No Daddy: What Happens When Your Host Gets Hacked
You’re probably aware that GoDaddy may or may not have gotten hacked yesterday, knocking many small businesses offline and generating a metric crap-ton of ill will among customers and journalists.
As you know, I’ve documented my own experiences with GoDaddy. I also think it’s worth revisiting my 7 Critical Steps to Keeping Your Website Alive. In particular, Step 8 (yes, I know it’s only supposed to be seven steps; I updated the list about a year ago) feels relevant given what happened with GoDaddy yesterday:
“In addition to the steps above, make sure you have a complete web presence, one that incorporates social tools and off-site content that works with customers where they are and links customers to your website when they want that, too. And offers alternative ways of communicating with customers should the hub of that presence fail for any reason.” [Emphasis added]
In a case where your domain registrar gets hacked or crashes or whatever happened in this case, a web presence that includes social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.) can help you connect with your customers even if your domain vanishes along with your site for any period of time.
If you’re thinking of switching registrars following this mess (and who would blame you at this point), Mashable offers a great list of 5 alternative registrars including Namecheap, Hover and Dreamhost. I’ve used Dreamhost as my hosting company since 2007 and have moved my domains to Namecheap and Hover over the last year. I heartily recommend all three. [Disclosures here].
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I’m no prude but am with you about the tactics used by GoDaddy and have also moved to a new host a year ago. Love BlueHost, which was recommended by a colleague with several hundred domains. Nice post, as always.
Hey Veronique! Thanks for reading and for the tip about BlueHost.
Admittedly, it took me a while to come around on GoDaddy. At first I thought it was mostly kind of silly. But after watching a few of their ads while sitting next to my daughters, it got me thinking about how they (and many other companies) choose to portray women in advertising. I have no problem with a fully empowered woman comfortable with her sexuality. But, for the most part, that’s not what GoDaddy is doing. Instead, they’re portraying many of these women as nothing more than a piece of… ahem. Add to that GoDaddy’s support for SOPA and I no longer felt the company was acting in my best interests or those of their customers as a whole.
Anyway, thanks again for reading and for the tip. See you soon.
[…] I’ve looked at 7 critical ways to ensure your website stays alive previously, along with what to do when your host gets hacked. […]