Web Site Disappears

No, you don't need to move your web site to the Bermuda Triangle, but it's easy to make it disappear using the following steps.

1. Lose the "Welcome Email".

The Welcome email is the first email sent to you by your web host provider after you successfully sign up for a webhosting account. It gives info on how to pay for your web site, as well as the contact info of the Support Group for your site.

2. Let old email accounts die.

If your website's been alive for quite a few years, it's possible that you're no longer using your old email address. Yes, that's the same address you used when you first signed up for a web hosting account. If your credit card declines the monthly charge, your webhost provider might try to let you know about this by--you guessed it--sending an email to your old email account.

A friend of mine recently had her credit card changed. It's expiration date was extended. As a result, when her webhost provider tried to charge the old card (the one with the old expiration date), the transaction was declined.

Fortunately, we were able to talk with the people providing technical support. The old credit card info was updated and now her site is back online. She's now feverishly making back-ups of some web files and images.

(It's a good thing the host provider did not delete her html/jpg files right away.)

The lesson? Get a reliable email account and maintain it. And yes, make back-ups of your web site files. :-)
[ First posted on 06/29/2005 by Manuel Viloria ]