This article was posted 4 years ago and is filed under Global River News, SEO Work, Web Design.
Over the last few weeks I have been helping out several businesses who found their website had disappeared or are trying to recover from the loss of their web designer. What to do if your Web Designer goes bust, your web designer has disappeared or you fall out? It is something few businesses think about until it is too late. Global River have been lucky enough to rescue a lot of distressed web businesses over the last 8 years and gained some fantastic loyal clients along the way. This has given us lots of valuable experience that can help you if you hear yourself saying those dreaded words;
“Help my Web Designer has gone bust”
The first time you may realise your Web designer has gone bust is when your website goes down, one day you look, and it is just not there! Many of the customers we help find out in this way, but don’t worry, all is not lost. It is quite easy to find where your website is hosted. Even if your Web Designer never explained exactly where the website was, we can find it (“ping” the URL and you will get an IP address). In one case working with the customer we were able to convince the hosting company to let the customer set up their own account, pay for the hosting direct and the website was put live again in their account. In other cases they were not so lucky. Without the permission of the Web Designer or business owner, the hosting company would not help! In these cases we have another potential route. If your website is a fairly simple website there is a good chance we can find a copy on Web Archive, a website that takes copies of all of the worlds websites every few months. We can then put a copy live on our servers….as long as we can find access to your web address (domain name).
I have long since lost count of the number of clients who find that they do not have access to their own web addresses. I usually find this out when we are about to put a new website live or take over the hosting for a customer who is keen to improve their service levels. If you do not have the login details for your web address you can check the details of who registered it and whether it is in your name by typing “who is” into Google and clicking on any of the top few links. Typing your web address into the search bar on these websites will show you what is registered at Nominet, the governing body for all web addresses. If, as is often the case, the address has been registered in your web designer’s name, not yours, Nominet will come to the rescue.
Nominet Dispute Resolution Service contact details
Email drs@nominet.uk
Tel +44 (0)1865 332244
With some identification to prove your company name and some help from said web designer, you will get your web address back pretty quickly. Getting your old web address back is definitely worth the hassle as you will have been bookmarked by customers and accumulated back links from other sites or directories pointing to your website and all this builds up authority with Google and helps you get found in searches.
If you find your website has disappeared, your website designer gone bust, or you have fallen out we want to help. We have been lucky enough to win some great clients this way. We can also sometimes negotiate more than one rescue (like a whole customer base!) so please give us a call if you need any help or advice. Our initial discussions and advice is always free to get you back on the right track.
Website gone! Don’t despair – We can help.
If you would like to find out more why not get in touch.Web Design Macclesfield Web Design Cheshire Web Design Knutsford Web design Northwich
0800 171 2230
info@global-river.co.uk
This article was posted 4 years ago and is filed under Global River News, SEO Work, Web Design.
SMART Marketing For Your Business! When looking to give your business a boost rather than cutting corners it’s best to be smart and have a plan. Here at Global River we can help you navigate those marketing channels. A SMART...
Keep up to date with the latest news and services and advice from the motley crew here at Global River.
We design and build stunning, easy to manage websites that don’t cost the earth. A range of Search Engine Optimisation, and Digital marketing tools and services do the rest. Our business, is growing yours!
Hi There,
I have just read your article and this is exactly what has happened to me. My site just disapeared one day and i since found out the designer has gone bust. I managed to get the domain re-hosted but havent managed to track down the where abouts of my site, is this now lost in cyber space or been deleted or is there a chance that the thousands i invested can be found or at least salvaged in some way?
Hi Russell, thanks for your comment. It is highly likely that your site will have been backed up somewhere and can be recovered – its certainly worth a try. Find out who was hosting your site and get in touch with them. You may have to pay to get the back-up but it will be cheaper than a new site. If all else fails you should be able to find an archive of you site at https://archive.org/web/.