Wednesday 16 June 2010

Are you in control of your Online Business?

Your online business is an important part of your company and you should be in full control of it.  The 3 main elements which make up your online business are:

  1. Your domain name
  2. Your website
  3. Your website hosting
You need to make sure you know where your domain name "lives". Do you look after it yourself and have access to a control panel for the domain name? Or do you rely on a 3rd party such as a web designer or media agency?
I suggest that you should be in control of your domain name and look after the renewal process yourself. If you have a good web designer and they look after it for you then that's OK but you still need to check a few things for your peace of mind.

1. Your Domain Name
The first thing you should check is that you are the Registrant of your domain name. You can do a WHOIS lookup of your domain name. A WHOIS lookup is just a search of the central Registry's database to see the key info on a domain name such as:
  • Regsitrant
  • Registrar
  • Expiry Date
  • Domain Status
A Registrant is the recognised legal owner of the domain name. 
A Registrar is an organisation accredited by either ICANN or the National Registry to manage the regiostration and renewal of domain nams
The Expiry Date is the date when a domain name lapses. All domain names have to be renewed on a regular basis. .co.uk domain names have to be renewed every 2 years.
Domain Status shows the current state of a domain and will usually say something like "Domain renewed until 18th March 2011". If the domain name has not been renewed it might say "Renewal Required" or "Pending Deletion".
If you go to http://whois.domaintools.com/  you can enter your domain name and see all the relevant WHOIS information. The image below shows you the WHOIS lookup result of my domain name dickiearmour.me.uk

Click the image to see a larger version

If your name isn't listed as Registrant nor your company name then you need to rectify this as soon as you can. If you need any help or guidance on this please do get in touch and I'll be happy to help you.
So let's assume that you ARE the Registrant of your domain name; the next thing to check is your website.

2. Your Website
If you don't yet have a website then you MUST have a website. Again get in touch and I can point you in the right direction for some excellent web design companies.

If you do have a website the next question is do you have a copy of your website? What I mean by this is do you have all the pages, images, folders etc that make up your website? If not you MUST get a copy.

If your website was designed for you by a web designer then you can ask them for a copy of your website and ask them to put it on a DVD for you. There has been some debate around IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and Copyright. Some web design companies argue that the work of a web design is their's and so don't always feel they should have to give you a copy. Most of the ones I deal with are very happy to give their customers a copy of their websites. So make sure you get a copy of your website.

More and more people are using CMS (Content Management Systems) to update their websites themselves. This can be a good and easy way of keeping your website current. But you should be aware that in most cases, if you wanted to move your website to another hosting company, or the current provider who sold you the CMS goes out of business you won't be able to move your current website. Most CMS website can only be hosted on the same hosting platform as the CMS. So using a CMS you will never be in full control of your website.

But what happens if they go out of business or decide to leave the rat race and go off surfing in Hawaii? I speak to customers every single day who have lost control of their online business for these very reasons. The first thing that happens is the website hosting is switched off and your website and email stops working. You then have to begin the Internet Detective work of finding out where your website used to live and how you can get back control of it.

If your domain name was not registered in you or your company name then that's often a huge hurdle to get over. Even if you are the Registrant it can still be hard for the man on the street to find out who the current Registrar is and get back control of it.
If your web designer looks after the domain name as well as hosting, they will be the one who gets the renewal reminders, so in many cases you won't even know when your domain name is due for renewal. If a domain name is not renewed after a certain period the domain name will be suspended by the central Registry. Again, your email and website will stop working.

3. Your Website Hosting
In most cases you won't know anything about the hosting of your website. It will have been arranged and set up by your web designer. But again, part of being in control of your online business is knowing where your website lives. Find out from your current provider who they use to host your website.

Some web designers may not be happy to share this with you because hosting is one area where they make money. Now that's fine; most people understand that business is business and if they're indirectly looking after every aspect of your online business, it's fine and acceptable for them to add a margin to things like hosting and domain name renewals.

But do press them and insist on them telling you where your website is hosted. You can even explain you're not trying to find out to check prices, but that you just want to know in case anything were to happen to them or their business. That way should anything untoward happen you will find it much easier to keep control of your online business.

If you don't want to rock the boat with your web designer, there are clever tools you can use via the Internet to find out where your domain name and website live. Get in touch and I'll be happy to do some digging around for you.

So, make sure you do a WHOIS lookup of your domain name and ensure you or your company is the Regsitrant. Also make a mental or calendar note of when your domain name is due for renewal.

Get a copy of your website as soon as you can.

Find out where your website is hosted and make sure you get the contact details in case of disaster striking.

Please do get in touch if any of this worries you and you need some help and guidance. By getting and staying in control of your online business you can relax and concentrate on the more important day to day task in your business.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice Article Dickie. Great advice for anyone getting their business online

Phil Clarkson said...

Brilliant info Thanks Dickie.
All new to me, got some wort to do now!

dickiearmour said...

Thanks Simon; thanks Phil. I appreciate your comments.

Andrew Twigg said...

Good article. If only I had known this a year ago then I'd be saving myself a lot of wasted time and effort now in getting my email linked correctly. This kind of info should go in some kind of business starter pack.

Andrew

Holiday in South Africa said...

Enjoy every moment of your life.

Merlin said...

Excellent article Dickie and some useful information oh yes and I need some help with a domain :)

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