I'm pretty ignorant about ssl / security, have read a fair bit in the last few days but am still quite confused!

I have about 60 sites I run for small businesses (basically just one person businesses). They are only interested in ranking in local search. They are basically sites to advertise their services and consist of 8 -12 pages. They are not trying to sell online. Half the sites are wordpress, half html.The only thing that the public might do is fill in an enquiry form with name, email address, phone number and their enquiry. All are hosted on a reseller hosting account.

Up till now I've kept my head in the sand on the basis that these are not ecommerce sites.
However i now have two concerns -
- Firstly noises that non ssl sites may get lower rankings in serps. In reality I'm pretty sure that most of the direct competitors of these sites will not have ssl. What may happen is that the larger directories that also feature in the local results, dominate even more (if having a secure site really does affect ranking)
- Secondly if we start seeing messages saying "this site may not be secure" either in serps or in the browser bar when someone clicks through. - this is the frightening factor for me!

So what do i do?
1. Continue to bury my head in the sand
2. Go for the free self signed certificates that I can get through my webhost through cpanel (as i understand it this may still raise a warning but the visitor can accept the certificate - I'm not sure if that makes this option viable really)
3. Buy separate certificates for each domain
4. Buy a multidomain certificate

Bare in mind these are all low cost websites so the cost of SSL needs to be sensible
Also if it makes any difference 75% of the domains are held in my own domain registration account 25% were registered by the client. Of those in my account 50% are registered in my name 50% in the client's name.

Finally - when it comes to certificates there seems to be a bewildering variety of deals with 3rd parties seeming to sell for lower prices than the people issuing the certificates!