3 Reasons Why Your Website Is Down (And Could Be Lost Forever)

Written on 24 March, 2015 by Lazar Dusanovic
Categories Web Design & Content

Your business knows who to pay to keep the lights on and who to call when the printer is out of toner. But few know the three most important services that keep websites live. Your page is your digital marketing tool, lead generator and online store. It’s a part of your success and it’s crucial to how your business operates.

These are the three most common reasons your website can be lost to the world of complicated web dilemmas – don’t stress, we’re here to help.

  1. Hosting

You need to know your hosting providers name and who is listed as the primary contact. This is critical. If a former employee is listed as the main contact, you may not be getting the renewal emails, resulting in a loss of your hosting resources. The hosting company will take down your website, having not received the renewal payment, and you’ll be left high and dry.

This scenario may sound silly. But it’s a common one we see time and time again. If you’re unsure on who hosts your website, try visiting www.whoishostingthis.com.

  1. Domain Name

Your domain name is your website address – e.g. www.mywebsite.com.au. This address is registered with a domain name provider, which requires you to pay an ongoing registration fee. If nobody pays the renewal, then your site will go offline. Even worse, if the domain name is not registered in your name, email address or ABN, you’re going to have a difficult time resolving this problem.

Stop and think about the creation of your website: did you register your domain name yourself? Or did a tech savvy friend do this for you a long time ago? Hopefully you’re still in touch.

Go to www.whois.com.au/whois/ to find out who registered your domain name and the provider it’s registered with.

  1. Domain Name Servers (DNS)

Not commonly mentioned when people talk about setting up a website, a DNS service points your domain name to the server your website is on. It does this by translating your domain name to the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the server.

The important thing to know is that this service is commonly provided by your hosting or domain name provider, but in some cases, it’s with a third party.

Start by asking your hosting provider if they manage your DNS. If it’s not with them, they will have the technical know-how to advise or point you in the right direction.

Too complicated?

Dealing with this situation is fussy and pretty confusing, but this process is critical to the health of your website. Don’t push this task to the back of the pile.

Most of these services only offer a one or two year agreement before they require you to renew again, so check when your renewal is due to come around (preferably after reading this blog post – you’ll thank us later, we promise).

Final lesson

Record the information where others in your business can access it. The last thing you want is to have one person in control of these details and for them to be unavailable when your website goes down.

Every web professional knows that websites only go offline in the most inconvenient times. They always wait for staff to be on holiday or the day you launch an online promotion. It’s your websites way of saying BAZINGA!

Looking for some help with domains, hosting, web design or digital marketing?
 

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