By Katherine Andes
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s something I’ve seen happen all too often. You hire a web specialist to work on your website, and you give him or her your password information.
When the work is completed on your website, you don’t change your password.
This may be okay if you have complete confidence in the integrity of the person you hired and you intend to hire him again in the near future.
However, if you have any doubts regarding the integrity of the person, or you’re sure you won’t be contracting with him in the near future, you should change your password.
I have known people who have awakened in the morning to find nasty things on their websites, because their web specialist got mad at them for one reason or another.
Think of it as if you had hired an employee, given him the key to your store, and then the employee took another job or moved away. At the very least, you would get your key back.
You wouldn’t leave your brick and mortar store vulnerable. Neither should you leave your online store vulnerable.
Confession: I had a web developer work on my site over two years ago. I have no reason to question his integrity, but the chances of me hiring him again are nil, as I’ve learned to do myself what I hired him to do. Yet I hadn’t changed my website’s password. While drafting this tip, I took my own advice and changed it. It just took a few minutes. You should do the same.
Easy Furniture Web Tip #99: Keep your website locked up tight. Change your password whenever you make changes regarding who is working on it.
Katherine Andes is a web specialist who writes custom content for key web pages, including search engine optimization (SEO) — especially in the home improvement market. You can phone her at 559.589.0379 or email at Kathy@AndesAndAssociates.com.