How to Create Your Own Professional Website

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As soon as I get a new client, I create a website information sheet for them. I collect information from the client for products and services they already use and add to that sheet whenever something is added to one of their domains.

However, in my years of working with website clients, I’ve come to discover that the clients are not nearly as organized as I am. If they have existing websites, nine times out of ten they can’t tell me where their critical website information is or how to access it, or it’s scattered in different documents and emails throughout their computer.

If you are one my clients, don’t worry. I have this information for you. You should still have a copy of your own though. (Email me if you don’t.)

If you are not one of my clients, that’s okay. I’ll still share. Save this example website info sheet to your computer and update it with your information. Send me a message if you need help.

Now imagine that your website developer has gotten angry with you for some reason and has gone into your hosting account and DELETED your entire website!!! You don’t have a backup of your website and your hosting company is going to charge you $150 to restore the site. Now you owe your former website developer money for a website that doesn’t even exist or you’re out money to have it restored. What do you do? Obviously, you pay the $150 and get your website back, fire your website developer and change all your passwords (and PINs) so it doesn’t happen again.

Guess what? This story did not happen in my imagination. It is all true. And it just happened over the weekend to one of my new clients.

Could this happen to you???

This true story brings up many questions, comments and concerns, some of which I’m still trying to find the answers to. (Please feel free to share your experience and knowledge.)

 
Who Owns Your Website?

I’ve posted this scenario on a legal website asking who owns website files? No answer yet.

If you have hired someone to develop your website and had them purchase the domain name and hosting account, they probably own it. Not you! Make sure you are the master of your domain.

I also read somewhere that if you hire an independent contractor to create something for you, unless it is declared that you own the purchased creation and they have given you the files, the contractor actually owns the rights to the creation, even though you paid for it to be created. Go figure! (As a website developer, my rule is clear: You pay for it, you own it! And yes, I’ll put that in writing and give you the files!)

 
Do You Really Trust Your Website Developer?

Make sure you own your website accounts and files. Have your own website backups just in case. Keep in touch and don’t make assumptions. (You don’t want to end up with a huge invoice for a website you don’t like.)

You never know what can go wrong with a business relationship. Make sure you are covered in case something does.

Preventing email spam for my clients’ websites is something that I try very hard to do now that I’ve learned what NOT to do with an email address. However, I learned these lessons the hard way and I’m still paying the price. I have corrected my ways and it has cut down on some of the spam, but obviously not enough. I wonder if I’m missing something and the spam programs are still finding me or if my email address is just floating around on some “spam me” email list somewhere that I’ll never get off of. Do I really have to change all of my business email addresses? (If you have an answer to that question, please comment and tell me.)

So, how did I end up with over 1000 spam emails in one week? Here’s a list of what NOT to do with your email address:

• Do NOT set up a catch-all/default email address for your domain.
• Do NOT directly publish your email address on your website using a mailto tag.
• Do NOT use your primary email address in the bio box of the articles you use for article marketing purposes. (DUH!)

 
Since there is no point in rewriting a good article on preventing email spam, here’s a link to some good tips:
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/03/hide-your-email-address-on-websites.html

Of course, the thing that I hate the most isn’t the 1500+ spam emails in my inbox. What bothers me is the fact that these rotten spammers are now using my email address to spam other people and I’m getting blamed for it! That is not how I do business!

If you have other tips on preventing email spam, please comment and leave your advice.

The standard View Cart button code is as follows:

To change the button into a text link, substitute the business value from the button code into this text link code:

Domain – The name and address of your website. When you purchase a domain, you are really just buying a name for and giving directions to your belongings. You are calling your belongings “Your Stuff” and letting people know where your stuff currently is. You can change the location of “Your Stuff” at a later time and give new directions.

Host – The physical location of your website data. It is the computer where your data is stored. Your hosting company owns the computer. In other words, it’s the house where you store your belongings. Your hosting company is your landlord.

Disc Space – How much storage space you can have and how much storage space your website uses. It is measured in MB/GB. Using the house and belongings analogy, it is the square feet of living space vs. how much space your belongings take up. You’re gonna pay more for a bigger house. (You shouldn’t pay for a mansion when you only need a one bedroom apartment.)

Bandwidth – How much data is being tranferred between your host and the rest of the internet. If you really want to calculate an estimate of your bandwidth usage each month, here’s a formula: [(avg page size X avg page views X number of daily visitors) + (avg file size X avg daily downloads)] X 31. You have to pay for your share of internet usage. The analogy on this one is tough. I guess you could call it how many people you have visiting you and how much stuff they are bringing in and out of your house with them. You have to pay for your share of the road usage that gets them to your house. (You shouldn’t pay much for road usage if you are a hermit, but you could pay alot if you have big trucks going back and forth.)

I hope you have found this information helpful.