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Who owns your website? A checklist before you sign
A website is made of several separate things: an address, a place where the files live, the files themselves and the logins that control them. If any of these is in someone else's name, moving or changing your site later can become difficult. These six questions take five minutes and are worth asking whoever builds your site.
1. Is the domain registered in your name?
The domain is your address on the internet. It should be registered to you, with your email address as the contact, and you should be able to log in to the registrar yourself. If the person who builds the site registers it for you, ask for it to be in your name from the first day.
2. Can you access the hosting account?
Hosting is where the site's files are stored and served. Ask who holds the account, whether you can log in, and what happens to the site if you stop working together.
3. Do you get a copy of the files?
You should receive the complete site as files you can keep: pages, images, styles and scripts. With a copy in hand, any developer can put your site back online somewhere else.
4. Do you hold the logins for every service?
Email, analytics, maps, booking tools, an AI assistant: each service the site uses has an account. List them, and make sure each one is opened in your name or handed over to you.
5. Is it written down?
A short written quote that says what you receive at the end is enough. It should name the files, the domain, the accounts and any third-party costs you will pay directly.
6. Do you know how to move the site?
Ask for simple instructions to move the site to another provider. You may never need them, but having them means you stay because you are happy with the work.
How Leandreams handles each point
- The domain is registered in your own name from the start.
- When the site goes live you receive all the files and the access details.
- You get instructions to update the site yourself and to move it wherever you like.
- AI assistants run on accounts opened in your name, billed to you by the provider.
- Everything you receive is listed in a written quote before any paid work starts.
Not sure where to begin? The free homepage preview lets you see a first version of your site before you decide.