Do You Actually Own Your Website?

Not always. Many small businesses do not actually own their website, domain or emails, because the agency or builder that made it registered everything in its own name, which means you can be locked in or even lose it all if you leave.

What owning your website actually means

Owning your website is really about owning four things: your domain name, the hosting your site sits on, the website itself and its content, and your email addresses. If all four are in your name, you are in control. If any of them are in someone else's name, you are not, however friendly that someone is today.

Most business owners assume that because they paid for their website, they own it. Often that is true. Sometimes it very much is not.

How businesses end up not owning their site

It usually happens quietly. An agency registers your domain in its own account to save you a job. Your site is built on a platform you cannot export from. Your emails are set up under the agency's login. None of it feels like a problem while the relationship is good, which is exactly why it catches people out when it goes wrong.

The warning signs to look for

A few things are worth checking. Do you have your own login to your domain registrar? Is the domain registered to your name or your business, or to your web designer? Can you get a full copy of your website if you asked today? Do you control your own email? If you are not sure of the answers, that is a warning sign in itself.

Why it matters

When you do not own your website, you can be held to ransom on price, stuck with an agency that has stopped delivering, or left scrambling if they go quiet or close down. In the worst cases businesses lose their domain, their emails and years of Google rankings in one go. Owning everything is the difference between being a customer and being trapped.

How to check, and how we do it differently

Start by looking up who your domain is registered to, gather your logins, and ask your provider in writing to confirm that the domain, site and emails are in your name. If they are not, ask for them to be transferred to you.

At SwitchUp we set everything up in your name from the very first day: the website, the domain and the emails, all yours, on no contract. If you ever leave, you take the lot with you, and we make it easy. That is the whole point.