Do You Know How to Keep Your Online Property Safe?

Have you ever gone to a shop where the owner does not have the keys, doesn’t control the stock and doesn’t own the business name? No way Hosea!

If you have company registration, land and/or a shop you certainly make sure you have the necessary deeds and papers. They are all valuable property of which you need to keep ownership secure.

In a similar way Domain Names (the company registration), Hosting (the land) and your Website (the shop front) have cost you money and are valuable property. You need to have adequate records.

When it comes to online property many ISPs and Web Providers and Designers do not provide you with the keys to your property, taking advantage of a general ignorance and a fear of loosing all those usernames and passwords.

What do you need?

Check to see if you have these, as a starting point:

1.  Hosting – This is where you ‘house’ your site; it’s like renting a property and you need the address and keys. If you are paying a goodly sum for your hosting and your provider will not supply you with these details then you may be ‘renting’ his space, ie he is reseller. That’s ok if you don’t mind paying a possibly inflated price, but it may be time to ask yourself if you could get a much better deal elsewhere, with full control over ‘your property’ and ability to put up more sites.
   • Link to Control Panel
   • Username
   • Password
2. Domain Name – This is the name of your website/s, like your registered business name. These names are ‘registered’ with a Domain Registrar and you often pay for that registration yearly. Sometimes people are not given these details but what happens if you forget the business who organized it for you, or they go out of business?
   • Link to your account with Registrar
   • Username
   • Password
3. Website – This is your online ‘business’ property like a shop front. Even if you are renting you still need the keys and control over what happens there! If it is a WordPress site or other CMS you need:
   • Administrator Role to get into the site
   • Username
   • Password
   • If your website is a custom built site you need all the html/php/other files on DVD or CD (called a gold master)

Protect: Print them and file them

You can, of course, store these details on your computer. But computers can crash and electronic files get lost. So, why not take a couple of minutes to print them out and store them in a folder along with your other business registration papers. Make it a company policy that all usernames and passwords get automatically printed and file.

Protect your online property!