Cathy Wagner asked:
As I get involved with more and more client web sites, I am
noticing an alarming trend. Nine out of ten web site owners
cannot access control of their own sites!
What do I mean by this?
If you had to change to a new hosting company, how would you go
about it? Do you even have the login information for your domain
account? (I can hear many of you going, “Huh?”)
Or, if you want someone new to go in and make a few changes to
your web site pages, can you give them FTP access? (Again,
“Huh?”)
Facts You Need to Know
Every web site is comprised of two parts:
1. Domain name (i.e. yourname.com)
2. Web Hosting (i.e. the actual web spacewhere you “park” your
domain)
You have to sign up and pay for each of these services
separately. Even if your host offers domain name registration,
it is still two separate accounts and you need to have the login
information for each.
Domain Name
As I said, your domain name is your web site URL, such as
yoursite.com. You must pay for ownership of your domain yearly.
It’s not very expensive, but it is very important to know that
is must be renewed. If you let your registration lapse, your
site will disappear, even if your hosting account is current.
You need to be able to access your domain account to tell the
Internet where to look for your site. Your DNS settings inside
your domain account indentify the host server space where you
web site files reside.
This sounds more complicated than it really is. Your host has a
machine called a server that stores web site files. The DNS
settings tell the Internet exactly which machine houses your
files.
When you want to change hosts, you have to change these settings
to correspond to the new host’s server. This is not complicated.
Every host provides the information you need to do this easily,
provided you can login into your domain account.
To maintain control of your business web site, you must be able
to login to your domain registration account.
Web Hosting
Again, your web host provides the web space where you “park”
your domain. They store your web site files (such as graphics,
html files, etc.) on a machine call a server and then those
files become accessible via the Internet.
You need to be able to access your web site files. This is NOT
information for designers only. If you want to have complete
control of your business, you need this information too.
I′ve already mentioned FTP, which stands for File Transfer
Program. It is the software used to transfer files from your
computer’s hard to your server space and vice versa. All changes
to web sites must be made via FTP and if you don’t have the
connection information, you can’t do anything to your site
without the person who does.
In order to have complete control of your business web site, you
must have, or be able to grant, access to your web site files.
What’s the Big Deal?
I had a host once that literally disappeared. A major break down
in communication meant that while I had paid for a year’s worth
of hosting, I was going to have to settle for only two months
instead. My site was down and I had to find another host right
away. (To this day I never heard from that host again. I was
offline for weeks while I tried everything I could to reach
them!)
The point is, I didn’t know how to login to my domain
registration account to changes the DNS settings to my new
host’s server! I had long since left the host that actually
registered it for me. Thank goodness he was kind enough to
simply hand over my login information at my request. Thank
goodness he was even still in business!
And it’s the same with web sites. I can’t tell you how many of
my clients originally started off with another designer who has
moved on to other things. Some can’t even get their old designer
on the phone anymore! But, when they come to me because they’ve
decide to find someone new to work on it, they can’t give me
access to their site. In most cases they don’t have any idea
what I′m talking about when I ask.
Protect Yourself!
I know that technophobia is a real problem for some people. As
soon as someone says something like “HTML″ they tune out
thinking there’s no way they’ll ever understand what’s being
said from that point forward. But your domain and hosting are
not something you can just leave to others, they are the
backbone of your business web site.
It’s really not complicated. And it’s so important to maintain
control of your business web site. You absolutely must have
access to your domain registration account AND your web hosting
account. Even if you never use the information yourself, you
need to have it. Without access to both of these accounts, your
business could end up dead in the water
Domain Flipping: Learn How To Flip Domain Names And Profit
As I get involved with more and more client web sites, I am
noticing an alarming trend. Nine out of ten web site owners
cannot access control of their own sites!
What do I mean by this?
If you had to change to a new hosting company, how would you go
about it? Do you even have the login information for your domain
account? (I can hear many of you going, “Huh?”)
Or, if you want someone new to go in and make a few changes to
your web site pages, can you give them FTP access? (Again,
“Huh?”)
Facts You Need to Know
Every web site is comprised of two parts:
1. Domain name (i.e. yourname.com)
2. Web Hosting (i.e. the actual web spacewhere you “park” your
domain)
You have to sign up and pay for each of these services
separately. Even if your host offers domain name registration,
it is still two separate accounts and you need to have the login
information for each.
Domain Name
As I said, your domain name is your web site URL, such as
yoursite.com. You must pay for ownership of your domain yearly.
It’s not very expensive, but it is very important to know that
is must be renewed. If you let your registration lapse, your
site will disappear, even if your hosting account is current.
You need to be able to access your domain account to tell the
Internet where to look for your site. Your DNS settings inside
your domain account indentify the host server space where you
web site files reside.
This sounds more complicated than it really is. Your host has a
machine called a server that stores web site files. The DNS
settings tell the Internet exactly which machine houses your
files.
When you want to change hosts, you have to change these settings
to correspond to the new host’s server. This is not complicated.
Every host provides the information you need to do this easily,
provided you can login into your domain account.
To maintain control of your business web site, you must be able
to login to your domain registration account.
Web Hosting
Again, your web host provides the web space where you “park”
your domain. They store your web site files (such as graphics,
html files, etc.) on a machine call a server and then those
files become accessible via the Internet.
You need to be able to access your web site files. This is NOT
information for designers only. If you want to have complete
control of your business, you need this information too.
I′ve already mentioned FTP, which stands for File Transfer
Program. It is the software used to transfer files from your
computer’s hard to your server space and vice versa. All changes
to web sites must be made via FTP and if you don’t have the
connection information, you can’t do anything to your site
without the person who does.
In order to have complete control of your business web site, you
must have, or be able to grant, access to your web site files.
What’s the Big Deal?
I had a host once that literally disappeared. A major break down
in communication meant that while I had paid for a year’s worth
of hosting, I was going to have to settle for only two months
instead. My site was down and I had to find another host right
away. (To this day I never heard from that host again. I was
offline for weeks while I tried everything I could to reach
them!)
The point is, I didn’t know how to login to my domain
registration account to changes the DNS settings to my new
host’s server! I had long since left the host that actually
registered it for me. Thank goodness he was kind enough to
simply hand over my login information at my request. Thank
goodness he was even still in business!
And it’s the same with web sites. I can’t tell you how many of
my clients originally started off with another designer who has
moved on to other things. Some can’t even get their old designer
on the phone anymore! But, when they come to me because they’ve
decide to find someone new to work on it, they can’t give me
access to their site. In most cases they don’t have any idea
what I′m talking about when I ask.
Protect Yourself!
I know that technophobia is a real problem for some people. As
soon as someone says something like “HTML″ they tune out
thinking there’s no way they’ll ever understand what’s being
said from that point forward. But your domain and hosting are
not something you can just leave to others, they are the
backbone of your business web site.
It’s really not complicated. And it’s so important to maintain
control of your business web site. You absolutely must have
access to your domain registration account AND your web hosting
account. Even if you never use the information yourself, you
need to have it. Without access to both of these accounts, your
business could end up dead in the water
Domain Flipping: Learn How To Flip Domain Names And Profit
