Who actually owns your website?

When a business owner tells me the person who built their website has gone quiet, the first thing I ask isn't about the website.

It's: "Whose name is the domain registered under?"

The answer can be a name they don't recognize. Or an email address they stopped checking in 2019. Or a freelancer who moved to Colorado.

That's the whole post, really. But let me walk through why it matters and the fifteen-minute check that fixes it.

Your website is three things, not one

When people say "my website," they mean the thing they see in a browser. Underneath, it's three separate pieces, and each one lives in its own account.

The domain. That's yourbusiness.com. It's registered through a company like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Squarespace (which took over Google Domains). It costs somewhere around $15–20 a year, which is exactly why nobody thinks about it.

The hosting. The server where your site's files live. SiteGround, Bluehost, WP Engine, or the hosting that comes bundled inside Wix or Squarespace.

The site itself. The WordPress dashboard, the Squarespace editor, the folder of files. The part where you actually change a phone number.

If the domain lapses, your site disappears and your email probably stops working with it. If the hosting account is closed, your site is gone. If you can't log into the dashboard, you're asking permission to edit your own storefront.

Three accounts. Whoever controls them controls your business's front door.

How it ends up in someone else's name

I'm not saying every designer who does this is up to something. Most aren't. It's convenience.

You're busy. You say "just take care of it." They register the domain with their email and their card because it's faster than walking you through a checkout. Everyone's happy. Four years later, they're out of business, or out of the country, or just not answering.

And now there's a renewal notice going to an inbox you can't open.

Some people do it on purpose, though. If your domain and hosting are in their name, leaving costs you something. That's leverage, and I'd rather say the quiet part out loud than pretend it doesn't exist. A good designer should be easy to fire. If it'd be painful to part ways, ask yourself why.

The fifteen-minute check

You don't need to be technical. You need three logins and a notepad.

1. Find your domain registrar

Search your email for "domain renewal" or "domain expires." Or look up your domain with ICANN's lookup tool, which shows the registrar. Then try to log in.

Can you? Great. Now check three things: is the account email one you actually read, is auto-renew on, and is the card on file still valid? An expired card is the quietest way to lose a domain.

If you can't log in, or the account is under someone else's email, that's your first phone call. Ask them to transfer the domain into an account you control. A reasonable designer won't fight you on it.

2. Find your hosting account

Same exercise. Look for the hosting bills on your card statement. If there's no bill, ask who's paying it, because someone is, and it might not be you.

You want to be the account owner, not just a user someone invited. Those are different things.

3. Check your admin login

Log into your site's dashboard. Look at the user list. Are you an Administrator, or something weaker, like an Editor? Is there an admin account that belongs to somebody you don't know?

An Editor can change words. An Administrator can change anything, including who else has access. You want to be the second one.

What good looks like

It's boring, which is the point. You're the owner on all three accounts, under an email address you control. Whoever builds and maintains your site gets added as a user, with the access they need, and can be removed in two clicks.

Put the logins in a password manager. 1Password and Bitwarden both work fine, and Bitwarden has a free tier. Share one entry with a spouse or a business partner so it's not trapped in one person's head.

That's it. No jargon, no technical skill.

Where I stand on this

It's printed on my web design page: when a project ships, you own everything. Code, files, accounts, domain. I mean it, and I'd say it even if it weren't a selling point.

Your website is a business asset, the same as your truck or your lease. You wouldn't let a stranger hold the title to the truck "to keep things simple."

If you already have a site and you're not sure who owns what, that's a good thing to find out this week, not the day it breaks. I'll take over sites I didn't build, and I wrote up what a care plan actually covers if you want to see what ongoing help looks like.

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Did the check and found something strange, or can't tell what you're looking at? Send me what you found. I'll take a look and tell you straight what I see.