When Your Website Designer Becomes the Enemy

I've been helping to create business websites for a variety of clients for several years now. In the majority of cases, I work in a copywriting capacity, although I do have a select few clients who have me on permanently, making HTML changes to their websites in Dreamweaver which I also do.

One pattern I can't help but notice is the client who arrives wanting "a new website" to fix what the former web designer screwed up and then left for dead. I find it shocking that this is how a business relationship would end.

The shocking part is not so much that the client is unhappy about the site and the website designer ends up folding (it happens... sometimes the working relationship is just not a good fit). I'm more surprised by the fact that the web designer wouldn't even have the decency to leave the client with the hosting login on his way out. I mean, at least be a good sport and let the client hire another web tech who can pick up where you left off.

I also can't imagine that running away with the client's website login details would be profitable for one's professional reputation. But I'm also guessing that the types of people who would screw over a client in this manner maybe don't aspire that high in the first place. For example, maybe the client hired some near-anonymous person overseas who they're not likely to "run into" again (or so they think!). Or maybe the designer was a flaky high school or college student who threw up a quick storefront on the internet to try and make a little pocket change and really isn't all that committed.

Whatever the case, sometimes the client/web designer relationship just doesn't work. But because the world is ever-shrinking, it's really smart not to burn that bridge if at all possible. As frustrated as either or both parties might be, doing the honorable thing in the end might just save you some unpleasant repercussions down the road.

That said, this is why I always tell my website clients to open hosting accounts in their own names. I urge them (and you) to create and protect their own logins, and have all alerts from their hosting company come through to their own email addresses. Give the person who'll be working on your website his or her own login. Then, if for some reason the relationship should fall apart, you'll at least be able to salvage what remains and keep control of the site and the domain name.

Wordfeeder Creates Small Business Websites! We'll even give you your own login. Contact dina@wordfeeder.com for a quote today.