Recently I was contacted by a business owner: their web site wasn’t up, their online client appointment booking wasn’t working and their customers couldn’t contact via email because that wasn’t working either. What you don’t know about IT can kill your business.
What didn’t this small business owner know?
You couldn’t Google the solution to their problems. Setting up web sites, online booking and email services definitely is easier than 20 years ago. But you need to understand how they work together. In this case, this business owner knew nothing about DNS.
What is DNS?
Think of the Internet like a massive office building complex. DNS (or Domain Name Service) is the building directory. Without a directory you can’t find, for example, the office/web site for CBC news in among all the other offices. DNS points the visitor to the right location (web site hosting server).
Besides acting as the building directory, DNS also runs the post office. DNS sorts the all the emails and directs them to the correct email service which then sorts it into your inboxes.
Further, DNS specifies which email services can send emails under your domain name. First you have your actual email service like Exchange Online or Google Workplace. Second your web site sends emails (usually contact forms, appointments). Third, DNS authenticates your newsletter service (think Mailchimp, Constant Contact). DNS authenticates each email service as a legitimate sender of your business email to other email services. For example, your DNS records prove that Microsoft is your authenticated email sender to Google who then passes your email along to a G-Mail user into their inbox. If Microsoft is not listed in your DNS, then Google will mark that email as spam and intended recipient not even see it in their spam folder.
Both Microsoft and Google recently tightened the rules for email authentication via DNS records.
Fixing the client’s problems
What the business owner needed was someone who understands how the web site, the online booking and email were glued to together for their particular business. Within 48 hours, their web site was restored with online booking. I got the email fixed in 12 hours. Also worked with the client to get their newsletter authenticated properly.
Their newsletter service had two option for fixing the DNS, one we could do by connecting their domain registrar. The other was an affiliate link for a paid service to do all the DNS records with pricing carefully hidden (companies who do that always make me think they will charge as much as they think they can get away). Beware of DNS fixer gouging and frauds.
Every business owner needs trusted advisors like a lawyer, accountant and IT consultant. And a good business coach to remind them what they don’t know. What you don’t know about IT can kill your business.
