Here’s a sad story one of my clients is going through right now. Five years ago, my client purchased a domain at Go Daddy as many people do. Then she hired me to create a website, still working today and hosted at Blue Host. Last week, she called Go Daddy to check that her domain was up-to-date and paid up. The domain is on auto renew, but Go Daddy took advantage and sold her a five year hosting plan. She paid them $99 additional to migrate the website to their server and they put it in a folder called “CloudTech”.

This came to my attention this morning when this client forwarded an email from Go Daddy listing suspect malware files in a folder named “CloudTech”.  Not smart if you want your wily ways to go undetected by the webmaster…!  Not smart to call attention to your own malware. Here’s the details. After a short conversation with the client, and logging into her account, I called Go Daddy immediately.  I received a call back from Sales and Security nineteen minutes later. The tech guy explained that CloudTech was legitimate and informed me the site had been migrated over. Confused, I exclaimed., “This does not make any sense, since the domain is still pointing to BlueHost…!”  Before instructing him to remove the folder I wanted to call the client to get her permission.

And the story gets worse.

Not only was the client duped into the extra hosting and migration, she has been paying them yearly hosting and SSL fees for at least a few years. Why do they take the money if there was no website being hosted? ….Because they can. Many people don’t know the ins and outs of internet set up and will pay what a large commercial company asks for. The tech guy’s excuse for the recommendation? The server was old and needed to be upgraded to php 7.0. Again, I pointed out, that BlueHost had already upgraded, so the website was fine. The old server they were referring to is theirs…

Lesson to small business owners: If you wonder why you are paying for hosting in two places, please contact your webmaster. If you are given an option to pay more money, consult with the person who knows what you need. There are 164 one star reviews of Go Daddy at Consumer Affairs. Posted, are many similar stories. It is unconscionable that a company with Go Daddy’s resources and reputation is taking advantage of small businesses.

Addendum: I spoke with another Go Daddy associate today. He has cancelled the hosting account and the ssl and returning almost $300 to the client. I doubt that this includes the migration fee of $99 however. I’m also giving free hosting to the client for the rest of the year to make up for some of her lost revenue for the excess hosting. Lesson learned: add a line to the contract that clearly states where the fees should be paid.

1. THE WEBSITE IS BROKEN

Which of these can break your website?
(a) You did not renew your domain
(b) Your hosting company went out of business and dropped your site
(c) You have malware and Google has blocked you
(d) All of the above

If you purchased your domain or domains from a different company than where you are hosted, be sure to stay on top of when they need to be renewed. I had a client lose a domain only to have it snatched up by a web shark who held it ransom for thousands of dollars.

2. NO ONE CAN FIND YOU

Reasons why people can’t find your website?
(a) Your site is broken (see above)
(b) You never submitted your site to search engines
(c) You have not added keywords or used a Search Optimization Plugin
(d) All of the above

It’s important that your website is built with content that includes many of the keywords people use to find you. This is called “on-page” search engine optimization. It should be included in the fee for building the website.

3. NO ONE STAYS ON YOUR WEBSITE

Reasons why people don’t stay on your website
a. People can’t read the text
b. The menu is confusing
c. The map was set for the wrong address.
d. All of the above

These days, attention spans are short. If your content does not catch the eye of the visitor, they are gone within seventeen seconds on average. Work with your web designer to create “Purposeful User Flow” and good visuals to beat your competition.

4. YOUR WEBSITE IS STATIC

Reasons why you should be able to edit your site
a. It costs less if you can make small changes
b. Being able to write blog posts increases traffic
c. Your webmaster went on a long vacation
d. All of the above

You should be able to edit blog posts and/or add new ones to keep your site fresh. Ask your webmaster to give you editor status so you can make changes and additions on a regular basis.

5. YOUR WEBSITE IS OVER THREE YEARS OLD

Why should you update your website every three years
a. The internet and software that supports it changes
b. Your brand is in need of an update
c. Your text and graphics are not attracting new clients
d. All of the above

The plugins and even some themes have a shorter lifespan than you may think. If they don’t keep up with the WordPress updates, they may even be inviting malware.

