Most everyone knows in life you have to plan for the unexpected. We all probably have a safe place in our homes or businesses that has those papers we need in case the unexpected happens. Whether it’s wills, power of attorney papers, partnership agreements, or just receipts for big purchases… they’re just tucked away in a safe place. And there’s one other paper you need in that safe place, your web site information.
It’s actually pretty simple to make up. And it should have the following:
- Domain Registration Info (who you registered the domain with and the username and password needed to renew or modify it)
- Web Host Information (who you have your web site hosted with and the username and password to renew or modify the hosting plan)
- Site Administration Info (if you have a page you log into to administer the site, you need the page link, username, and password.)
- SSL Information (if you have a SSL Certificate, who you registered the certificate with and the username and password needed to renew or modify it)
And that’s it really! Having one page for each site is what you need for several reasons, if something were to happen to you, or the person maintaining the site, the person taking over has all the info they need to keep things running. And this puts you in control of your sites too. If your unhappy with who you’re working with and decide to make a change, you have all the info needed to change passwords and give the new guy the information he needs to get the job done.
And if you don’t have this info, demand it from who has it. Because after all, it’s your site! A lot of designers try to keep this info to try to secure themselves a job, but in reality they’re doing you a disservice. If your site goes down, and something happens to them…. you’re screwed. And trust me on this, getting things back to normal is a nightmare that I would wish upon nobody.
So with all that said, it just pays to be prepared!