Posted by Elizabeth
No one enjoys being forced into a relationship they do not want to have anymore; the same goes for business owners and website developers. Here at Pulse Marketing in Temecula, we have had many clients come to us with this exact issue about their past developer having complete control and ownership of their website and not allowing them to take ownership back.
This issue is very common and is why here at Pulse Marketing, we promote website independence and ensure that our clients have full ownership of their website, and even provide them the knowledge and training to handle web edits on their own.
What You Need To Own: Domain and Hosting
To avoid developer wedlock, you need to own your own domain name (URL) and hosting platform. Your domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser URL bar to visit your website, while your web hosting is an online service that enables you to publish your website on the Internet.
Most domain and hosting services have you pay an annual fee to keep your site up and running. However, when you end up purchasing these on your own, you have control over choosing what hosting and domain platform you want and at what price. In contrast, when you let a developer handle everything, they could end up picking options at a lower price but then charge you more for the hosting and domain than you would have if you purchased them from the same providers on your own.
Suppose you do not purchase these accounts on your own, then you may face additional issues that arise. For example, when you want to move your site to a better-performing hosting or try to get the login information to these accounts, the developer makes it very hard to acquire any login information or even refuses to.
This is why here at Pulse Marketing, we try to encourage our clients to purchase these on their own and make sure that whenever a client wants us to purchase hosting and domain names, we make sure we get their approval on the platforms. Then, we create the account in the client’s name, email, and with their own credit card. That way, the client has access to their accounts, and we only have developer access to launch their website but no ownership to their domain name or hosting.
How Your Site Should Be Built: User-Friendly Developing
Another issue we have heard from clients wanting a new website is that their old site was so complex that their internal teams couldn’t edit or add new programs due to how the previous developer built the site. As a developer myself, there are definitely times where you have to custom code different functions, but the overall site should be built with future developers or editors in mind.
In our case, we have constantly been updating and fine-tuning how we build websites so that it is easy for our clients in the future to make any updates or add content as needed. A website is living and breathing, and most of the time, you will need to refresh content to match any current promotions or campaigns your business is promoting. With that in mind, we build our sites so that there is the ability to make easy edits once we pass the website to the client.
All in all, avoid developer wedlock and make sure you have ownership of your website. The last thing you want is to feel trapped with a developer and have limited access to your site. If you are dealing with this issue or know someone else who is, we can guide you on how to take ownership of your website.