You don’t own your own website
This happens frequently with churches, ministries and small businesses. You hire someone to create a website for you. They register the domain name because you’re not sure how to do it yourself. Your web person owns the domain that you should own. Something happens to that person or something happens to your relationship to that person, and you no longer have access to that domain. There’s nothing you can do. You’re stuck.
Solution: Register your own domain name. Get your web person to walk you through the process. Make sure that’s part of your agreement with them. You must own the domain. Make sure you know how to access your domain registration, when and how to renew your domain name subscription, and how to access and change your nameservers.
Definitions:
- Domain Name / The address of your website. For example, I own the domains DwightClough.com, TheEasyBible.com, EmpowerGood.com. Domain names are “leased” for a year or multiple years at a time. A domain name normally costs between $5 and $20 per year depending on the domain registrar you use.
- Domain Registrar / The company that registers your domain name. You purchase your domain name from a domain registrar. Sometimes web hosting companies have their own domain registrar, and you can obtain domain names directly from your web host.
- NameServer / Your nameserver tells where your website is located. When you get a web hosting account, your web host will tell you what nameservers they need you to use for your domain.
- Web Host / Your web host is the company that will “host” your website. That is, the contents of your website will be on their computers (servers), and they will make your website available to your visitors.
- FTP / File Transfer Protocol. This is one method used to transfer files from your computer to the server containing your website. You use a FTP client to transfer files. A commonly-used free FTP client is Filezilla. See caution below.
You don’t have access to your website
This happens when your web developer doesn’t give you the information you need to access your site.
Solution: Make sure your web developer provides the following information:
- Your domain name
- Domain registration login information including login location, user name, password.
- Web host login information including login location, user name, password. Some web hosts have two sets of login information, account management panel and control panel (or cpanel for many web hosts). You need both.
- How to access your web host’s support team including phone number (if available), support email address, pin number or other information needed to access support
- If applicable: WordPress or other CMS (Content Management System) login information including login location, user name and password.
- If applicable: All login information to any ancillary sites or services such as Gmail and so on associated with your site
- Optional but very helpful: FTP login information including ftp location, account type, user name, password. You need the master FTP login information, not a limited FTP login. Caution: Don’t use FTP unless you know what you’re doing. Putting the wrong file in the wrong place can really mess up your website. If you are using WordPress or another CMS system, you probably won’t need to use FTP.
- A good web developer will make sure you have access to this information.
- Keep this information in a safe place
- Don’t share it with anyone except people you trust who are working on your site for you.
- Make sure the information is kept up to date.
- It’s a good idea to have a printed copy of all of this information somewhere.
You can’t update your website
Assuming you can access your website, here are some common reasons why you might not be able . Your web developer did not use a CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress. It’s much harder for a novice to update an html site than it is for you to update a WordPress site. Another example: Someone in your office downloads a trial version of a fancy web development software. They create a beautiful site with lots of bells and whistles. The trial version runs out. You don’t want to pay the unreasonable price for the software. You’re stuck. You have a site you can’t update unless you have a great deal of technical knowledge.
Solution: Ask your web developer to use a CMS system like WordPress and to teach you how to access it and how to make updates to your site using it.
You’re paying way too much
Scams abound as people prey on your lack of knowledge. Here’s a common one: You receive an official looking bill in the mail for the renewal of your domain name. You send a check, and then you’re stuck. Your domain registrar has changed from an inexpensive one to an outrageously expensive one. Another common scam is web marketing and/or SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services. Some are legitimate. Some are not. It’s very common for small businesses to be paying hundreds, even thousands of dollars a month to web marketing services that aren’t doing anything that genuinely helps you.
Solutions: Arm yourself with knowledge. Know who your domain registrar is and how to log into your domain registration account. Do all your renewals from there or through your web host. Be sure to ask for references and then contact them before you hire a web marketing service. Make sure that what they propose to do really makes sense. For example, if you create a website as a service to your existing customers, you do NOT need SEO services
About Dwight Clough
Dwight Clough creates solid, sensible websites for individuals and small businesses. His services include
- helping you obtain your domain name and web host
- setting up a WordPress website for you
- making sure you have all of your needed login information
- writing / editing your web pages
- editing and your posting photos and illustrations, embedding videos and maps
- setting up a shopping cart system to enable you to sell online
- setting up an affiliate system so others can promote your products or services
- setting up a blog you can maintain
- creating downloadable products you can sell
Examples of his sites include: TheEasyBible.com, DwightClough.com, WisconsinDentalStudyClub.com, LuisFitness.com. Dwight is also a national award winning writer.
