6. How to Break Up with Your Web Designer

Monica Pitts 0:00 Hello again this is Monica Pitts, welcome to marketing with purpose. And today I don't have Katie with me. I mean, you might miss her but I promise you that you're going to love Stacy Brockmeier who is with me today she is a MayeCreate wearer of many hats and one of the hats that she wears extremely well for our company is sales and consulting. Today, Stacy and I are staring out this dreary window and it's raining and sad feeling outside. And so we thought we would talk about heartbreak, how Stacy Brockmeier 0:37 to break up with people. Monica Pitts 0:39 Yeah, how to end relationships. So sad with web designers. Stacy Brockmeier 0:46 We're gonna teach you how to break up with your web designer. Monica Pitts 0:49 And that sounds like way less bad than breaking up with your boyfriend. Really. Stacy Brockmeier 0:54 We're not going to encourage you to do that. We'll let that be your own decision. Monica Pitts 1:00 So Stacy, tell me about where the journey starts when I'm ready to move on to a new company to build my new website. What do I need to do first? Stacy Brockmeier 1:11 Yeah, so I think that the very first thing you need to do is understand where you're at right now. And so to do that, you have to review that contract, you have to understand what you own, what the company owns, what you have access to even, and also how long you have to give that company before you can end your services. So a lot of those are 30 days, you have to give 30 day notice before your hosting before they'll stop billing you. Monica Pitts 1:42 Yes, and there's multiple parts that might be listed underneath the contract. Things like your hosting space, but also your rights to your files, your code, and even the images that they may have used in your website. You might not be able to use those images in your new website. Stacy Brockmeier 2:00 Yeah, so especially if they're stock photos, that can get you in a little bit of trouble if you if they didn't come with your contract. So if your web company has the rights to use those, but you don't, you could really get in some trouble, I won't say super serious trouble. But we have had people get like a bill for $500 from an image company because they were using an image that they did not have the rights to. The other thing is photography, photo images, that you maybe have that company come out and take, you want to make sure that you have all those as well, and the rights to use them from the photographer who took those photos. Monica Pitts 2:41 Okay, so I need to go through my website and figure out the stuff that I still need. Think through the items that you have procured from this company, or through this company, throughout your relationship and make a list so that you can ask for those because quite frankly, after you end the relationship with them, they're probably not going to be super enthused about sending you your logo files, because you can't find them anywhere else. So make that list so that you can get those assets from them and use them in your future marketing. Absolutely. Alright, so after I review my contract and make my list, what do I need to ask them for other than like these things that I totally understand, like, I understand words and pictures, what do I not understand that I need to ask them for? Stacy Brockmeier 3:31 Yeah, so your website is comprised of many things. The first of those being your hosting space. So I like to think about hosting as like an apartment. So you have this apartment that's in this building, and you have neighbors and those are other companies who have websites with your same company or that are hosted on that server. Well, we need you to be able to get into your apartment and so you'll need a thing called the host, which is actually the code to get into the building. And then you're going to need the username and password to your FTP space. That's f t p space File Transfer Protocol. And that's a username and password all in itself. So you have your host, you have a username and password, and then you have a port number as well. So that's kind of like your extra security code when you need to turn off the alarm system in your apartment. Monica Pitts 4:28 So I need host FTP username and password and port. Stacy Brockmeier 4:33 Yes, Monica Pitts 4:34 yes. And then though, that still doesn't get me access to the physical domain name itself? Stacy Brockmeier 4:42 Actually, it no absolutely does not. And there's actually a couple more usernames and passwords that have to do with your hosting that you need. So we have Monica Pitts 4:51 feel your flow chart right now. You probably Stacy Brockmeier 4:53 do. You have your database if you have a content management system like WordPress Drupal or Joomla, anything like that. Those are all hosted on a database. So the second set of usernames and passwords that you need are your database, username and password. And then there's a third. The third thing that you need if you have a content management system is actually a user account in that content management system. So for example, it would be an administrative account in WordPress. Monica Pitts 5:27 Yes, and what she just said administrative account is really important. So if you there's different levels of users in any type of system. And if you don't have an administrative account, then you can't make all the changes that you need to to move your website someplace