It's an exciting time when your new website comes on line and if you're like most business owners, somebody else has done all the work setting everything up for you.
But regardless of who has set up your website, as the business owner you need to be in full control of this important asset. And you can easily determine if you are by asking yourself this one simple question.
"Do I have have the password to the Control Panel at my Domain Registrar?"
If you answered no, then you don't have control. It's as simple as that. Someone else has the master key to your entire online business – including your website, your email services, and everything else that is associated with the domain name that you use.
To make this clear, here's a brief description of the bits and pieces that make up your online business.
1. Your Domain Name.
This is the most important part of your online business. From the control panel of your registrar, your domain name can be connected to pretty well any website in the world.
You “rent” your domain name from a domain registrar, or one of their agents. You will be able to use the domain name for your business while you keep paying the registration renewal fees as they fall due.
2. Your Web Host.
There are tens of thousands of web hosts in the world, any of which are able to store the files for your website. Your web developer has chosen one of them to provide the services you need. There is a username and password assocated with your hosting account too.
3. Your Website Content.
This can be created by you, or someone else. You or your web developer copies this to your web host so that it can be seen on the internet.
4. Your Email Services.
These are normally provided by your web host, and deliver mail to all the addresses that have been created for your business.
You Must Obtain Your Domain Password.
While the logins to your web host and website content are important, most people don’t realise that the domain name password is even more important. Anybody with this password can take over your website and email services, and make it extremely difficult or impossible for you to run your online business.
If you don’t have the domain name password for your domain name – get it from your web developer, or whoever set up your website. And I recommend that you change it after your website is up and running. The developer will not need to access the domain name control panel again, unless your website needs to be moved to a different web host.
There’s no reason I can think of that a developer with your best interests in mind would refuse to provide this password to you.
However, some dodgy developers have been known to register the domain names of their clients in their own name. This means that their client does not legally own their website. There have been cases where the developer has stolen the sites of their clients, so make sure that this cannot happen to you by checking that you (and not your developer) are shown as the "Registrant" in the records of the domain registrar.
Hosting Passwords
While you’re establishing control of your website, get the login details and password to your hosting account as well. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have it, and it will save a lot of grief if your web developer leaves town for some reason.
Even if you are technically terrified, you can (and should) be in full control of your internet activities when you build a business website. Click for more Plain English advice to help you make good decisions about domain names, hosting, websites, and e-commerce.
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