Being that I work in web site design, I’ve seen a lot of customers come in and just state that they want a website and not ask some of the important questions about the ownership of the files that create the website. Owning a website is an interesting mix of relationships between the owner and multiple agencies and partners that allow the website to be on the public internet and/or a company’s private intranet. There are three main relationships that take place for any website and they are: 1) with a Registrar, 2) with a design company, and 3) with a hosting service company.

Registering a website’s name.

The internet is basically a bunch of computers with special software that allows the computers to communicate with each other over special log distant network cables. These computers don’t use names like James or Sue, but use special address numbers to specify which computer is being connected to during any set of communication. Unfortunately we as humans have a hard time with these numbers, and because of this a special group was created that allowed humans to specify a name like www.mywebname.com to point to a specific number on the internet. This special group was made to hold the entire name to number information and this group is called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers also known as ICANN.

ICANN has many partner groups known as registrars. The job of the registrar is to gather all the proper information and work with ICANN to determine if the name you want is taken and if not then charge you for assigning that name to the information that is provided and point it to the number on the internet you are using for your website. This brings us to the first relationship that one needs to have and maintain for website ownership.

Designing your site.

The second relationship that is needed to own a website is with a designer. The owner of the website has all the right to be their own designer. It takes a bit of know how and knowledge of some languages such as HTML, ASP, PHP, PYTHON and other languages that depend on the computer that the hosting service has as their web server, more on that later.

If you're like many business owners, you may not have the time to learn the language or want to hire an employee on your payroll, the owner may hire a design firm to design the site and provide the files that make up the site to the owner. Since the website was created by a designer for the owner, copyright law states that this is considered a “for hire” relationship and that copyright is owned by the owner or employer who asked for the work to be done. This is an important point because many customers don’t know what copyright states and up and coming designers think that because they designed the website that they own it. A website owner should ask about copyright ownership before any work is done on their website to make sure what kind of relationship they are getting into. The owner of the website should be the one to get copyright of the entire web site. If the designer does not want to give up copyright, make sure that copyright ownership is stated in a written agreement so that there is a clear understanding on both sides who owns what when it comes to the web site.

This relationship can be a continuous relationship as the owner may need to make updates to the website over a period of time. Regardless of how long a relationship may last between a designer and the owner the website isn’t public to the internet until it gets hosted by a hosting service provider.

Having your web site hosted.

Hosting is a service by where the files that make up your web site is placed on a computer with special server software that allows web site visitors to see your website. Many web site hosting companies do not provide design services or registration services, and many registration services do not always provide hosting or design services.  Each relationship can be a mutually exclusive relationship with separate companies that specialize in each service.

A web site name can be purchased from one company, and then the site can be designed by a second company and then hosted by a third company. This unfortunately means that a lot of finger pointing can be done when the website is not working properly. Did the hosting company have a failure with their computer, or did the code that make up the files have a problem with something, or did the registrar make a change and now your web site name points to the wrong address on the internet?

With one company handling all your website needs, when a problem arises you won’t have to find out where the problem is and who to call, you only one number. Not only can one company handle these three services, but can also be an entire IT staff for your business. At Kirkham Systems Inc, we have the ability take care of your entire needs such as computer repair, networking, upgrades, administration, and web site registration, design and hosting.