By Julie Albaugh

I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to create websites for wedding professionals and other types of companies. A professional, functioning website can make or break a business, especially if it’s a small business or start-up. The same can be said for the optimization of the said website. After it is created there needs to be enough action so that it can be visible when people are searching for it online, this can happen by utilizing resources such as SEO services melbourne so that traffic can be directed to your website and bring you up in the results page helping your business grow.

In the ever-changing technology world, it has never been more crucial for businesses to establish an online presence by hiring web designers such as those you can find out here to create an impressive website. As promoting through social media is becoming ever more popular, you shouldn’t forget about the impact a website can have. With the help of professional services like those found at Plenty of Pixels (https://plentyofpixels.com/locations/web-design-charlotte-nc/), you can build a website that has all of the features needed to help with your ranking in the search engine, as well as retaining and attracting new clients. By not doing this, you run the risk of missing out on the targets you have set for your business. That’s why it is important to choose a secure web builder, such as WordPress, and a high performance WordPress host too. These are vital when it comes to having online success as well, as they make your wordpress site a lot faster. It is worth researching to make sure you are headed in the right direction.

But to this day I am still surprised at the behavior of some (not all) webmasters when they lose a client. Nobody likes to lose business, but a webmaster can put your world on pause or in danger if he or she chooses.

Ask yourself a couple questions:

• Do you have a friend or employee running your site?
• If there’s a disagreement or they leave on bad terms, will they still be professional?

There are stories out there of webmasters who’ve deleted the entire employer’s website files and even set the office on fire (that’s an extreme example, but you can believe it)!

Some webmasters have:

• Demanded more money for obtaining backup files
• Refused to give up usernames and passwords

Also, digital media contracts can include huge penalties for leaving the company to keep your domain name. Many companies start over to avoid the huge costs with continuing.

Don’t let your website be held hostage! Take action by:

• Purchasing the domain yourself when possible
• Make sure you are listed on the domain as the ‘registrant contact’
• Make sure that all your contact information is current, including your email address
• Know the login and password for domain management if possible
• Have a backup file of your website files
• If you go with an outside company, be sure they can make changes in a timely fashion (within two weeks at the latest)
• Know what your Google PageSpeed Insights are

You can check your Google PageSpeed insights here: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Don’t have any of this information? Get all this in order now so that you won’t be held hostage by your webmaster and be sorry later.