What Happens to Your Website When You Die?

Preserving Your Internet Persona

If a drunk driver slammed you into a casket tomorrow, would your family and friends know what to do with your personal internet information? Have you prepared a will that dictates what will happen with your website, email, blogs, usernames, passwords, banking information and let your contacts know of your passing?

Without proper planning and documentation your data becomes inaccessible and eventually everything you've invested into the internet, whether it's banking information or an online personality, ceases to exist. Here are just a few things worth thinking about before you write your living will.

Managing Your Web Site from the Grave

If you run a website most likely you will be the only one who knows how to do what you do. Every webmaster runs their website differently and passing along detailed instructions on the day to day operation can be overwhelming for the recipient as well as the not yet deceased. One of the first things you should decide on is whether or not you want your website to continue running when you die and who you trust enough to carry out your wishes once you're gone.

If you decide to shut your website down upon your death, you will need to put together a plan that details how it is shut down, when it should happen and who should do it. Also, decide whether or not you will want your website to be archived and stored on CD. How will you want it remembered?

If the answer is yes, there are a few things you can do to help the process and ensure it runs as smoothly as it can. First and foremost is to create and burn text file to CD detailing your web hosting login and payment information so that the benefactor knows how to access it. Secondly, put that CD in a safety deposit box and bequeath it to a certain someone that you know is capable of operating your website.

One of the best things you can do to prepare the benefactor is to teach them how you run your site by setting up a copy of your site as a subdomain for them to operate. This will give them the opportunity to run their own website and learn how to do it from copying you.