When you own or start a small business, you have a lot on your mind! Once you get your marketing underway, you may just be glad to hand off your website to a professional and let out a sigh of relief. Well, hold onto that sigh for just a moment. In addition to all the questions to ask about services and credentials, there are some important questions about ownership and process. Before you sign that contract, ask these 5 questions:
1. Where will my domain be registered and whose name will be on the account?
By way of background, your domain is the URL to which visitors go in order to find your site. For example, the domain for my business, Skipjack Web Services, is www.skipjackweb.com. You can register your domain at any number of domain registrars and it doesn’t have to be the same place you have the site hosted, though it’s more convenient and less confusing if you do.
I recommend that my clients purchase their own domain name and keep the account in their name. If the domain is bought by your developer and listed in their name, guess who owns your domain? Probably not you – especially if it is their credit card paying the bill.
If you decide to leave your designer/developer, it can be extremely challenging to gain control of your domain, especially if that person decides to be difficult.
Not sure where your domain is registered and whose name is on the account? Use this tool by Whois.net to find out.
2. Who will host my website and whose name will be on the account?
Similar to question #1 above, it’s important for you to retain control over your website and its files.
Often, the person/company developing your website will automatically provide hosting for your website as well. It may be on their own servers or under an account they’re created on someone else’s servers. This allows them to create revenue from hosting even after they are finished building the actual site. In fact, many developers make more from hosting over time than from the original investment.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this arrangement, especially if they are taking good care of your website and the hosting service is reliable.
In my experience with small businesses, however, they are often unhappy with the level of service and feel trapped. The developer is hosting the site personally and controls the files and the client doesn’t know how to leave them. Worse, sometimes the developer stops returning calls.
One option to consider is purchasing hosting through a company such as BlueHost.com, SiteGround.com or one of the many other options. Hosting companies vary greatly in services offered and cost of those services, so it’s important to do your research. Check with your website developer before selecting a host company, however, as there may be specific hosting needs depending on the functionality of the site.
Once you decide the hosting company, YOU should purchase the hosting and create the account in YOUR name. You will need to provide login details to your developer so they can actually create the site, but if you decide to make changes in the future, you can protect your interests far more easily when the account is in your own name.
3. How will my investment be protected?
Once you pay to build your site, your job isn’t over. It will go on for as long as you have the website. A WordPress.org-based website requires updates on the backend. The same way your phone’s operating system has to be updated, your website’s operating system (WordPress) will have periodic updates to introduce new features, fix bugs and roll out security protections. Once that happens, the theme on which your site is based will need to update to ensure compatibility for the WP update and most likely any plugins used as well.
Protecting your website from hackers is no joke. If ignored, your site easily becomes an attrative target for hacking and malware. There’s a lot to website security, but one of the most basic ways to protect it is by keeping up with your updates. Not making updates also leaves your site vulnerable to malfunction even if it isn’t by sinister causes. Without updates, the jump between versions can become too great and the site becomes inoperable.
In addition to system updates, you also need a good security plugin to alert you to weaknesses and login attempts as well as a regular backup of your site to be stored off-site.
These are basic – but absolutely necesssary – precautions to protect your website investement and should happen monthly, ideally. Talk to your developer about who will be responsible for these actions.
Note: If you are applying for the domain on behalf of a nonprofit or organization, make SURE the email on file for the account is a general email that is not likely to go away if a person leaves your organization. It is not easy to regain control of a site if neither the email nor the billing information is current.
4. Who will make content updates?
This is basic but many clients assume they will automatically have a login to their own WordPress site and be able to make updates in the content. Not so. Many professionals feel that the backend of the site is their domain and the client has no business being back there. They will not give a client admin access to their own site.
It makes sense to be concerned about a novice getting into the site and potentially wreaking havoc – a mess the developer would have to clean up. You should, however, at least have access. And, there are likely to be ways a technologically savvy client could update or create content on their own site.
At Skipjack Web, we provide a “cheat sheet” for clients who feel up to this task or we offer to make changes for the client at an hourly rate. These policies should be discussed with your web professional ahead of time so you are both clear on the arrangement and potential costs.
5. What happens if we break up?
Parting may be sweet sorrow according to Shakespeare, but if you decide to part from your website developer, it isn’t likely to be sweet. Friendly, you’d hope. Professional you’d expect. But not sweet. Ask the question before you decide to hire them: “what happens if we break up?” If they don’t handle the question well, maybe that’s an indication they aren’t a good fit.
At Skipjack Web, we pay for subscriptions to themes and plugins which we use on your site. We don’t charge our current clients extra for that. If a client decides to leave, we will be sad to lose them, but understand and treat them 100% professionally AND be friendly AND help with the transition if needed. We just won’t continue paying for access to the theme and plugins. That’s something you need to know because you’ll need to still get access to updates to that theme unless you’re also planning to switch themes.
Far too often, I find out from new clients that they cannot get their former web company to cooperate or return calls. This brings us back to points #1 and #2. It’s all smiles and optimism when you start a project, but make sure you’re protecting your website and your investment by asking these important questions up front.
Of course, there are LOADS of other questions to ask about building a website, but these are the ones no ones seems to talk about and they’re extremely important. Don’t expose yourself to unnecessary headaches later on. Ask the questions. Know the answers.
Here’s a great resource on this same topic by Yahoo! Business 2 Community, The Importance of Owning Your Website Hosting
Have questions for Skipjack Web Services? Send us an email below.