else or to extend it. And we have a lot of clients will be like, Oh, yeah, I have a username and password and we log in and the only thing that they can do is make blog posts but they can't install a plugin. They can't, you know, export things from their site, and those are all things that you might or might not need when you're going to redesign your website. So make sure that you get a user in your current system. And it's an administrative user. And if you log in, and there aren't a ton of things down the left hand side of the screen that you don't know what they are, you are not an administrator yet. Stacy Brockmeier 6:19 Absolutely. And sometimes that administrator username and password can actually grant us the power, if you will, to even the database and the files and make it easier to move that website. But definitely have to have that administrative username and password. So like Monica said, moving into so that's kind of all the things to do with your website and your files and your hosting. But there's a huge piece, domain name. And if you don't have access to your domain name, Monica Pitts 6:56 Oh, goodness, things aren't very easy. It tell them what domain name is. Stacy Brockmeier 7:01 So a domain name is that little thing that you put up in the top of your browser to go to a website, may create. com, etc. So though that is the URL that you put at the top of the web at the top of your web browser to get to a website, okay? It also points to your email and we'll talk about that in a second. Yeah. So unfortunately, if you do not have access to your domain name, it is extremely hard to get ahold of it. You need your username, your password to your domain name. It's so so important to know who owns it where it's at. We host a lot of domain names for our clients but they've paid us for them and we're really cordial about giving them back to them. However, they just want the security of it's never going to expire because may creates taking care of it. Monica Pitts 8:00 So the place that you get your domain name is called your domain name registrar. I didn't just make up that word. It's actually a real word, registrar. And those are places like GoDaddy and Network Solutions Bluehost to cows, fast domains.com Stacy Brockmeier 8:22 so there's lots of places there are lots of places that you can buy a domain name, not an ad personal plug. I like GoDaddy. They're just easy to deal with and easy to call and actually get a human on the phone and, work through and they're pretty cost effective as well. Monica Pitts 8:43 Yeah. And so when Stacy talks about getting a username and password to your domain, she's talking about that company that you registered it with GoDaddy or Network Solutions. And there is actually a way that Stacy figures out where It was purchased from. Stacy Brockmeier 9:03 Yeah, so you can run a who is report on it. So there's several companies out there who you can run who is reports through. So who is godaddy.com and it'll say on there who the registrar is. Now, it can be a little bit tricky sometimes because those companies buy up each other. And so they may actually now be hosted, you know, Bluehost may have been another. It's a smaller company. Yeah, kinda like student loans. Monica Pitts 9:36 it could be anyone. Stacy Brockmeier 9:37 But your new web developer ought to be able to help you figure out where it's registered at so that way you can get in touch with them or get a hold of that domain name. Monica Pitts 9:49 Now tell us that you were telling me a story about how like your dad actually is part of a group that registered there's as a private and they get what Stacy Brockmeier 9:59 Yeah, So I right now I'm in the throes of helping an organization that my dad is in. So keep in mind, it's a group of like 70 year old men that are their webmaster actually passed away, unfortunately, and nobody has the username and password. Nobody knows whose email is on it. And I can't even run that, who is report because they paid for domain privacy. And of course, the registrar is not helping because their duty is to protect their client. And we have submitted the Secretary of State paperwork and all kinds of paperwork still don't have access to it. Fortunately, they're not a business. It's not something that's really like going to be the end of the world. So there, we're just going to have to let it expire in 12 days. it expires in 12 days, so we don't even have a lot of time to figure this out, and then we're going to buy it back Monica Pitts 11:03 when it goes out on the market. Stacy Brockmeier 11:05 Yeah, but that is not something I would ever want to suggest to anyone who is running a business. Fortunately, this is just an organization that will be okay. Having a different domain name for a month or two. Monica Pitts 11:17 Yeah, and we've had people we had a client who is a salon and their domain name expired and they didn't like renew it and they went up for sale for a naughty company. Because they take the people they don't wear their clothes and stuff and we were like what Salon and Spa what? So it was that was eye opening for them for sure about the importance of making sure you know how to log into your domain name and keeping it active. Stacy Brockmeier 11:52 Making sure you renew it and know how to how to get ahold of it and where it is super important is Monica Pitts 11:58 because we do joke around in the office like, well, if Stacy got hit by a bus, how would we even know how to do this? And then I was joking around with her about if somebody got hit by a bus, how would we get into the domain names? And then she said, Well, her dad's friend died. