Three Web Site Rules You Should Never Break

I call them Jodi’s rules of web sites. They’re lessons many of my clients have learned the hard way.

1) Own your own code.

Try to avoid templates created by your web host. If you want to change hosts, you’ll lose your Web design! Also, keep a backup copy of all the pictures and the HTML (This is the language that web sites are created in, roughly like a word doc, but a lot of it looks like a jumble of strange symbols. Those symbols are the instructions that tell the Web and your computer to display bold, make columns, etc.).

2) Register the site in your own name (not your consultant’s).

If the consultant leaves town, goes out of business, or you have a disagreement, you’ll still have control of your own site.

3) Don’t register your domain name with the same company that hosts your site.

(see rule 2 explanation).

Related posts:

1. Five Web Rules You Should Never Break
2. Do You Make These Six Web Site Mistakes?
3. Does your site speak plain English? or gobbledygook?
4. Rate Your Web Site: 10 Ways to Tell if It’s a Wow or a Flop
5. Is Your Web Site Search Broken?