Web builder/seo issue

[MorrisChesterfield]

Hello all,

I am just after a little advice about an seo company/website builder I am using.

Been using this chap for a good few years, was always had a steady working relationship and may be I haven’t been keen enough as I’ve hardly seen a report about what works been done etc, I just paid the monthly charges and everything plodded on as I am always busy on the tools and driving.

I create all the pages for the sites and they are probably worthless and poor SEO but one particular site ranks good for my area.

My issue is the chap has disappeared completely, I’ve been trying to get hold of him for months with no email reply, phone is always engaged and mobile wont answer either. It’s like I’ve been blocked.

I’ve finally cancelled the direct debit today to try and get him to call me or just to just stop paying for a service I am not getting.

My main issue is could I lose all my websites? I have wordpress login access but I dont know if this is enough to protect them from being cut off.

I know he has had personnel issues over the years which I understand and worked with him, but now it’s just to far and all a bit weird.

How can I protect my sites and look after them myself?

I’ve been on here a good few years and worked with a few guys on here ( 2 worked really well james and Graham ? and 1 not so well……. I still have not got over this and I will get my money back one day.

thanks for any help.

ben.

 

[Shopclicks]

Hi. Do you know who is hosting the site? Is it hosted on your own account or are you paying the web guy for hosting?

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Hi,

yes I believe it’s hosted on his account. But in fairness when he made the site he asked me to alter the DNS in the 123reg account my end.

does that mean anything?

sorry I am not up on the old website game ( technical side )

 

[Shopclicks]

Ok. If he's ghosted you, you won't have access to the cPanel.

Do you have a backups or migration plugin installed on Wordpress?

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

I have access to Wordpress and see all the options as I am an admin.

i am guessing I can also add a plug-in to back it up if needed.

 

[GoncaloSa]

Hello Ben,

I’m sorry to hear about the situation you’re facing.

Firstly, it’s important to know that as long as you have access to your WordPress login, you have control over your website content. However, you also need to ensure you have access to your hosting provider and domain registrar, as these are separate from your WordPress account.

Having that said, I’d recommend creating a backup of the website before anything else. This will ensure that you have a copy of your site content and can restore it if needed.

When it comes to managing the website yourself, it’s a bit hard to say as I’m not sure what you’re looking to achieve or your skill levels. However, there are several online resources and courses that can help you understand SEO and WordPress management.

If you need assistance or have any questions, feel free to reach out. I have experience in SEO and website management, and I’m happy to help.

Best of luck!

 

[Shopclicks]

Having that said, I’d recommend creating a backup of the website before anything else. This will ensure that you have a copy of your site content and can restore it if needed.

The possible issue with this is the unknown amount of available disk space. To take a backup with a plugin, you may run out of disk space and crash the site. With no way to remove the backup.

I would take a copy of all of the content and put it into a document and save all of the images before trying to create a backup.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Hello Ben,

I’m sorry to hear about the situation you’re facing.

Firstly, it’s important to know that as long as you have access to your WordPress login, you have control over your website content. However, you also need to ensure you have access to your hosting provider and domain registrar, as these are separate from your WordPress account.

Having that said, I’d recommend creating a backup of the website before anything else. This will ensure that you have a copy of your site content and can restore it if needed.

When it comes to managing the website yourself, it’s a bit hard to say as I’m not sure what you’re looking to achieve or your skill levels. However, there are several online resources and courses that can help you understand SEO and WordPress management.

If you need assistance or have any questions, feel free to reach out. I have experience in SEO and website management, and I’m happy to help.

Best of luck!

Thank you for your help and hopefully this guy replies Back as we have a mutual friend who I have asked to get him to give me a shout…. Just want the website safe really.

I definitely have the domain in my 123reg account so I guess that’s A Bonus…

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

The possible issue with this is the unknown amount of available disk space. To take a backup with a plugin, you may run out of disk space and crash the site. With no way to remove the backup.

I would take a copy of all of the content and put it into a document and save all of the images before trying to create a backup.

Thanks for the that, yes I know what you’re saying. It’s not a massive site with about 304 pages currently.

 

[Shopclicks]

Thanks for the that, yes I know what you’re saying. It’s not a massive site with about 304 pages currently.

Ok now I have to ask how a Clearance company needs a 304 page website?

 

[fisicx]

Hi Ben,

There are two components:

1. Registration - which you have access to
2. Hosting - which you don't have access to.

As you have a login to the site you can take a copy of the database and migrate to some new hosting that you then control. You now go to your 123reg account and change the nameservers to your new hosting. Job done.

The whole process only takes a couple of hours.

If you need help there are loads of people here and elsewhere who can do the whole thing for you.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Ok now I have to ask how a Clearance company needs a 304 page website?

