One of the lessons that I learned earlier this year when launching a new website with an old domain was that the site was mis-categorized by Websense, and therefore being blocked for many visitors.
Fortunately, a person that I know at a university which used Websense let me know about the problem, but this is something that should be on everybody’s checklist when launching a new site!
It only took about a day to remedy the issue, and you can follow steps on Websense’s site to clear things up.
At a high level, here are the steps you’ll take:
- Register for an account
- Enter the URL you wish to validate and change on the Site Lookup Tool. Try it with and without http.
- If you feel the classification shown is incorrect, fill out details and select a new category. My site was being blocked altogether originally as a parked domain, even though it had been a live site for months. In other words, don’t assume that they re-scan once content is live.
- Fill in some brief comments and hit submit. You’ll receive a confirmation email.
- My site was updated very quickly, but it can take a few days for some people.
Overall, it was a very painless experience! Make sure to check your site to ensure you’re not being blocked by the companies and universities that use Websense.