| Hello there fellow webmasters. I know how frustrating | | | | A lot of webmasters, apart from owing websites, they |
| and tiring can be to manage multiple websites or | | | | also offer webhosting services to people. Everyone is |
| domain names or client accounts so I decided to | | | | tempted to make some extra cash this way. I only |
| outline the most important parts of process. | | | | host websites for people i personally know. Anyway, if |
| Remember, you are not alone. There are thousands of | | | | you have some clients you have to keep track of their |
| webmasters like you and me struggling to stay on top | | | | domain and webhosting accounts. |
| of their website maintenance and management. | | | | Here are some issues that may arise: |
| Some of the most important task for a webmaster: | | | | - Domain expiry issues |
| 1. Website statistics: | | | | - Account bandwidth limit reached issue |
| You have to frequently check webpage statistics and | | | | - Name server management issues |
| take action depending on the statistics result. For | | | | - Client support issues (online, phone etc) |
| example if the number of visitors decreased last | | | | - Financesand more.. It takes a lot of time and effort to |
| month then you have to do something about it. Find out | | | | deal with all that! |
| what went wrong, maybe. Also you have to often | | | | 6. Website/Domain Management Software: |
| check bandwidth and space usage for every domain | | | | If you use WHM/CPanel control panels you have a lot |
| website account. You may also want to check | | | | of control over your accounts. I've tried lots of control |
| subdomains stats/usage too. | | | | panels and they all offer more or less the same level |
| 2. Login Details Maintenance: | | | | of control but I stick to WHM/CPanel. Now, there's |
| Having a lot of websites/domains means that you | | | | software based on these control panels that helps you |
| have to deal with a lot of usernames and passwords. | | | | automate webmaster tasks and manage multiple |
| It's not a good idea to stick with one password for all | | | | websites and accounts even if they reside in different |
| your websites or accounts. I hope you understand that. | | | | servers. |
| Keeping good track of all your website's login details | | | | If you search for -Domain Management Software- or |
| also helps when you want to access those websites | | | | -Website Management Software- you'll get millions of |
| via FTP. Setting FTP access and logging in to the | | | | results. This software is supposed to automate your |
| servers can be frustrating. | | | | life and streamline your business even further. |
| 3. Taking Backups: | | | | Webmaster tasks like: |
| If your web server does not support automatic back | | | | - mass nameserver management |
| ups then it's your responsibility to take copies of your | | | | - mass account creation |
| website's data. This is especially important when you | | | | - mass subdomain creation |
| have running databases (e.g. when you have a forum | | | | - multiple FTP uploading |
| or portal). Taking frequent back ups can also help | | | | - mass chmod commands)can be applied to multiple |
| when you want to change servers. | | | | websites on the same time and maintained through |
| 4. Email Management: | | | | one central location. Choosing the right domain/website |
| Managing multiple domains and websites means a lot | | | | management software can be tricky. Be careful when |
| of email addresses. How do you deal with that? The | | | | messing with that. It depends on your experience level |
| smartest way to go through it, is by using email | | | | and your way of thinking so choose wisely. You must |
| forwarding. I hope your server supports this feature | | | | know what you are doing. For example, you may not |
| since it is a common one. The idea is to redirect all | | | | have many websites and feel that you don't need |
| email-messages from one e-mail address to another. | | | | such management software. |
| That way, you can have a main email address and | | | | There are a lot more issues and tasks that a |
| multiple other -redirect- email addresses. All messages | | | | webmaster is responsible for. I just thought of |
| will be redirected to your main email address. | | | | mentioning some of the most important and time |
| 5. Client Management: | | | | consuming tasks for the average webmaster. |