A simple call looking for website maintenance turned into a website recovery.
Cybervise received an inquiry through our website looking for help with ongoing maintenance. The website owner, “Dan” was exploring options. He had simple website that he used to promote his academic research and only needs updates a few times per year. The site was build in Wix. He currently had a vendor that he was relying on for these changes. They were also the same vendor who built the website.
Dan had received notice from his webmaster that in 60 days his maintenance fees would double. He now would be paying over $200 per month for maintenance of his Wix website. That is when he found Cybervise online and reached out.
After getting the story from Dan, I was questioning what kind of maintenance did a Wix site need? Especially that required charging $200/month and needing to raise prices. Wix is a hosted, proprietary website builder. One of their big selling points is it does not require technical site management.
Can Cybervise Help with This Wix Site?
Yes, Dan has the ability to do his updates himself. But like many website owners, they don’t have the time to update. They would like to hand this off to someone reliable. Cybervise could easily help him make content updates on a quarterly basis. We proposed doing it on per-request basis, since the changes were not frequent. But we could put a plan together for him if he preferred a fixed budget.
As long as Dan still had his Wix login, we could help. He said he did and he was the one still paying for his account. He gave notice to his existing vendor and that’s when the trouble started.
Website Maintenance Turns to Website Recovery
Dan got his Wix login info over to us. When we logged into his account there was no website. Then he heard from his current vendor. The website will be deleted in 30 days if he cancelled his maintenance plan. Dan thought he had paid them to build a website on his Wix account. Turns out the site was on their account and they had control. Even though he had already paid for the website. The vendor was going to take it down without maintenance fees. (I can’t help but wonder what Wix would think about a business model like this?) Maintenance is now a Website Recovery.
Solution to Having Your Website Cancelled
Dan’s website vendor said they would take down his site in 30 days if he did not continue to pay the fees. So we knew we had a window of opportunity to act. Dan wanted to do something that didn’t require monthly fees. Cybervise quickly setup a WordPress site for Dan. We picked a theme that was like what they had used on Wix. It was a small site, so it did not take long to scrape the content off the site and setup new pages. Fortunately Dan still had control of his domain registration and had the correct login. All that was needed was to point the domain to the new site location.
Could Dan Have Avoided this Situation?
Cybervise is not shy about our opinion on hosting. We think its a mistake to have your developer also be your website host. Dan was building his first website. He was unfamiliar with all the decisions that needed to be made. But similar situations happen to people who are launching a new website all the time. What could Dan have done to prevent almost having his site deleted?
- Login to the site as soon as it is done. Even if you don’t have changes to make, make sure you can login. I think if Dan would have tried to use his login right away he would have realized the site was not built on his account.
- Be very clear what happens to the website once it goes live. If you don’t want to handle it, that’s fine. Just make sure you know what you signed up for. Dan could have clarified from the beginning that the site should be on his account. He would take over once they were done building.
- Before you start building, ask about costs once the site is done. If costs are proposed, get details on what they are for. Dan only needed a quick quarterly content update. He didn’t need unlimited updates on a monthly basis. That needed to be clear to both sides and whether or not there was an alternative to a $200/month plan.
What Was the Key Thing that Saved Dan’s Website?
The most important part of this story is the domain registration. Dan maintained control of his domain. He registered it himself and kept track of the login. We have seen many cases where the developer took control of the domain too. That makes recovery really hard. In most cases all you can do is start a new site at a new location. Own your domain name.
