Ricky’s Online Business Blog

I’ve got a former customer who transferred out to another hoster a few months ago.  One day I came across his customer record with me, out of curiosity I just did a check up on the WHOIS page of his domain name to find out who he is hosting with.

I was stunned to find out that the ownership of his domain name is being owned by the new hosting provider!  He is no longer the legal owner of his domain name which he first registered through me!

I immediately sent an email to notify him on the matter.  However, it seems he doesn’t mind about it.  Perhaps there is a special arrangement between him and the provider?

Anyway, it seems there are many cases in which web designers and web hosters to own customers’ domain names.

Do customers not know they are the ones who paid for the domain names and should own them?  Do they not know their domain names or web sites could potentially be hijacked by the provider if the latter decides to do so?

If domain hijacking happens, do they not know they may not be able to claim back their domain name since they are not the legal owner?  I have seen cases where customers become victimized and have no choice but to renew with their provider, even though they are unsatisfied with their service?

Of course most web designers and hosters have no intention to hijack customers’ domain names.  Maybe they want to manage the domains easier, or they just follow the industry practice.

But I’m just afraid there are a few in the industry who use the domain ownership as a way to take advantage of the naive customers.  Unfortunately this happen and I have dealt with such providers before.

So please do check who owns your domain name!

Recently we visited a customer whose web site has not been doing well. There is virtually no traffic and business enquiry over the years.

We asked him how much his designer charged him for the web site. He replied “one five”. Initially I thought he meant RM15,000. But it’s RM1,500 for the whole web site! No wonder his web site is not working at all.

There are many web designers who can do a web site in RM1,500. But will the web site be effective? Will the designer really care for the web site?

Unfortunately, the web design prices nowadays are so dirt cheap that there is basically not much profit to earn out of each project. It may not worth the time for designers to put their heart and focus on any individual project. They just do up what is instructed and go on to the next project for volume.

But a successful web site does not work this way. Without Internet marketing a web site is virtually non-existent. But doing Internet marketing does take time and effort. Does it justify all the hassles for just RM1,500?

There is a Chinese saying that once a person is bitten by a snake, he becomes scared of snakes forever. There are customers who have had high expectations out of their web sites but got disappointed when they see no result. Understandably some may not want to do a web site again.

We propose business blogging to this customer. He is very much qualified in his field and can potentially command authority as a prominent blogger in his industry, like Paul Tan in the automobile industry.  The good news is that, there is no such blogger as yet. He can fill the void and claim the first-mover advantage!

We hope he could overcome his previous bad experience so that he can again have faith on doing business on the Internet and utilize his strengths to produce tangible results this time.

I have been helping a non-technical friend on their web site renewal matters.  Their web site has been hosted by a reputable web design firm in Malaysia.

The web design firm had developed my friend’s company web site for a few thousands ringgit.  Every year, my friend has to renew their domain name, hosting and web site with them for over RM1,000. Her domain name has also been registered under the email address of the web design firm.

However, my friend was not satisfied with their service but had no choice because she had no control nor access over his domain name and web site.  She ended up paying hefty amount to the provider every year without gaining any real benefits in return.

Now her yearly term with the web design firm expired and the web site got suspended.  I came in to help her talk to the web design firm.  We sent an official letter to them to reclaim the domain name, ensure they give us a copy of the web site and the web site is submitted to search engines as promised.

However, dealing with them has not be a pleasant experience.  They refused to do anything unless we first pay them the renewal fee.  Moreover, the way they treat the customer is regrettably terrible.  They can even criticize and badmouth my friend when talking to me.

The relationship seems to be beyond repair.  Even if my friend renewed with them, they are bound to bump into problems in the future.  I think she better switch to a new provider.

First, the web design firm should not have registered the domain name under their own email address, at least not without informing my friend about it.  Being able to manage domain expiry for the customer is not a very good excuse.  Doing so gives them a leverage to hijack my friend’s domain name and web site.

Second, their customer service is one of the worst I have come across in the industry.  They should treat customer well, speak gently, respect the customer, even if sometimes the customer can be wrong.  Had the way they talked been nicer, we could have reconsidered their service.

Third, the quality of the web site developed by them is not at par with their reputation in the industry.  It is also not well optimized for search engine marketing.  No wonder my friend got very little traffic and enquiries over the years.

Fourth, they said they would give a copy of the web site in images only, and that if we get others to do the web site, we will have to redo it.  Oh my goodness, do they meant they would only give us screen shots of the web site without the source code to make changes?  What has the customer paid them thousands of ringgit for?

Fifth, the domain name and web site had been paid up by my friend and should belong to her.  These should be given to her years ago, not “upon customer request only” as claimed by them.

Sixth, by requiring my friend to renew with them first in order to give her back what is hers and what should have been given much earlier, they are hijacking her web site.

I feel so disappointed for we have such a web design firm in the industry.  Perhaps there are also other customers being victimized in the marketplace.  Have you come across such cases before?

I’m starting a new business and need to hire a few reliable local web design firms or freelance designers as long-term outsource developers.

And if the new business plan works, I will have MANY projects to pass on to you.

But I’m looking for SEO-conscious web developers only. It is not necessary you know everything about SEO but you should know the basics enough to design a web site in a way that will not hinder the search optimization work to be done later.

For now, I’m looking for local partners only who can meet up with our clients in Klang Valley of Malaysia.

So if you are interested in partnership, please reply with your name, company name, contact number, email address and portfolio. I will meet up with you personally for details.

I’m also looking for outsource SEO experts. Better still, I would love to let you handle both web development and SEO if you like. You can contact me here.

Update: The business plan has been scrapped and I no longer have many projects for you.  But you are still welcome to join as partner web designers here.