Hiring a website designer to create your website is a smart business decision. It makes complete sense that you prefer to focus your time and energy on your business and your clients.
Before the design process is complete, you’ll want to ensure you have certain information from your website designer so you’re not left in the dark about the important details you need to know to care for your website.
I want to share the exact information you need because I feel it’s extremely important that you own your website and that you know the details you need to about it.
It upsets me so much when I get a call from a potential client and they don’t know the simple details about their website or how to log into it.
So, here is a list of the top 10 details you need from your website designer.
Domain Information
In order to have a website you need to have a domain name. A domain name is your website’s name. For example, my domain name is rdwdesignstudio.com. It’s what you would type into a browser search bar to visit your website.
Here are the three details you’ll want to have about your domain:
1. Where was your domain name purchased?
2. When does your domain name renew?
3. What is your user name and password for your domain registration?
You can purchase your domain name through a domain name registrar or through your hosting company.
I recommend keeping the two separate and using a domain name registrar. The most popular ones are godaddy.com, domain.com and namecheap.com. I recommend namecheap.com. It’s where I purchase all of my domain names and what I recommend to all of my clients because they include domain privacy in the cost.
Now, it’s important to remember that when you buy/register a domain name you actually pay an annual fee to the domain name registrar so that the domain name remains registered under your name. When your registration period expires and if you don’t renew, you will lose the domain name as it will be made available for other people to register it in the open market.
Hosting Information
In order to have a website you need to have hosting. Hosting is the actual computer, or server, where your website’s files are stored.
Here are the three details you’ll want to have about your hosting company:
4. Where is your website hosted?
5. When does your hosting renew?
6. What is your user name and password for your hosting company?
There are many options out there for website hosting, but not all hosts are created equal. That’s why it’s really important to do your research and choose the right hosting company for your website’s needs.
If you’d like to find out who I use and recommend for hosting, you can click here.
Website Information
There are many different website platforms out there and I’m sure you’ve heard of many of them: WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, Weebly, Joomla. What they all have in common is they all have a back end. That’s where you need to log in to in order to make any changes to your website.
Here are the four details you’ll want to have about your website:
7. What platform is your website built on?
8. What is your user name and password to log into your website?
9. If built in WordPress, what is the theme and what is the page builder?
10. What is the backup schedule and where are they saved?
I know this may seem like a lot of information. To help you keep track of it all, I’ve created a handy worksheet you can fill out. You can download it here.
While it’s great if you have a website designer who is caring for your website and tracks all of these details, it is still information I feel you should know yourself as the website owner. You should know how to log into the back end of your website even if you never do.
I hope this list of the top 10 details you need from your website designer is helpful to you and I hope that you either have all of this information already or are now prepared to get it.
If you want to chat about how I can help you with your website, click here so we can set up a connect call!
