If there's one thing I'm asked about year after year, it's web sites. There are always small businesses and new start-ups looking to get their name on the World Wide Web, and an army of web designers and IT companies eager to take their cash. Some of the time, it proves to be the best decision the company has ever made. Sometimes it doesn't.
The most common criticism I hear about web sites concerns abandonment. This is where a developer, who has been employed to create a new web site, abandons the project half-way through. Perhaps another client offered more money. Perhaps the developer was doing it in their spare time and their personal circumstances have changed. The result is often a broken, half-completed web site for the whole world to see - one that could be associated with your company!
Of course, the majority of web developers are hard-working and trustworthy. But like any industry, there are few bad apples who cause misery for the unwary.
Another cause of abandonment comes after the web site is completed. Someone needs to launch it on the Internet, and keep it up and running on a daily basis (known as "web hosting"). This is often done by the developer, or an IT service company. But what happens if the company goes bust, or the developer loses interest? The web site slowly gets out of date, giving customers the wrong information. Security problems with the web site software go unfixed, possibly attracting hackers.
In both cases, I know of business owners who were left with horrible web sites that they wanted to change, but couldn't. The lucky ones got another web developer or web hosting company who were prepared to fix another company's mistakes. Those that weren't so lucky had stumbled upon a hidden danger.
If you have a web site, you probably have a domain name to go with it. Amazon, for example, has their web site at www.amazon.com. Now, you can't hijack www.amazon.com and use it for your own web site, because domain names are unique and can only be changed by the people who own them.
Some web designers and IT suppliers register their client's domain names in *their* name - not the client's. Usually this is done to make life simpler for the supplier, or sometimes to guarantee future work. From a business owner's viewpoint, this means that you don't officially own your domain name. You cannot make essential changes - such as switching web hosting supplier - without the co-operation of your existing supplier. If that supplier is a web designer who won't return your calls, or an IT company that's gone bust, then you're stuck.
What's more, your domain name (which your customers have probably gotten used to) will stick with the existing web site that will slowly go out of date. Can you imagine Amazon *not* having their name against www.amazon.com? That would be crazy, right?
If you're having a web site built for the first time, or registering a domain on its own, make sure your company contact details are on the domain registration. You might want your supplier listed as a technical contact in case things need fixing, but you can seperately specify billing and administration contacts, which will let you retain an element of control.
Don't let your web site run off with someone else!
Photo credit: Married_Couple.jpg by Shiemay 47 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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