A few of the web design horror stories that I hear far too often from business owners go something like this:
“My web designer registered my domain name, and never turned over the rights. Now he owns it and I can’t get in touch with him!”
“My web designer has all the username and password information to my website domain and web hosting, and now he’s out of business and I can’t update my site!”
“The web designer who built my site didn’t give me a means to make changes to the content myself, so I have to track him down for every minor update.”
These are all very, very common complaints and I’ve each of them many times over. Fortunately, if you’re aware of these pitfalls before hiring someone to design your website, they can be avoided completely.
Retain control of your web address!
Ideally, you should register your web address/domain name yourself, but sometimes it’s simpler and more expedient to have your web designer do that for you. If you do decide to entrust this to your web design person or company, be sure to:
- Find out where they’ve registered your (some of the more popular domain registration sites include GoDaddy.com and Network Solutions) site and have them print out and give to you all of the registration paperwork. This will include the registration & expiration dates, the technical and administration names, and the username and password needed to log in and make changes to your account.
- Have all the domain name information, call the company (or you can do this online) and have them transfer the ownership of the domain name to you. If the domain was registered by the freelancer or agency, you’ll need them to complete this step. Repeat, DO NOT allow them to retain ownership of you web address. You may allow them to retain their information within the Technical Contact area, but you should be registered as the Administrative Contact.
- Change the password when the web designer has completed your site. Don’t leave it as-is, because then they’ll have the means to gain entry to your site and make unwanted changes to your account and your web hosting.
Know your web host
Quite a few business owners with websites have no idea what company is being used to host their website. This is important information because all of the files that comprise your website resides on a web server at a specific hosting company. You need to know who that is and have account access in the even that you want to hire a new designer to update or redesign your site. If you don’t have access to this, then everything that’s currently on your site is inaccessible. Once again, be sure to:
- Know the name and contact information of the company that hosts your website.
- Have all the login info to you account — username, password, account ID number.
- Change your password to something that only you know; Don’t leave that information in the hands of an outside party.
Be sure you can easily update your website yourself
During the process of interviewing individuals (or companies) to design your website, remember to ask them if they’ll include a way for you update them the site yourself, without requiring their assistance or intervention. If you really want to show them that you know what you’re talking about, ask them if they include a Content Management System (or CMS) in the creation of the website. When inquiring about this, here are a few things to remember:
- Ask the web designer what kind of CMS will be installed. There are a number of popular ones, such as Joomla, TextPattern, Expression Engine, and my favorite, WordPress — among numerous others.
- Ask the web designer to give you a demonstration of how to log in and use the CMS; This way, you’ll at least get a sense of how difficult or easy it will be to update your site. The better content management systems are very user-friendly, although they will take some time and training to fully master.
- Learn whether or not the person developing your website will provide at least some instruction in using the CMS, and whether they can provide some useful resources and tutorials; WordPress, for example, has an excellent video tutorial site at www.wordpress.tv.
Interviewing and hiring someone to design your website can be a daunting process, and the buyer must be cautious and aware that there are many unscrupulous and incompetent individuals in this field (like most, I suppose).
With a bit of research and preparation though, you’ll have a much better chance of hiring a good, solid Web professional and can avoid the difficulties and headaches that often present themselves down the road. And as always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Good luck and Godspeed!
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