Our blog
Self control is the only way to go
25 May 2009
In our communications design practice, we’re often working with clients to design and build new websites. That sometimes requires registering new domain names and setting up web hosting for the new sites. As we have learned over the years, it’s worth paying for good hosting and it’s really worth ensuring that hosting accounts are set up in the client’s name. Allow us to explain …
A war story
A few years ago, we worked with a non-profit company in central London. The company had an existing website and hosting that was arranged by the company that designed the website. When this non-profit, asked us to help maintain their website, we needed access to the server (via FTP for uploading changes and via cPanel for administering the website). We contacted the original web design agency. That’s when the problems started.
That web design company maintained a tight grip on access to that information and made the whole project very cumbersome and costly for our client. Because the web hosting and domain name account were both in the name of the web design company (rather than in the name of the non-profit), it made forcing that web design company to allow access very difficult. Any minor changes (like adding an email forwarder or a parked domain) incurred not insignificant costs. In the end, the non-profit had to change its web address as the offending web company wanted to charge something like £2,000 to transfer the domain name to the non-profit.
That story, shocking as it may be, is all too commonplace. We regularly hear similar horror stories from new clients who come to us for assistance in resolving their web woes.
A best practice
As a matter of best practice, we insist that any domain names or web hosting agreements that we organise for our clients are done so in their name. That gives them direct control. Yes, they share that access with us so that we can get on with the work, but ultimate control over the account remain in their hands, not ours. And we like that. They are the client; we want them to use our services because they know and trust us, not because we are holding their web address ransom.
A few recommendations
Although there are plenty of reputable and quality domain name registrars and web hosts our there, we know that they are more than a few dodgy ones too. So, we’d like to recommend the companies that we use. We have no relationship with our suppliers other than that of supplier-client.
For domain name registration: www.123-reg.co.uk. This registrar allows for a great deal of domain name control and its user interface is easy enough to use, unlike some others. Admittedly, 123-reg are not the least expensive option when registering domain names, but we think paying a bit extra year (generally not more than £5.00) is worth it for the quality of service.
For web hosting: www.memset.com. We have used Memset for three or four years now for dedicated servers. They have knowledgable and responsive tech support (available via email). Again, they are not the least expensive hosting company out there, but the few extra GBP (or USD) certainly deliver value for money.
