Quick answer: You should own and control four things: your domain name (registered to your business), your hosting account (in your name with your login), the website files and content, and your Google accounts such as Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console. If any of these are held only by a designer or agency, you are one falling-out away from losing your website or email. Check today and fix it while relationships are good.
It is one of the most common problems we see. A business owner wants to change designers, or their old designer has vanished, and discovers they cannot log in to anything. The domain is registered to the designer, the hosting is in the designer’s account and Google Analytics is under the designer’s email. Sometimes the business email stops working too, because it runs through the same domain.
The four things you need to control
1. Your domain name
This is your address on the internet and usually your email address as well. For a .com.au, the registrant should be your business with your ABN or ACN, and you should have the login to the registrar account. Make sure renewal is on auto-renew with a current card, because expired domains can be lost.
2. Your hosting
Hosting is where the website files live. Ideally the account is in your name, you have the main login, and your designer has their own access as a user. If the designer hosts many clients in one account, you depend on them for everything.
3. The website itself
You should have an administrator login to the website, and your contract should say you own the design and content once paid. Standard WordPress is portable to any host. Some proprietary builders cannot be moved at all.
4. Your Google and marketing accounts
Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads, Meta Business Manager and your Facebook page should all be owned by your business account, with designers and agencies added as users or partners. That way you can remove access in seconds if you change providers.
A 10-minute ownership check
- Look up your domain on the registrar’s WHOIS lookup. Is the registrant your business?
- Can you log in to the domain registrar yourself?
- Can you log in to the hosting account, and is it in your name?
- Do you have an administrator login to the website?
- Are you an owner, not just a user, on Google Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console?
- Do you own your Google Ads and Meta ad accounts?
- Is there a recent backup of the website you could access without your designer?
How to fix it
- Ask your current designer to transfer the domain to you or make you the registrant. This is a routine request.
- Ask to move the website to a hosting account in your name. A professional can migrate it with no downtime.
- Have yourself added as owner on every Google and Meta account, then add the designer back as a user.
- Store all logins in a password manager the business controls.
How we handle it
Every site we build or manage sits on a hosting account in your name, with the domain registered to your business. We work as a user on your accounts, never as the owner. If you ever move on, you keep everything. See how we work and our website packages.
Planning a new website?
Next step: fill in the website brief. It takes about 10 minutes, and you get a fixed quote within one business day, then 2 or 3 design concepts to compare before anything is built. See website packages and care plans.
Written by Gregory
20 years building websites and running lead generation, mostly with my own money on the line. Based in Sydney, working with clients worldwide. How I work →