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Website Business Risk Management
Ben Kemp
Is
placing all the eggs in one basket, in the form of one-stop
shop website design, maintenance & hosting the best
option? In my opinion, it most definitely is not! Keeping
all website elements separate is sound business risk management
practice!
When
you are setting out to establish a new venture on the web,
its a daunting task. The terminology is complex and confusing.
There are multiple aspects to consider - domain registration,
website hosting, web site design, maintenance, search engine
optimization etc. There is a temptation to take the easy
option of a one-stop shop, where someone else takes care
of all the complicated items that you don't understand.
That way, you get one all-inclusive bill per month. There
is an old adage - Jack of all Trades, Master of None! A
bigger web design company that does everything rarely does
individual things as well as a carefully selected group
of specialists in their own fields of expertise.
The
relationship between you and your website design company
will evolve over time. As you become more knowledgeable
(and more demanding) the relationship might even deteriorate!
It happens... If you are in a One-Stop Shop environment,
you may be unwittingly placing your web business in potential
jeopardy.
Domain
Registration
Do
it yourself, and you ensure that you actually own the site.
If you let your web designer do it for you, and he/she puts
his/her name as the registrant, its not your site! Most
website designers are aware of this, and take care to protect
your interests. Some do not! For a company site, make sure
the domain is registered in the company name, not an individuals
name. If the office girl registers the site in her name,
then leaves without a forwarding address, you've got a potential
disaster in the making!
Website
Hosting
Some
web designers offer hosting as part of the package. Its
usually a re-seller arrangement, where the designer gets
a commission on the monthly hosting fees - as opposed to
a server owned and operated by the website designer. Realistically,
you are better to shop around and find a hosting package
that delivers the functionality you require in terms of
site management and software. For example, a classic Apache
server with cpanel management, and PHP and MySQL databases
will meet most needs. Performance can be an issue - and
its not in your best interests to be hosted on a server
with 600 other sites.
If you've chosen a .com domain, make sure you have hosting
in the country that your clients are located in... otherwise,
you'll be excluded from country-specific searches!
Web
Designers
Its
best to develop a design brief - specify your goals and
objectives, and give some examples of sites that appeal
to you. Circulate the brief to a few designers you've selected
after reviewing multiple web design sites. Build a chart
that compares what each designer offers, at what costs.
Engage in dialogue with a short list of 2-3 designers and
resolve any issues you did not understand in their responses
to your brief.
Finally,
pick someone who can talk to you on your level without being
condescending. Be firm about separating components such
as domain registration, hosting, and design. If the designer
is insistent on combining all elements, move them to the
bottom of the pile. If they have a particular CMS that they
want you to use, ask them if its an open-source system.
If not, ask them what happens in the future, if you become
unsatisfied with them or the product. All promises should
be made in writing, and signed by the CEO... in the form
of a legal and binding contract.
Make
sure your potential designer is listening to you, and is
trying to deliver what you require, rather than what is
best for them.
Website
Architecture
In
terms of good search engine rankings, the simpler you can
make the site, the better. HTML-based sites which allow
total control over all page elements will always deliver
the best results. If your potential designer is insistent
on building the site in Frames, JavaScript, or Flash, or
combination thereof, remove them from your list immediately.
The rule is "form follows function." It won't
matter a bit how wonderful your site looks, if no one can
find it. Modest use of JavaScript or Flash is fine but the
search engines can neither read or index anything in either,
so it is best to ensure at the outset that your site is
not doomed to obscurity!
Website
Management
Free-form
editing of individual HTML pages is the best option from
a search engine optimisation perspective. Its not much more
complicated than using a word processor, and uploading the
page amendments to the live site is not particularly difficult.
However, if you are going to use a Content Management System
for maintenance instead, its in your best interests to opt
for an Open-Source CMS! With "open source" the
software is free, no license fees apply, and anyone can
work on it. You own the site content, and can more readily
export it to another CMS platform if you don't like the
current one. With an open -source platform, you are not
limited to a single designer or developer. If things don't
go the way you want, changing designers or developers is
relatively simple.
Content
Management Systems - CMS
Proprietary
Content Management Systems (CMS) present a real threat if
you become dissatisfied with the developer's service / performance.
"They" own the site, not you, and you are effectively
locked in to the package, which usually includes web design,
development and hosting. If you want to change suppliers,
you may have to abandon your entire development investment
and start again from scratch!
Such
an environment usually involves shared hosting on the CMS
supplier's server. This places your site in the midst of
multiple other sites all running exactly the same software
platform, and often all of the same site type - e.g. e-commerce.
This is undesirable from a search engine optimization point
of view.
In
my opinion, a CMS system is complete overkill for a site
of less than 100 pages - which is most small business sites.
This comment applies equally to any totally database-driven
solution. Overall, content changes very little - for many
pages, it might be an annual revision. Using an HTML editor
to make minor page changes requires minimal technical ability,
and publishing amended pages via FTP is a trivial exercise.
Exceptions to this are e-commerce, dating, portal or similar
special purpose site, where you require a pre-designed application
such as a shopping cart solution. Even then, combining HTML
informational pages with the open-source application is
still the best option.
Website
Backups
This
can be a simple as a monthly download to your PC of the
site plus databases. Do not totally rely on your hosting
company for site backups! Do not totally rely on your website
designer for backups! In the event of a total systems failure,
or unresolved dispute, you may be left relying on what data
you have at your disposal. As a minimum, you want multiple
copies of the site, stored at multiple locations. The live
site on your hosting companies server, plus a local copy
on your PC, plus a backup copy on your external hard drive,
plus a monthly copy on CD or DVD and stored at your Mum's
place should do it!
Business
Resilience
Rule
No.1: Do not put all your eggs in one basket! Basically,
you need to ensure that you minimize your dependence on
any one service supplier. If your web designer goes belly-up,
what becomes of your proprietary CMS system? If the hosting
company goes out of business, you need to be able to quickly
change hosts and servers.
- use
the national domain registrar - more expensive, but they
might still be in business next year!
- use open-source software, if you must use a Content Management
System!
- use an independent web designer - if your relationship
deteriorates, you can easily switch to another!
- use a independent hosting supplier - if it does not work
out, you can change hosting companies!
- use an independent SEO supplier - if it does not work
out, pick another!
- use a regular site backup regime - multiple copies in
multiple locations!
Doing
so substantially insulates you from other's failings, and
ensures you can quickly respond to a change of circumstances.
Even in cyberspace, an ounce of prevention is still better
than a pound of cure!
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