Is Your Website At “The Hotel California”?

Do you know if you really own your website? Don’t laugh. This is a real problem and many of you savvy movers have made assumptions that can prove very costly. Always ask and read the fine print if necessary… but don’t let your host or SEO consultant own your site. Why? If, or should I say “when” you leave, they will take your site down and you’ll have to build a new one. That can be costly, of course. How can this happen in this internet age of “total transparency,” you ask? It’s happening every day, and by big, established companies that you know well.

I’m not saying that they didn’t tell you… you just may not have fully comprehended. A prospective moving client of ours in California called their current SEO provider, Spectrum Inc., to cancel and was told that if they did, they would lose their site. Sure enough, it is right in their contract and there’s nothing illegal about that. You’ll find that you don’t own your site if you’re hosted and consulted by Yellow Pages or Yodle either, so be careful. They may offer you a low-cost website, but you “can’t ever leave.” Hence our analogy to The Eagles #1 Classic Rock Song of All Time: “Welcome To The Hotel California”…You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave! (Writer(s): Glenn Lewis Frey, Don Felder, Donald Hugh Henley)