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm such a jerk right now, I just said, hit by a bus. It's not funny. It was a Stacy Brockmeier 12:17 really hard situation. It's really sad. Even harder that they don't have a website anymore because they don't know how to get to their domain name. Monica Pitts 12:27 So one of the things that we do for our new clients, if they have an existing set of content are not content, but if they are trying to relinquish these details and assets from their past designers is we will just write the email for them. We like exactly what it's supposed to say specifically asking for things. We do not reach out to that company generally, unless they really have to have us do it because something weird is going on. But most of the time, we just give the email to them. They Copy and paste it and put it in their own email and send it off. And that is, I think, a really nice exchange because then the client doesn't feel overwhelmed. They don't feel like out of control because they don't know what these words are. And it's really easy for us to give them that list. Very specific list of information that you need based on the situation but most of the time definitely need that hosting information, FTP username and password, Stacy Brockmeier 13:30 database username and password, content management system administrative username and password, and then access to that domain name for sure. There is one last piece though your email so if you have a professional email account associated with your domain name, it's really important to understand where your email is hosted and how that changeover is going to work as well. Monica Pitts 13:55 Yeah, because there's been a lot of we've had many clients that didn't really know how to their email was handled. And then if you don't handle it right, when you move everything over to your new website, you can break your email, which is very sad. Stacy Brockmeier 14:11 It's really sad Monica Pitts 14:12 because you can't ever get those emails back. Stacy Brockmeier 14:14 This is also a great time to bring in your IT professional if you have one. Monica Pitts 14:19 How the unicorns! We love the IT professionals. Stacy Brockmeier 14:22 magical magical unicorn! Monica Pitts 14:24 Yes, I mean, really, I like it when companies bring in their IT professionals at the very beginning of the conversation about redesigning their website because those IT professionals know how stuff is set up. And they are going to be dealing with this exchange. And it's great to have them on board to begin with. So we just talked about how you know, you would probably email your old web designer, all these details. When does that email need to be sent? When do we reach out to them? Stacy Brockmeier 14:52 So there's two schools of thought on this. And I think it all depends on your relationship with your current web developer, you know, if it's your friend or you know someone that is trying to hand it off, they really want to get rid of it. Because that maybe they have a full time job and this just isn't going to work out anymore, then they're going to be really cordial with you and really okay with handing over these details and, breaking up. However, if they're not wanting to relinquish your website, they definitely have the power to turn it off. And so if you don't think that your current web developer is going to be nice cooperative about it, and you think that they are going to kind of turn it off prematurely or just not take care of you, then that's kind of a rip the band aid off, pull the plug immediately. So if it's the first one, the guy who's really cooperative and nice, you know, 30 days plus a few weeks Two to three weeks is a great time to start discussing this with them, because then you have time to get all these details in order. And you're still giving them the respect of having a 30 day cancellation policy or whatever amount of time is in your in your contract. Monica Pitts 16:20 And then we do have people who kind of use a drip method with us, they'll email and say, Hey, can I get my FTP username and password? Now, as soon as a client emails out to me? I know I mean, I know these people. I've worked with them for however long I know whether or not they're smart enough to even know what the word like what the acronym FTP means or like how to use it, Stacy Brockmeier 16:45 but never logged into it before. Monica Pitts 16:46 Yeah, exactly. Like, I haven't even logged into it because that's not like I have developers that are using it. Right. And that's it. So that to me, is a red flag that they're probably on their way out. It's I mean, I it gives me an opportunity to reach out to them and see if like, if I want to salvage the relationship, then I could Stacy Brockmeier 17:05 turn it around and be awesome. Monica Pitts 17:07 Yeah, I mean, sometimes though, it's okay, because Stacy Brockmeier 17:13 we want to gift them back to the community and not have them use our services any longer. Monica Pitts 17:22 Yes. So I wish that everybody were awesome and that every client was amazing and that you wanted to keep them forever. But you guys all know what it's like to have clients that are not amazing. But yeah, so even if you do, like, kind of try to