSR will include the name, the city, state, the country, and the domain name of your organization plus the "key" (a key is like a password) generated for your web site. The CSR is then submitted to one of the certificate authorities (thawte.com or verisign.com) for generating the certificate. You'll need to submit some document about your organization to prove its identity and to prove the ownership of the domain name to the certificate authority. The certificate authority will also ask you to print out a "letter of authorization" form for getting your signature. Once the certificate authority has generated the SSL certificate and returned it to us, we then "apply" it to the web site to SSL enable the web site.

What documentation do I need to prepare? 

Usually, only the following two documents are required.
Proof of Organizational Name (your certificate request must contain a company name exactly as stated in this document)
Proof of right to use Domain Name (the URL in your certificate request must be for this domain name)

What does a CSR look like? 
A typical CSR looks as follows:

 -----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
iboertmdfbou04owhe49hgweotibnosyfperhtoirejotdgsrhtoryi56yheglrn
qvlnqn4kl5j4ohoghq5h2p-sglwtrewl5n4ktoigy90fwejlbr3l2phewhjhteh
jtjwto3nrekgnwthrltkj3lyherlgl;rjeylwjh4o3hognelrtwkh63bge;tkjlytoh
tkue3tjekrbkjwrterkltbrewktlbwerkly8g93tn43tlnghow5togn3ogheroth
j905ytieyoheithrehwlithernbroegyervherptmrejgrx9e4j6kengb4bklsngr
hh3tnlerkgert=
-----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----