Who really owns your website?

One of the golden nuggets I drill into consulting clients is the importance of owning their web presence when establishing a home online. ”Well duh,” I hear you saying. ”We registered the name, we own it…right?”

Maybe not. Who is “we?”

I’m constantly astonished at how many small business owners have no earthly idea what a registrar is or who their host company is. When they set up their site, they hired a talented web designer, told them what they wanted, then sat back and let the magic happen. Part of that magic, for many, includes not only registering their domain (ex: “MyBusiness.com”), but setting up all the accounts to bill the designer-—not the business owner-—as time goes on.

Did I lose you there? Okay. Case in point:

A few years ago, a very savvy retailer hired a web designer to build her store site. Being someone who had enough to do without needing to bone up on all-things-internet, she was more than happy to allow the designer to set everything up from square one-—registering the domain name, subscribing to the host (where the website lives), building the site, and setting up the email accounts.

Things were done in a timely fashion. The site turned out nice, but wasn’t quite what the retailer had hoped for. Occasionally, there’d be a phone call to ask that a photo be updated or that new text be added-—hardly inappropriate for a retail business with seasonal products. Sadly, however, said web designer held a different opinion and one day, unannounced, took his marbles, his jacks, and went home pouting.

Twenty-four hours later, the store email accounts stopped functioning and its website disappeared.

When the retailer called me in a panic, my first question was “Have you contacted your host company?” which was met with a long, pregnant pause…

…and “What’s a host company?”

“The place where your website is stored on a server. You would have been billed by them at the very beginning of the process, probably around $125-150 or so.”

“The only bills I received were from the web guy. He set all that up.” She’s cringing with each additional word, knowing this can’t be good.

“Did he itemize the bills, including the vendor names? Or did he give you a list of passwords and company contact numbers?” I ask, hoping for the best, but already fearing the worst.

Long pause. Lonnnnnng pause. Lots of paperwork flying around in the background as she frantically dug through the internet folder on her desk.

You guessed it. The web designer itemized the bill, showing a line called “Host contract,” but omitted the name of the host, their contact info, or any account numbers. With a little digging on my end after our conversation, I was able to chase down information that identified who the registrar and host company were…and that the web designer had set up all the accounts in his name, on his credit card.

He owned the domain. The site. The rights to the whole kit and kaboodle. And since he’d opted for a five year purchase on the domain name, the store couldn’t use the web address for a very long time, in spite of the fact it was engraved on their letterhead and business cards, printed on all their forms, and listed in the Yellow Pages. Sure, they could hire an attorney, but the language in their contract with the web designer was vague enough there were iffy odds, at best.

Welcome to internet hell.

Bottom line, if you’re building a web presence, start with someone trustworthy. Then:

1. Register the domain name(s) yourself or be sitting right next to the designer when he/she does to be sure this in your name, on your credit card.

2. Confirm the host account is also in your name, and on your credit card-—not in your web designer’s name or on his/her credit card.

3. If you allowed a web designer to set things up, confirm that you have the correct contact information, account numbers, and renewal details in hand for the registration and host account. Try them out to be sure they’re complete and accurate.

4. If you aren’t already, get yourself listed as the Admin on the hosting account, then set permissions in a way that allow the designer continued access to the site for updates and fixes.

5. Talk to your host company. Ask how to access your cPanel (the control center for your website) and learn how to read it.

6. Find out what’s set up for auto-renewal, and when.

7. Confirm that you have the names and passwords of all email accounts associated with your domain name and that you have full access and control over every single one of them (this is cPanel stuff).

Creating web presence from scratch is one of the options I offer consulting clients, since I know the process backward and forward (and have built more sites than I can keep track of). When they learn how hand-in-hand the initial steps are, they often ask “Can’t you just do that part without me?”

Sure. I could. But in the end, if you’re up to speed on what this stuff means, how it works, and who your providers are, you’ll sleep much better.

The alternative? The digital equivalent of owning a business, paying for a business…but letting someone else hang onto the keys that open the front door.