Staying In Control

If you read the sidebar I wrote back in Chapter 2 about Unscrupulous Web Consultants (UWCs, for short), you know that not all Web designers are as honest, objective, and informative as you'd like them to be. In fact, if you're not careful and unknowingly hire a UWC, you might find yourself losing control of your own Web design project.

Here are some things you can do to stay in control. Keep them in mind ”even if you think your Web designer is as honest and trustworthy as the day is long.

Communicating Your Needs & Preferences

Communication is the most important aspect of working with any consultant, including Web designers. It's important to keep the channels of communication flowing in both directions throughout the Web design and creation process. After all, you need to make sure you communicate your needs to the Web designer if you expect him to satisfy them. You also need to let him know how you want things done if you expect him to make you happy.

Here are a few things you can do to keep communication flowing and prevent misunderstandings.

Put/Get It In Writing

Maybe it's because I'm a writer, but I feel very strongly about putting things in writing. You see, you can't argue print. It either says something or it doesn't.

Don't be afraid to write a memo or send a letter to your Web designer to discuss your take on certain points. You can always refer to that document later ”hopefully, to tell the Web designer how well he met your needs.

By the same token, your Web designer should provide you with written confirmation of any changes in your business relationship. This protects him and you from misunderstandings.

Take a Meeting

Meetings are a great way to interact with your Web designer. The communication flows both ways. You can hear what he says and tell him what you think. You can also have other members of your organization on hand to provide information, answer questions, and brainstorm ideas.

When the meeting is over, however, do yourself a favor and summarize the key points in a memo or note. Then make sure the Web designer gets a copy. This will help ensure that you were both hearing the same thing throughout the meeting.

Feedback

Whenever you have a particular thought about your Web design project, it's important to share it with your Web designer. Is he working too slowly? Are the colors he's selected too bright? Do you wish your logo were larger? Do you have a better picture of your storefront?

Whatever you're thinking, share it! It will make your work relationship better and help you get what you expect from your Web designer. Just be aware that if you start making a lot of changes to your site once the design process is underway, you may incur additional fees. If things don't seem to be going the right way, discuss it with your Web designer before things get out of hand.

Dealing with Ownership Issues

Who owns your domain name ? Your Web site? The answer to both of these questions should be you . But if you're not careful, you can lose one or both of them.

Domain Name

Your domain name is most likely something you paid for. But if you let someone else register it for you, that other person may register himself as the owner.

The domain name registration form asks for information for four different contacts or agents :

• Registrant is the name of the individual or company under which the domain name is registered. This should be you or your company.

• Administrative contact is the individual who is authorized to make changes to the domain name registration information. This should be you.

• Billing contact is the individual responsible for paying registration fees. Unfortunately, this should also be you.

• Technical contact is the individual or company who maintains the primary domain name server for the Web site. This should be your ISP.

Make sure that your domain name is registered correctly so that you have complete control over it.

Tip

You can check to see how your domain name is registered by using the WHOIS Lookup feature on the Network Solutions Web site (http://www.networksolutions.com/). Click the WHOIS Lookup link on the Home page, then enter your domain name in the Search WHOIS form that appears and click Search. Figure 9.2 shows the registration information for one of my sites, wickenburg-az.com.

Figure 9.2. You can use the WHOIS Lookup feature on Network Solutions' Web site to see how your domain name (or anyone else's, for that matter) is registered.

Web Site

When a Web designer builds a Web site for you, he's creating an intellectual property that is protected by copyright law. Did you know that?

Your agreement with the Web designer should include some provision that clearly states who owns copyright to the completed site. Make sure it's you. Don't accept anything less. The project should be handled as a "work for hire."

Domain Name Kidnapping

Here's my favorite horror story, because I've seen it happen so many times.

A small business owner hires a Web designer to set up a Web site for him. As part of the service the Web designer provides, he registers the company's domain name. But when he fills out the registration form, he enters himself as the Administrative contact and puts his ISP buddy down as the Technical contact. Since these two contacts control the administrative and technical aspects of the registration information, they control the information about where the Web site resides. The small business owner is forced to use the ISP for domain name hosting.

This happened to one of my clients . He was in a hurry to register his domain name and didn't know how to do it himself. He saw an ad in the newspaper for domain name registration and paid $150 to have his domain name registered by an ISP. The ISP set himself up as both Administrative and Technical contacts. When it came time to move his site to my server, the ISP refused to change the server information for the site. There was nothing my client or I could do. It wasn't until several months went by and we threatened legal action that the information was changed. The Administrative contact information was also changed so my client finally has control of his domain name.

Why? Well suppose you and your Web designer have a falling out ” after you've already paid him for his work. If he owns the Web site, he could force you to take it offline. Although you'd probably have a good legal case to get the site back, do you really want to deal with lawyers and courts and legal fees?

In addition, your Web designer may include copyright notices on each page of the Web site. If so, it should indicate you or your organization as the copyright holder. I recently saw a Web design contract that clearly stated that the client owned copyright to the site. Yet on every page, the Web designer's company appeared as copyright owner. That's not right.

Tip

Your Web designer might want to include links to his Web site or an advertisement for his services on your site. Don't allow it. A link or ad for your Web designer does not add anything of use to your customers or clients.

Reviewing Work in Progress

One of the best ways to stay in control of a project is to review all work in progress. Set up weekly status meetings or arrange to have the Web designer upload the site to a test server so you can see how the work is going. Then, when you see something you like or don't like, tell the Web designer. This will help keep things going the way you want them to.

If You Lose Control

If you feel as if you're losing control ”things just aren't going the way you expected them to ”meet with the Web designer to discuss it. If he's receptive to your comments and seems willing to make changes to get things back on track, give him another chance. But if he doesn't seem interested in recognizing that you're the boss, prove it by firing him.

Then find someone else who can do the job the way you want it done.