When we started GorillaHub, we wanted to do things a little differently to the norm. We felt the industry was often pretty rubbish at customer service and immature in how it did many things, which often left business owners feeling frustrated.
The things that developers did when we wanted a website built many years ago that made us a little cranky then, we still see going on today.
So we’re going to share some of our biggest pet hates with the industry – and give you practical tips to avoid getting mad yourself.
First on the list – Domain names.
We had a new client sign up to a care plan the other week and during onboarding, we enquired about making the DNS change after we had migrated their website to our platform.
“Oh, I don’t have the password”
“No problem,” we say, “just log in to Godaddy and reset your password.”
“No -I don’t have the login. I didn’t’ register the domain”
Oh dear. Our hearts sank. We’ve been here before.
Luckily it worked out OK, as the developer that built the site many years ago was still contactable and he was happy to transfer ownership of the domain.
But some business owners have not been so fortunate. We’ve also seen the worst-case scenario – a developer that had literally hijacked a businesses domain and was demanding money to transfer it.
Cue the business owner in tears with no option but to pick a new name and start all over again.
Scum. When we hear of things like this going on it makes our blood boil.
The thing is, many developers will offer to register the domain for you to make life simple and speed things up. We understand the logic and see how tempting that might sound. After all, domains and stuff must be super complicated. so it’s best to leave it to the experts.
No. Wrong.
Please resist the temptation and just say no. We do, even though it’s not the easiest option. We always advise our clients to do it themselves and are happy to help them to do so. OK, we will register a domain if a client puts a gun to our head but we don’t like it (and we try and get it transferred to the client when practical)
Not having control of your own domain can delay website migrations and prevent records being set such as anti-spam Google website authorisations. Domains can sometimes be on a 2-year renewal. That’s a long time for things to be forgotten and if your well-meaning developer has moved on and forgets to renew. It is your business that could suffer greatly.
Don’t share your domain password – if you have to (because you are unsure how to make a change, then set a temporary password and change it again afterwards).
A domain name (like a website) is a critical digital business asset and should be looked after as such.
Registering a domain to ensure you have full control and can’t suffer due to unintentional (or intentional) domain issues is super simple.
Please learn how to do it. (or ask us if you are not sure)