be sneaky with it, I'm using like air quotes, sneaky. It's not really sneaky. They're gonna know what you're doing. And that's okay. Like, and they should if they're functional people cooperate because it's your website, not their website, and you have the choice to do what you want to do with it. Absolutely. Stacy Brockmeier 17:53 And then also, if you're listening to this, and you don't want to break up with them, you can tell them you don't want to break up with them and still gather all these details for anytime that you may need them in the future. Monica Pitts 18:04 Oh, yeah, it's like insurance. I mean, I can't tell you like, when how many, I cannot even tell you how many of our clients will email us and ask us for their logo, not because they're going to break up with us but because they just honestly don't even have their logo file saved any place where they can get to it. I mean, that's,wow. Stacy Brockmeier 18:24 that was kind of a whole nother thing is that you'll want to get your whole company file from them. So you have all your images, all your videos, all your site files, you know, if they developed a flyer for you really anything that they did for you, you want to ask for those things. Yeah. Monica Pitts 18:43 So last but not least, like we've been talking about breaking up. And you know, it's not quite like breaking up with a boyfriend. It's a little bit more like breaking up with, well, not as bad as getting a divorce. I mean, not that bad. We don't have any I idea what it is? Stacy Brockmeier 19:01 No? worse. I don't know it. It's much shorter. I think there's like a waiting period and like lots of back and forth with a divorce, this is a much shorter transaction. Monica Pitts 19:11 Okay. So but there,does have to be some type of written closure. I feel like. Stacy Brockmeier 19:17 I absolutely. And I think that any company is going to require that from you, if you're canceling your services. Monica Pitts 19:23 Yeah, making sure that you're not leaving the door open for anything, because you might email me and tell me that you want to cancel your service with me. And that to me might mean, you want to cancel your service when your service is up. And it could be up in six months or today. Or, Yeah, and I might just turn it off now. And then you'll be like, what, where's my website going? I'll be like, well, you wanted me to cancel your service so, I canceled it. Stacy Brockmeier 19:45 Yeah. So definitely make sure you include a date. Yeah, specific services that you're going to cancel if you have more than one with them. Monica Pitts 19:52 And if you just like, take your website to a new place and don't ever tell the company that's hosting it for you or Maybe that made it for you that you've done that you still do owe them the money for hosting your site whether or not you're using that website or not. Stacy Brockmeier 20:08 Yeah, they have some hard costs in it too because most web developers don't own a data center. Yeah. And so they have they're paying someone else to host your website for you and so they're out those hard costs and they're probably not really going to want to refund those at all? Monica Pitts 20:26 No, they if they did refund them it would be because they were being very kind and not because I mean, not because they were obligated to whether or not you can see your website online. If it is on someone's server and you're hosting it there you are using their services. Absolutely. And that's kind of the bottom line and then afterwards of course double check to make sure that they Stacy Brockmeier 20:49 didn't bill you again, Monica Pitts 20:51 cuz Oh, it can happen. Never with us, like never. Stacy Brockmeier 20:55 And it can totally be accidental. Yes. So many static Monica Pitts 21:00 Bottom line, what are they called automatic something's in quickbook Stacy Brockmeier 21:05 memorize transact, memorize transactions in quickbook. That's the thing. Monica Pitts 21:10 Yeah, we have gone over so many details compliments, so Stacy Brockmeier 21:14 many technical details. Monica Pitts 21:17 And some of these words may be super familiar to you and others maybe not as familiar to you. And so if you need to have this information, because you know, you're going to break up with your web developer, then you can go over to our blog for every podcast, we always make sure that we do a nice blog post that's super organized. So you can, you know, take the information in in a different way. That's Mayecreate.com/blog and that spelled m, a, y, e, C, r, e, a t, e .com. forward slash blog. And then also we have the show notes, which is like the transcription of the podcast in case you just, you know, really want to read every single word that we've said and you can get that Stacy Brockmeier 22:01 at podcast.mayecreate.com Monica Pitts 22:05 So that is how you break up with a web designer. Stacy Brockmeier 22:10 Absolutely lots of technical things, but super important. Monica Pitts 22:14 What a great, heartbreaking topic to cover on this rainy, nasty day. Thank you so much for your attention. And I know you've got other things to do. So go get to it. Break up your web designer if you want. Then call Stacy. No, wait, wait, we did that backwards. First call Stacy. Yeah, then break up with your web designer. Stacy Brockmeier 22:40 Yeah, definitely call your new web designer first. Yeah, Monica Pitts 22:43 go forth and market with purpose. Transcribed by https://otter.ai