6. YOUR WEBSITE IS NOT RESPONSIVE

Why Should Your WordPress be Responsive?
a. Over 70% of visitors access the web with their cell phone
b. You will lose business if it isn’t
c. People will think you are not paying attention to your website
d. All of the above

If your website looks great on a laptop but fails to adjust for tablet and especially mobile, then you are missing a lot of opportunities to find new customers.

7. YOUR WEBMASTER IS NOT RESPONSIVE

Why you might need a new Webmaster
a. They graduated from high school and moved away
b. Your site is written in a code that only they can understand
c. Your webmaster is not updating your website
d. All of the above

Make sure you hire a professional who is in this business to stay. Custom websites may make the web developer feel accomplished but if they fail to update the code, then your site will quickly fail. A well established theme company with Premium Themes is a safer bet.

8. IT’S NOT MADE WITH WORDPRESS

Why is WordPress the most used CMS?
a. The software is open source
b. The software is free
c. It is the most widely used CMS Worldwide
d. All of the above

There are thousands of web developers and web designers around the world who use wordpress. New plugins are constantly coming on market so that you can find all the functionality you need.

P.S. Did you guess “d” on all the questions? You are correct!

On the first day… you are notified that your domain will expire in 6o days. The domain was purchased years ago and the registrar is a place you never heard of before. Worst case scenario: You ignore the message and your site goes down. The domain goes public and someone buys it. He asks for $6,000…. Best case scenario: We transfer the domain to our host and update it for you without you having to worry about it again.

On the second day… your WordPress website gets hacked because you followed a scam email. Worst case scenario: you never made a back up and you have to hire a security company to clean your website. It takes a month and you have to take your site offline. Best case: Luckily, you signed up for a maintenance plan with us so there is a backup of your website that we restore for you. But no worries, our maintenance plan should prevent it in the first place.

On the third day… you are having problems with your website made by an acquaintance who is now too busy to help you update it. We find out your custom hand-built theme has never had security updates and it has malware. We recreate your site using our module based theme that gets regular security updates.

On the fourth day… the free plugin on your site is abandoned by the developer and is no longer working correctly. We replace the plugin with one that is similar but supported. When using free plugins we like to contribute to the developer so they can continue working, but they are still a good value.

On the fifth day… the Paypal Donation button stopped working on your website. It could be a number of reasons including someone changed your pp password. We reset the code and fix the problem.

On the sixth day… your company is moving and you need the addresses and Google maps to be changed. We also help you by creating an announcement on the website prior to the move.

On the seventh day… you have been adding images to your blog posts but forgot to reduce their size. Your site slows down because each image is over one megabyte. We reduce the sizes of your images and recheck the performance of your site.

On the eighth day… you want to highlight a new service or product but don’t know the best way to do it. We make recommendations and make the changes for you.

On the ninth day… You want to send your clients a holiday email card but don’t have an image to use. We find a great inexpensive image from a stock agency and send the samples for you to choose. We set it up for you.

On the tenth day… You forgot how to add a photo to a newsletter, so you call us and we help you by walking you though it over the phone.

On the eleventh day… One of the plugins on your WordPress website won’t update in the dashboard. You call us and we download a new version from the developers website and replace it.

On the twelfth day… You have text and pdfs to add on a new web  page and you want help organizing the material to fit your design and brand. We are happy to assist.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

This is exciting! Why is this exciting? It is an opportunity to boost your search engine optimization and best your competition.

Imagine this… You have a catering company in Boston. I expect this type of business to be very competitive. Your company is www.yournamecatering.com, so you would  buy “www.boston.catering“. Then, point it to your main domain. I purchased one of the last remaining extensions that could sensibly be used with WordPress, www.wordpress.build. Fortunately, WordPress is open source, so I don’t have to worry about copyright infringement.

Here are some other ideas using the domain extensions below. www.tax.agency for an accountant, or www.fashion.boutique for an online vintage clothing store. How about www.graphicdesign.guru? Add a city or place to further optimize name, i.e. www.metrowestgraphics.com. Remember, the domain name attracts traffic just like content and meta tags.

My domain cost more than the usual. It was $89 for one year. But, if one new client is gained by that domain, it will have been well worth it. If you want to run some ideas past us or need help pointing the new domain, contact us. We’ll be glad to give you directions by email or over the phone.