Do you really own your website?
You should own your domain, your design and your content outright, and be able to move all three to another developer whenever you like. Plenty of local businesses pay for a website every month without owning any of it. Here's what to check before you hand anyone your money, including us.
Written by Danny Andrews. Published: . Last updated:
How do you know if you own your website?
You own your website only if three things are true: the domain is registered in your business's name, the design, files and content are yours to take, and leaving comes with a clean handover. With Local Web Studio the domain is in your name from day one, the site is yours once it is paid for, and if you move on I hand everything over with no fee and no notice period.
The question nobody asks until it's too late
Most business owners find out who owns their website the day they try to leave. The designer stops answering. The domain turns out to be registered to the agency. The monthly fee, it emerges, was rent, not ownership. Starting again from scratch costs more than the original site did.
None of this is rare. It's the standard small-print of cheap website deals, and it works because nobody thinks to ask the ownership question at the start, when it's easy.
The three things to check
There are only three things that matter, and you can check all of them in one short conversation.
The domain. Your web address should be registered to your business, with you as the owner. Ask directly: "Will the domain be registered in my name?" If the answer is anything other than a plain yes, walk away. A domain registered to the web company means your web address, the one on your van and your business cards, belongs to them.
The website itself. The design, the files and the content should be yours. Some companies build on platforms you can never leave, or licence the site to you rather than selling it. Ask: "If I leave, do I take the website with me?"
The handover. Even when you own everything on paper, a company can make leaving so awkward that you give up. Ask what happens if you move: do they hand over cleanly, and is there a fee? A modest, stated transfer fee is fair. Vague answers are not.
What a fair arrangement looks like
You own the domain. You own the design and the content. Hosting and technical management can sit with the web company while you're happy, that's normal and usually sensible, but if you ever leave, everything that identifies your business goes with you, handed over properly.
That's how I work at Local Web Studio, and it's written into every agreement: the domain is registered to your business from day one, the site is yours, and if you ever move on, the handover is clean. I'd rather keep clients because the work is good than because leaving is hard.
One question that settles it
If you only ask one thing before paying anyone for a website, ask this: "If we part ways next year, what exactly do I keep, and what does it cost me to take it?" A good answer is specific and short. A bad answer is long.
Questions people ask about owning a website
Who owns a domain name a web designer registers for me?
Whoever is named as the registrant, which is not always the business paying for it. Before you pay anything, ask to see that the domain will be registered in your business's own name.
Can I move my website to another company?
Only if you own the design, the files and the content, rather than a licence to use them. A site built on a platform the web company controls often cannot move at all, so ask what you would take with you before the work starts.
Is paying a monthly fee for a website a bad deal?
Not on its own. A monthly fee for hosting and looking after the site is normal; what matters is whether the website would still be yours if you stopped paying. If stopping the fee means losing the site, you were renting it.
What happens to my website if I leave Local Web Studio?
You own it once it is paid for, in full or on the last instalment, and your domain is registered in your name from day one. If you move to another developer or host, I hand over the code, the domain and the accounts and answer your new developer's questions, with no fee and no notice period.
Thinking about a website for your business? It starts with a short conversation, and if it is a good fit I put together a demo so you can see the direction before committing to anything.
Talk to Danny