by Teri Robnett
(published in Brainstorm! February 2004)

Awhile back, we received a phone call from the executive director of a national nonprofit, frantic because their web site had disappeared and they couldn't get any e-mail. She explained that she didn't have a copy of the web site, and the person who would have information about it was a volunteer who had recently left unhappy and dissatisfied.

After several minutes online and a couple of phone calls, we discovered that their volunteer webmaster had registered the domain name and arranged the hosting, listing himself as the only contact person. When he left the organization, he simply canceled the account with their web host, leaving them with no web site, no e-mail, nothing. To make matters worse, they had recently launched a new national fundraising campaign listing their web and e-mail addresses on every piece.

If you think this only happens to nonprofits, you're mistaken. We regularly hear from people who have lost their web site or their webmaster and don't know where to begin the recovery process. A business has a beautiful web sites done entirely in Flash that they can't update or change now because they never asked for the original source files from the designer. A web site "goes missing" because the contact information for the domain name was never updated, and the domain name registration has expired.

Although these examples may seem extreme, they're not uncommon. Here are lessons you can learn from their mistakes:

• Make sure that your organization is the registered owner of your domain name and the information for the contact of record is current. If anything changes, be sure to update the records.
• Know where your web site is hosted and who has authority to make any changes, especially to move or close the account.
• Ask your webmaster to regularly provide you with a CD with all the files required for your web site. If there's a problem, even an old copy may save a lot of time and money by enabling you to get the site up and running again quickly.
• Contract with a professional web development firm to handle your web site. They can help you keep up with your due diligence, and you'll be in a better legal position if problems should arise.

If you're concerned that your business hasn't been doing its web site due diligence, and you'd like advice on where to start, please feel free to contact us for assistance.

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