Posts Tagged ‘internet’

I just spent 5 days in CA at TNNA‘s Winter Market, answering lots of internet related questions and teaching a marathon of 3 hour classes about doing business online.

In the course of the show, I was asked many questions about doing business on the internet… in my classes, in the aisles, and at my booth. Often the questions are regarding how business is set up within common internet industry business models.

A common example is that most web designers handle all of the details regarding the web sites they design/develop, including registering the domain and providing the hosting. From the designer/developer’s point of view, this business model is very attractive and a good money producer.

However, from the point of view of a small business owner, this scenario can be fraught with many hidden dangers!

So… what do I do as a business consultant? Do I go with the flow and offer advice based on the common business models?

I always answer every question by first asking myself *What would I tell Lisa?*.

Lisa is my BF/Cousin and a single mom with 2 daughters in college and no financial help other than from her own business.

Lisa was the inspiration for my Disaster-Proof Your Online Business Survival Guide and Workbook.

She called me at midnight (my time) to say that she didn’t have access to her web site to change the registration for an offline workshop. Her workshops are the financial backbone of her business, so this was a MAJOR business crisis!

As it turned out, we were able to get the issues resolved. Lisa’s web developer had sent Lisa the important info when she changed web hosts, so SHE had acted responsibly. Lisa had carefully kept the email that was sent, even though she wasn’t sure exactly what it all meant, so SHE had acted responsibly.

The problems had arisen because Lisa had not realized the importance of being the person controlling the information, decision-making, and action-taking concerning her web site.

So, there you have Lisa’s story, but this post was actually prompted by a question on a quilt industry business group and the answer I gave.

Someone was asking which of two reputable companies she should entrust with her online business. She was looking at it from both the financial aspect, and from the point of view of the different services offered and benefits derived. These certainly are important considerations, but, in my opinion, they are not the deciding factors I would use to evaluate things if Lisa called with the same question…

Any way… what would I tell Lisa?

For a serious business person such as Lisa (meaning her family’s finances depend on the business), I would recommend that Lisa operate her web site from her own hosting account, being sure that LISA owns her domain AND the hosting account and that they are NOT with the same company.

If Lisa owns and controls the domain registration and hosting (at separate companies), she would be able to move her site to a different hosting company, should the need arise for whatever reason. While it may be a PITA, her business has an excellent chance of surviving long term…

If everything is is someone else’s hands, she would most likely be starting over from scratch.

If Lisa were to decide to use one of the above mentioned companies, I would tell her to register and maintain her domains herself. I would tell her to have the company involved tell her what the new nameservers need to be and then Lisa should go in and make the changes!

When it is YOUR business, YOU need to control ALL aspects of it, whether you are Lisa or some other business owner!

Most small business owners are clueless about the internet and it becomes easy to allow someone else to take control and *just handle it* . I tell my clients to think about this in the same way they think about their bank accounts. They may not know all of the Ins and Outs of banking, but they certainly make sure that they are in control!

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