Are You Being Scammed By Your Web Design Company? By: Martin
Lemieux

This is a growing concern amongst many business owners. Does
your web design company own you? This may be possible if you’ve
allowed them to host your web site for you and also register
your domain name for your company.

Web design companies have a lot of control over their clients. I
refer to this as “False Power”. The sad reality is that most of
their clients don’t even know they are stuck in this potentially
painful predicament. This power is usually exercised when a
client of a web design company finds a better deal on hosting
for their web site and they simply want to switch their hosting
provider, or when the “client” wants to upgrade their web site
for a better rate than their current web development provider is
offering.

Here’s what usually happens to so called “traitor clients”:

- Current web design company sends their client a hefty bill
for switching - The web design company cancels their client’s
account - They may point the domain name to another place - They
sometimes take down the entire website until further notice

You get the point! Too much power is given to the web design
company. I truly believe that it is your right to shop for
better prices and it is your right to own your domain name even
if you didn’t have a hand in registering your domain name.

As the owner of the website, you put your trust into your web
design company to represent your business appropriately and
honestly, only to find out down the road that honesty isn’t in
their vocabulary.

I truly believe there should be a law against web design
companies that can be summarized as such: For any domain name
registered by the web design company on behalf of their client,
the domain name may not be disputed or need to be disputed, the
domain name is automatically owned by the client and is
automatically bound by their web development contract.

With every new venture, there is always going to be loopholes.
From the aforementioned example, what if there is no contract?
If you are reading this and are in the process of searching for
a web design company, please ENSURE that you have a contract
drafted, outlining everything you are entitled to and that you
have sole rights to your domain name.

See what most business owners fail to realize is that their
domain name is as important as registering their business name
itself. I will repeat that… Your domain name is “hot real
estate”, would you want someone else owning your property?

The same applies for your domain name. Don’t get caught with
your pants down while asking, why don’t I own my domain name. It
is as important as owning your own company name. There are
people out there searching for suckers to take their domain name
- don’t be the one who gets caught!

How to avoid this “Power Stricken” disaster: The best solution
is to go out and register your domain name BEFORE you hire a web
design company. This ultimately gives you the power over your
domain name. At any given time, you can go back and log into
your “domain name registrant” in order to switch your web site
to any hosting company you choose.

When searching for an “all around” package for your web design
project, make sure that your hosting is suitable for your needs.
95% of all web design projects don’t need a large hosting
package that costs between $150-$500 a year. The most you should
pay for your hosting in this case is around $100.00 a year, no
more.

You only need a large hosting package if:

- Your web site is 1000+ pages in size - You’re going to buy
traffic in the 1000’s every month - You need over 25 email
accounts setup

Ask questions when shopping for a web design company! Here are a
few questions you should be asking right away before you sign
any contract…

- Do you provide a contract for all your projects? - If you
register my domain name, will it state in my contract that I own
the domain name under all circumstances? - If I am late making
payments, is it your company policy to cancel the account? - Why
are your hosting services so high in price? Why wouldn’t I go
somewhere else for $100 a year? - Does it state within your
contract that I cannot switch to a different hosting company
later on? - Going forward, am I going to be able to hire any web
developer for my website updates, if I am able to negotiate
better prices?

This is another important note: Make sure your web design
company gives you the “FTP (File Transfer Protocol)” access to
your website. The FTP allows you to hire another web design
company to go in and update your website at any time. Without
the FTP information, no one can update your website besides the
original web development company or hosting company that you
hired.

In Conclusion: Be weary of web design companies that don’t
provide contracts for all of their projects. Be careful with
your domain name; make sure that in the end, you own all rights
to your domain name, not someone else.

I hope this article helps you out!

For more of Martins articles, go here:
http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

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Martin Lemieux
http://www.articlesbase.com/domain-names-articles/are-you-being-scammed-by-your-web-design-company-910.html

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