Are You the Master of Your Domain?

By Chris Behan

It sounds like a funny question, but when it comes to your domain, or at least your web domain, the answer is serious. And for me, this topic is somewhat personal. A little over a decade ago, I came to the harsh realization that I was not, in fact, the master of my domain. And no, it wasn’t because I got married around that same time.

My first experience with an Internet marketing firm was a regrettable one. It all started when the company I was working for hired a local firm to optimize and market our website. Unfortunately, this web firm quickly moved to consolidate its power by insisting on hosting our website and installing their “secret software” to supposedly increase our website’s ranking abilities in search engines.

The problem with letting this firm host our site and install their software was that we had no idea how our website was being optimized and marketed. We had no control. As it turns out, their “secret software” – which ran the entire website – was nothing more than a spamdexing program that put our website in serious jeopardy of being banned by search engines. When we discovered this, we made the obvious decision to part ways with the firm, but when we did, we lost everything that we had paid for over the previous year. They unplugged their “secret software” and our traffic disappeared. In effect, the firm hadn’t really optimized our website at all. What they’d really optimized was their software, and had used risky, black-hat techniques to do so.

This is why it is important that you understand exactly how any firm you work with plans on marketing your site. With that knowledge, you’ll be prepared to protect the corporate assets that are your website and your domain name.

Here are some common pitfalls business owners encounter when it comes to managing their websites, and some tips for avoiding them.

You Can Be the Master of Your Own Domain if You…

Never Share Your Domain Registration Information: Don’t let an outside web consultant change any of your registrant information (through companies like Network Solutions or GoDaddy), or even become the responsible party for renewing your domain name. This can be the single biggest mistake you can make since it gives outsiders the ability to change the legal owner of your domain name, which has obvious consequences.
Solution: Simple. Don’t share your user name and password for your domain registration. In the event you absolutely have to share this information with outsiders, only give them temporary access, and then change the password as soon as they are done.

Never Let Your Internet Marketing Firm Host Your Site: We strongly recommend never letting an Internet marketing company host your website. Hosting has nothing to do with successfully marketing a website, and it could simply be a power grab to gain more control of your site, making it much more difficult to leave that firm, should you so desire. Additionally, when you let a marketing firm host your website, you will never really know if they are using a software program to optimize your website, which can have dire consequences with a search engine like Google. Solution: Host your site with a reputable third party. If you ever want to leave your Internet marketing firm, simply call your host and change the password, just to be on the safe side.

Never Allow Your Site to Be Marketed with a Software Program: Never, ever, let a search engine optimization firm use their “Super Top Secret, SEO Juice 2020 Software Program” when optimizing your website. First, you will never own that system, so you’ll be left high and dry if you ever want to go in a different direction. Second, more than likely that software system can be perceived as spam by search engines. Solution: Again, host your site with a reputable third party, and never let your marketing firm install a program on your web server. (Most third-party hosts would never allow software to be installed on their web servers, anyway.)

Never Use a Proprietary Content Management System (CMS): The scary word here is “proprietary,” which roughly translates into you having nothing, should you decide to leave that company. Some web companies may tell you not to worry about using their CMS since they can give you an export of all the files. However, what they are leaving out is that an export, in most cases, will leave you with a website that cannot be easily changed, or for that matter, changed at all. It’s like owning an expensive car that nobody can work on. Solution: If you want a content-managed website, ask your web company to code your website using an open-source CMS like WordPress, which is a robust system that anyone can work on.

Truly Own Your Website Design: When you pay a firm for a custom web design, you want to make sure you have all the original files that make up the design of your website. More specifically, you want to own what in most cases will be called the original “.psd” files, or Photoshop Document files. Having these files will make it easier if you would ever like to modify the design yourself, or would like to work with another firm or artist. Solution: Get it in writing that you will be the owner of all the original art files used to create your website and get those files transferred to you.

Never Have a Designer/Web Marketer who is MIA: If you are unable to speak with “the guy” who designed and coded your website because he is currently in rehab for his World of Warcraft addiction, it’s not just a problem for him. This really gets down to making a wise decision when hiring a firm to design and market your website. Solution: Work with an experienced firm with established offices.

Be the King of Your Castle, the Master of Your Domain!

The only way to do this is to make informed decisions. Many times poor decisions are made unknowingly in the interest of convenience, but ultimately, there is nothing more convenient than knowing you hold all the cards when it comes to your website and Internet marketing strategies.

About the Author
Chris Behan is the President and Chief Optimization Officer of Socius Marketing, Inc. (www.sociusmarketing.com), Tampa’s top-ranked search engine optimization company, which provides Internet marketing services to small, medium, and large businesses looking to expand their online presence. With offices in Tampa and Atlanta and clients across the country, Socius Marketing is one of the largest, and fastest-growing online lead generation firms in the United States.  Specializing in organic, white-hat search engine optimization, Chris has more than 11 years of Internet marketing experience and has helped hundreds of companies generate leads online. Chris can be reached at chris@sociusmarketing.com or by calling (813) 282-8300. – Offices Rocky Point, Tampa