All kidding aside, it can be hard to determine who really controls a website -- and harder still to make changes later if something goes wrong with the relationship or if your needs change.
Clients often ask, "What will happen to my website if you die?" A slightly less morbid concern might be, "What happens if I want to move my site to another designer or host later?" Fortunately, this happens a lot more often than web designers spontaneously kicking the bucket. Let's examine your options.
Control Your Domain
Your domain name is key to controlling what happens with your site., for wherever your domain is pointed, so will visitors go when they type the domain name in their browser. Zimidi recommends that you register your own domain name, rather than letting a designer do it for you. This way, you always have control over this important piece of the web equation. In an emergency, you could re-point your domain name to another host and your website can be back online with a new designer in short order.
Another advantage of controlling your own domain is that it's easy to create vanity mailboxes, like david@zimidi.com. A vanity mailbox is one that ends with your domain name, rather than Gmail or Hotmail or one of the big providers. Vanity email addresses are easy to read and explain to others, they look great on a business card, and they're easy to forward to an existing mailbox (your Gmail, for example). You can also use them to maintain separation between business and personal accounts.
Zimidi recommends 1&1, the world's largest hosting company, for domain registration. All 1&1 domains include vanity emails, and Zimidi clients have access to free technical support to setup their domains and email with 1&1.
Know Your Host
The second part of getting a website online is hosting. Clients want to know, "What is hosting?" When a visitor types your domain name in their browser, your website content (text and pictures, etc.) must be served up from a real, physical computer somewhere on the internet. That computer is the host and the service of setting up and running that computer is the hosting.
Web hosts come in two flavors, self-service and full-service. A self-service host will expect you to manage your hosting. In other words, they give you the keys to the kingdom and you make it all work. You might be expected to upload your website via FTP, or use a control panel to setup your site. You would need to install all the software necessary to make your site work (if your host will even permit you to install software).
A full-service host is more hands-off. With full-service hosting, you won't need to login to the host itself or tweak its settings. Your web designer will install any necessary software and configure it to work with your site. Part of your hosting fee covers the service of getting everything setup correctly and keeping it running. A good full-service web host will also include regular backups of your site.
Closed Vs. Open Software
The most important factor in moving your site is knowing which technologies were used to build it, for you will need to replicate all of these technologies in order to move your site to another host. What kind of database does your site use? What kind of content management system? Does your site have a gallery? How about a shopping cart? All of the exact software and plugins that make up your current site will need to be installed on your new host in order to move your site without interruption.
Today's best websites use open software like WordPress as a standard platform for site development. This makes it easier to move your site to another designer or host as there are thousands of developers who can work with WordPress sites. It's best to avoid proprietary solutions that can't be easily migrated to another designer or host. Ask your web developer about the specific technologies incorporated into your site and make sure you understand what's required to host it.
Can You Edit?
Often a client doesn't need to re-do the entire website, they just need to make a few changes and would prefer not to get a designer involved. A modern website will let you, the site owner, login and make many kinds of changes yourself. You should be able to edit text, add or remove pictures, and add new pages to your own site anytime. Ask your web developer how to enable these features on your site.
Get a Backup
Backups should be part of your overall web strategy for two reasons. First and most obvious is disaster recovery. If a catastrophic event should wipe out your site, it's important to be able to reconstruct the entire thing on the same server, or on a different machine.
The best way to ensure you can do this is to start receiving backups before the disaster. If your site changes frequently, ask your designer about receiving automated copies of your backups via email so that you always have your current text and pictures. At the very least, get a backup copy of your site when your designer finishes building it and after each major round of changes. You don't want to have to wait for the designer later if you need to restore the site on another host.
The second and more subtle reason to backup is to enable versioning. This is the process of keeping copies of every change that you make on the site so that you can easily undo something if you change your mind. A good content management system like WordPress will perform this function automatically. Ask your web developer how to review the previous versions of your website and how to revert a page to an earlier version if you should so desire.
Know Your Passwords
Platforms like WordPress make heavy use of widgets and plugins, website parts that are made by other people to perform a specific function on your site. Zimidi uses Google Analytics, for example, to track site statistics. But clients often fail to keep track of the accounts and passwords needed to manage their site, relying on their web designer to know this stuff. Don't make the same mistake. Ask your web developer for a list of the accounts and widgets used in your site and write down, in one place, all the logins and passwords needed to make your site work: from domain registrar to PayPal and everything in-between. That way, you'll be spared the future panic of trying to figure these things out when you need to make a change.
With a full site backup in hand, control of your domain and passwords, and knowledge of the techniques used to create your site, you can rest assured that, whatever choices you make in the future, you'll have access to everything you've spent time and money to create on the web.
--- D
