A long time ago, someone in your organization (who’s probably no longer there) purchased your website domain. Someone else, probably a web developer, created a login for the platform where your website is built. And just possibly, someone else—probably an IT person, created a login for where your website is hosted.
Do you have any idea where these three critical logins are?
Toolbox Studios: Private Eye
It is sad to say, but we spend A LOT OF TIME hunting down logins for desperate clients. We rescue websites on a monthly basis, and it is often an ugly mess. It takes some detective work to figure out what’s going on with a poorly performing website. Generally, it’s because of changes in your hosting server, non-renewal of your domain name, poor SEO standards, not keeping up with Google changes, and possibly hacked, blacklisted, or crashed.
The process gets a whole lot tougher when nobody in your organization can find the three logins needed. Let’s break these out even further.
Your Domain Login
This is the web address where internet users can access your website. You must purchase a domain from a domain host or domain registrar. You find a name that works for your business and is unique (no one else is using), and then you pay the domain host/registrar an annual fee to use it. Generally, your email is also associated with this domain to provide cohesion and legitimacy to your brand.
www.mydomain.com, me@mydomain.com
Here’s the problem. If the person who set up your domain is no longer with you, the email associated with that person has probably been deactivated or is no longer monitored. So, any reminders to renew your domain are going unnoticed, and it’s likely your domain will expire.
Your Web Hosting Login
A web host is where your website is stored on a server. When an internet user opens a browser, they search for your website. Their computer connects to your web host’s server and your webpages are delivered to their browser. You pay an annual fee for this service.
Here’s the problem. How well do you trust your host provider? Websites are vulnerable if the web host’s servers are not secure, if they have policy changes that you haven’t agreed to (oops, missed that email), if they don’t perform regular management to stay abreast of Google changes, etc., or if your site traffic is too high for their server to handle.
Your Web Platform Login
This is where your website is actually built, the pages, posts, images, design, CSS styles, etc. all live on your platform. Toolbox Studios designs websites on WordPress for one single reason: it is the world’s most popular content management system. There are 1.3 billion active websites in the world and 35% of them are built on WordPress. Once we build your site and train you, we turn it over to you to manage and update—in other words, we don’t hold your site hostage.
Here’s the problem. If you don’t have access to your own website, then you can’t update the information on it. Google really likes fresh, relevant content. So, if your site has sat stagnant for 6 months, your Google ranking will diminish as people search for information.
The House Visual
Toolbox Studios partners with iNNOV8 to design and develop websites. They have a great visualizer for how your website works. Think of a house.
> The land is your Host Provider
> The street is the Internet
> Your address is the Domain
> The house is your Website
If your website is in trouble, and you don’t have the THREE BIG LOGINS, give Toolbox Studios a call. We have rescued websites out of some very bleak situations. We are here to help you.
