Tips to avoid getting the Shaft - New Website Development

I have talked to alot of individuals about building new websites and the problems that they have with existing websites that they have had built by other people. Here is a checklist of things to ask about your new website to make sure you don't get the "shaft" when having a new website developed.

1) DOMAINS. Purchase your own domain BEFORE you contact a website developer. Don't let somebody else "take care" of the domain for you! Just go to GoDaddy, create a free account and purchase your domain thru them. Keep it at GoDaddy. Your domain does NOT have to be hosted where your website is hosted. Keep the two seperate. Domains are very important. Don't let somebody else have control over you when it comes to your domain. I have heard many complaints about somebody having issues with their website, want to move their website and find out that the "developer" whom "purchased" the domain for them won't let them have it or want to sell it back to them for a profit.

2) HOSTING. Find out up front if your website host is using a reseller account. This is simply "leasing" a server thru a large company, which is ok. Just find out who that company is. Find out how secure their servers are and how good their support is. If your website isn't on a secure server, it is not "if" but, "when" it gets hacked. Find out about backups for your website. Find out if you have access to be able to do your own backups and the cost to reinstall your site if something happens. If your hosting says they have their own servers, and they are not well known, chances are they are not maintenced properly and offer poor support when things go bad.

3) WEBSITE CONTROL. Find out exactly how much access you have to your website on the server it is hosted. Ask if you have FTP access to the website, where you can extract the website if you ever need to move it. If you are told NO then, watch out! There is no reason that you shouldn't have this kind of access unless there will be a dispute over "ownership" of the website if you ever try to move it. It's your website so, you should have total access with total control over it.

4) UPDATES. I see so many websites that are not up to date and haven't been for many years. Simply because the individual is put in a position to where he or she can not update their own website. If it be from lack of access or simply lack of knowledge of HTML. Ask if your website will be created with software that can give you access to do updates WITHOUT the use of an HTML editor! Ask if you get an Administrative Control Panel. Alot of individuals have to pay hourly rates to a webmaster to do updates for them on their website. If you don't have time or knowledge and want to pay somebody then, that is ok. But if you have the desire to be your own webmaster, find out if you can actually do updates WITHOUT an HTML editor!

This is just touching on some of the main complaints that I hear from people who come to me whom have had problems with either hosting or websites that were developed for them. So many people have bad experiences with getting websites built. Don't be another statistic. It's your money! Spend it wisely!