Knowledge is power, mysteries cost you money
Your marketing team and their vendors have toiled for months and months to build a new website for your credit union. Hours have been spent on fresh new design. There’s been plenty of “digital ink” that’s been spilled tweaking new page content and many hours of sweat equity invested in re-organizing your navigation to streamline your members’ experience.
And then, at long last, you’re ready to publish your new site….only to discover that your marketing team doesn’t know the login to your domain registrar, where your DNS is hosted and better yet, what on earth is DNS in the first place?
It’s more common than you think. But the good news is that these common scenarios are not unsolvable mysteries—keep reading and we’ll unravel the mysteries that may cost you thousands in lost time and productivity.
Hosting isn’t just for Parties
Hosting your credit union’s website really means you’re really hosting three things simultaneously:
- Your domain name (www.MyCreditUnion.com)—Your domain name will be registered with a registrar like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Web.com, etc.
- Your domain name DNS (Domain Name Server)—Your DNS is simply a set of records that points your website to the correct place, much like an address in a phone book. Your registrar may host a complete set of your DNS records, or they may simply input a set of Name Servers, which are essentially shortcuts to the “real” set of records that exist on another database.
- Your site’s files—The actual physical site files may be placed with the domain name registrar, but most times they are located elsewhere.
All three of these elements need to be set up properly to ensure that your site is truly “live.” It’s an area of zero tolerance as well—if any one of these elements are entered incorrectly or if the proper accounts are not set up, you will not have a fully functioning hosted site.
The 411 for your Website
Below are the primary contacts for each of these elements in more detail …
The Domain Registrar: The company you choose to register your domain name is your registrar. Much like the DMV, they provide a record of your site and the site holder’s information. If you are not sure who your registrar is, you can perform a “whois” lookup and obtain the name of the registrar. There are many websites that will help you perform a whois lookup, such as http://whois.net/.
The DNS Host: If you’re not sure who hosts your DNS, log into to your domain registrar’s control panel and see if you have a pair of Name Servers (such as NS1.EXAMPLE.COM and NS2.EXAMPLE.COM). If you do, your DNS is likely hosted elsewhere. We suggest you reach out to your core/OLB provider, telecommunications company or your IT/Network administrators to gain control panel access to your DNS. If you don’t have a pair of name servers and you have a series of records (A, MX, CNAME, etc), then your domain registrar is your DNS host and you can make changes directly through them.
The Site Host: When you need to make changes to your site, you need to access the site files directly. Sometimes they are located with your domain registrar and other times with another third party host. Most credit unions should have access to their files via FTP or an online CMS. Be sure to reach out to your host to make sure you have access to your files.
Oops, I did it again!
In our experience, we’ve found these scenarios tend to be common amongst credit unions:
- The domain name has been registered and maintained by the core processor, an online services provider or a telecomm company (Not recommended)
- The domain name and DNS records are usually kept with this third party provider with limited access available to the credit union (Not recommended)
- The site files are hosted by the third party provider with limited or no access available to the credit union (Not recommended)
The best solution is to have the credit union register and maintain the domain name and be able to access their DNS records at any time. To revise the scenarios above, this would be our recommendation:
- The credit union opens a domain name registrar account (GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc.) and registers the names themselves with their billing information
- The credit union creates the DNS records inside their registrar’s account and maintains those records
- The credit union creates the Admin and Technical contacts associated with the domain
- The credit union requests access to the site files to be accessed by FTP or CMS control panel
If you’re a smaller credit union with limited IT resources, the good news is that there’s plenty of consultants who can help you create the correct strategy for your name and site hosting. If you’re a mid-size to large institution with IT personnel, it’s highly recommend that you begin a dialogue with your providers and make sure that you have access to your site records and site files.
He Who Holds the Key…
A disturbing trend that we have seen is providers commanding top dollar amounts to transfer domain access “back” to credit union control. Whether it’s under the guise of charging for “project management” or Help Desk support time, it’s important to work closely with your third party providers to ensure you’re getting the best value possible for a project that may only take a few days or a week at the most to complete.
When it comes to site hosting, remember one critical element—it’s your credit union and therefore your name at stake. Leaving these important details in the hands of others may be convenient in the beginning, but you will want to change that at some point. And when that happens, it’s better to know your options than to be effectively locked out of your own house.
AGP Digital Marketing is a full-service Digital Marketing Agency based in Southern- California that specializes in helping credit unions of all sizes maximize their marketing dollars by using cutting edge technology and proven marketing strategies. For more information, contact Paul J. Bean directly at 888.896.7770, ext. 101 or creative@studioagp.com.