It’s actually my paper shredding website I am concerned about with the 304 published pages

Just services and areas really. May be I’ve done it wrong but had no guidance and thought this was best

 

[Shopclicks]

It’s actually my paper shredding website I am concerned about with the 304 published pages

Ok, I had a look. Still seems like a lot of pages, even if they are location pages and services. But if that's working for you, then good.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Upload a clone/backup plugin and get the files downloaded asap!

 

[ServWise]

You have two important parts here but it looks like you can access them or have control over them all so you should be okay.

1. Website... First take an offsite backup (use a plugin such as updraftplus), backup then download each part of the site locally so you have all of the files and database.
2. Domain. It seems you have control of the domain at the registrar, this is great.

Now talk to a new developer about moving the current site to new hosting, happy to discuss things further if you would like via PM.

 

[Ethan39]

Upload a clone/backup plugin and get the files downloaded asap!

This is vitally important. If the individual you've employed is a bad actor, they could do some pretty serious irreversible damage if they still have access.

Even if they don't, you need to make sure you've got the files backed up anyway. It's always good practice to keep a decent, current, working version of your site ready to roll back to in case you make mistakes.

 

[MarketingQuote]

Sorry to hear about this, we have had a similar situation in the past.

One way or the other, you are going to need another agency to work with, to take on the SEO work, but also to secure your websites.

When we talked to another agency, they were able to sort login's/techie things.

Do you have anyone else you can talk to in order to login and secure your websites?

 

[antropy]

My issue is the chap has disappeared completely, I’ve been trying to get hold of him for months with no email reply, phone is always engaged and mobile wont answer either. It’s like I’ve been blocked.

Find another web agency that can take it all over, as others have said the website can probably be recovered from WordPress. It's the sort of thing we've done before (link below).

Paul.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Thank you everybody for your replies and reassurances.

ideally I’d like to find a local company near me in chesterfield as I like to sit down and have a chat face to face.

if anybody can recommend someone close ish to me that would be great.

 

[antropy]

ideally I’d like to find a local company near me in chesterfield as I like to sit down and have a chat face to face.

if anybody can recommend someone close ish to me that would be great.

A lot of people say that but I think you're going to really struggle to find a local company who can afford to spend the time doing that when it's just not necessary, they just need a bit of info over email and they can take it from there.

Paul.

 

[fisicx]

Thank you everybody for your replies and reassurances.

ideally I’d like to find a local company near me in chesterfield as I like to sit down and have a chat face to face.

Why? What you need doing can be done very quickly and easily by anyone.

If you need changes to the site that’s a different matter. But migrating a site is often done for free by many smaller hosting companies.

 

[MarketingQuote]

Certainly can understand that, working with someone local that you can sit down with is preferred to someone hundreds of miles away.

 

[antropy]

Certainly can understand that, working with someone local that you can sit down with is preferred to someone hundreds of miles away.

Perhaps if that's what you prefer, but that's going to give you a tiny choice of a couple of people who may not be the best suited to the task.

Paul.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Why? What you need doing can be done very quickly and easily by anyone.

If you need changes to the site that’s a different matter. But migrating a site is often done for free by many smaller hosting companies.

I want to work with a web guy working forward, not to just get this issue sorted.

i wanted a simple check out system on the site so people can order theit shredding bags online… that was half done and never completed.

may be I’m to old fashioned and if the best isn’t local then got to go national.

 

[antropy]

I want to work with a web guy working forward, not to just get this issue sorted.

i wanted a simple check out system on the site so people can order theit shredding bags online… that was half done and never completed.

may be I’m to old fashioned and if the best isn’t local then got to go national.

Very few web developers are going to want to work this way with you because it's incredibly inefficient for us, and costs us so much more in time to have meetings all the time when a 30 second email will do the same job.

If you can find someone then great, but if you want the best person/company for the job, that's not the way forward in my humble opinion, and I have been running a web agency since 2010.

Paul.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Very few web developers are going to want to work this way with you because it's incredibly inefficient for us, and costs us so much more in time to have meetings all the time when a 30 second email will do the same job.

If you can find someone then great, but if you want the best person/company for the job, that's not the way forward in my humble opinion, and I have been running a web agency since 2010.

Paul.

I do appreciate that and yes I know what you mean regards time and meeting etc for a 10 minute chat turns into 1 hour.

 

[antropy]

I do appreciate that and yes I know what you mean regards time and meeting etc for a 10 minute chat turns into 1 hour.

It's like taking your car to a mechanic - they're not going to want to have a 1 hour meeting about the problem with your engine, just tell them what you want fixed and let them get on with it.

Paul.

 

[Sal-FastCow]

Hi Morris,

I'd advice moving it away before it does go down, at least you'll always have a site and not have to stress about it later.

I think most if not, majority of hosts will be happy to log into WordPress and migrate it for you if you are stuck, as long as you have access to the domain - as other members have advised, this is a simple and easy process to get by.

Best of luck!