For many independent business owners it can be easy to cede power to web designers -- who have the expertise they lack -- when creating and operating a website. But Mikal Belicove, of Entrepreneur.com, warns businesses to avoid “being held hostage” by programmers and designers.
He offers the following tips to protect your business down the line:
- Own Your Domain: It is simple and cheap to register your own domain. Once you do so, you’ll have -- among other things -- ownership of the domain (soandsojewelers.com) and any subsets like blogs, the ability to move your site to a different hosting service and the ability to use your domain for whatever email addresses you want to add. He says that a company’s domain name is a valuable company asset and no one should register or own it on your behalf.
- Play Host: Even if you know nothing about Web server management, Belicove advises businesses to protect themselves by taking the following action:
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- Choose a hosting service you and the developer are comfortable with
- Establish your own account so that you have a direct link to the service
- Pay hosting fees directly to the service
- Have administrative privileges and be able to control user access to your files
- Don’t License What You’ve Paid For: In some cases, a web developer may insist on licensing their work to clients. Basically, they own the code and you pay to use it. That means that if you decide to use another developer, you’ll either have to purchase the code or start from scratch.
- Read The Fineprint: When it comes to the contract with your web developer, know what you are signing off on in order to avoid future misunderstanding.
Take The Tip:
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