Finding a web site manager

[puppy]

If the current owner of a commercial web site dies, how should family members go about finding a webmaster/site manager to keep the site running on its current server (Futurequest)?

This is a successful site selling ebooks through Clickbank, and the income it generates is needed by the surviving family, who are not computer literate enough to keep domain registration current, hosting fees paid, emails answered, technical support for downloading problems, etc.

Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated.

[Stephen]

i wrote this long message and then i lost it trying to post. but here is the summary:

(1) unless you already know someone associated with running a web business, you'll probably do best to find someone already hosted with FQ, who is knowlegable in ecommerce matters, and who is well known in the forums (and from whose postings appears trustworthy--as you will be relying completely on the person to run the business).

(2) you'll need to pay the person a reasonable amount. this may be hard if the business brings in less than a couple of thousand dollars per month. if it makes more than ten thousand per month you'll be in much better shape and be able to pay the person enough to devote some time to it.

(3) you'll need to post more info on the business for people to give you the best advice. such as, how many ebooks are involved? are they owned by the business or do they represent third party books on which affiliate commissions are collected? what is the subject matter of the books? (fairly important as the person running the site will need to have some appreciation, if not understanding, of the subject).

good luck

[Don]

I would try to place the site in a revocable trust under agreement with a bank and let the bank be responsible for hiring someone to manage the site. The advantage of letting the bank do it is that the family is protected under fiduciary law.

I would probably start with the larger banks. It's an unusual asset, but every miscellaneous asset (e.g. real estate) is unusual. Someone should be able to handle it.

Good luck.

--
Don

[Wassercrats]

If you decide to hire someone yourself, you should provide more details if you can, so the webmaster knows whether he has the time and whether the pay is good enough. If you know enough about the work that's required, that would make it easier, otherwise you might have to ask us for some instructions on accessing the website's email account, how to renew the domain name, etc, which can buy you some time and help you describe what the job requires.

The website doesn't need to make thousands per month before you can hire someone. The person you hire might only need to work a few hours per week on it. It's impossible to say yet.

[Andilinks]

I would offer a generous commision to someone with a proven track record. Try to hire your strongest competitor's manager or promote her assistant to be your manager.

[Trilby]

This is sort of an old thread, but I'm pondering somewhat the same problem.

Since I'm just a year away from my 70th birthday, I'm trying to devise a way to keep my military history site operational after I'm no longer around. I've probably invested several man-years of work in it, so the idea of it disappearing for lack of payment makes me shudder.

Setting up a revocable trust and lining up someone to keep the site operational seemed like the only option, but what happens when my designated webmaster is also no longer around?

Then I discovered weblegacy.org, which seems like the perfect solution. You establish an endowment sufficient to have the annual earnings cover the web site's maintenance. Until your "trigger" (death) occurs, the yearly earnings are reinvested to grow the endowment. After your death, the endowment is transferred to weblegacy.org, and they maintain your web site in perpetuity, using the yearly earnings.

This sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, but it also smells a bit fishy.

Searching didn't turn up any independent evaluation or references other than the domain name is registered to Tom Behrens, Riverview, FL.

Some red flags:

>> The link on their site to the organization that will handle your endowment (Christian Legacy Foundation) is broken.

>> There's no "contact" email address to ask about the broken link.

>> tombehrensusa.com
Quote: "The end result of any marketing effort is sales."
Listed as: Website development, Webmaster for "The 38th Bomb Group Association" which also just happens to be the "Featured Client" on weblegacy.org

>> vimeo.com(Tom Behrens)
Quote: "I'm a marketing guy and webmaster for several non profit and ministry websites."
(weblegacy.org listed as one of the sites)

Has anybody heard of this outfit? Thanks for any advice or feedback.

Dave

[hobbes]

Depending on the resource, you may also want to try outreaching to the Internet Archive (archive.org).