Who Owns Your Website? A Domain, Hosting and Login Checklist
Who owns your website, domain and logins? A checklist for Florida small business owners to keep the site, the name and every account yours.
In short
- Register your domain in your own name, with your own email and login
- Keep owner access to hosting, Google and every paid tool, and give helpers their own logins
- Get it in writing that your files, words and photos are yours if you part ways
Who owns your website? Most small business owners assume they do, until they try to change a phone number, switch designers or move to a new host. Then they find out the domain is in the designer’s name, or the site lives on a platform they can’t leave.
It happens to Florida businesses every week, and it’s easy to prevent. This checklist shows what you should own, how to check, and what to do if you’re locked out today.
The five things you should own
A website is really five separate things. Make sure each one is in your name.
- The domain. Your address online, like yourbusiness.com. Whoever controls the registrar account controls where your website and often your email point.
- The hosting account. Where the site’s files live. If it’s in someone else’s account, they can turn it off.
- The files and content. The words, photos, logo and code that make up the site.
- Your Google accounts. Your Google Business Profile, Search Console and any analytics.
- Your email. If your business email runs on your domain, losing the domain can mean losing your email too.
How to check who owns your domain
Start with the domain, because everything else depends on it.
- Find the registrar. Search your email for renewal notices. The company that bills you each year is your registrar.
- Log in. If you can sign in and see the domain in your own account, you’re in good shape.
- Check the contact details. The owner listed should be you or your company, with an email address you control.
- Watch the renewal date. Turn on auto-renew. An expired domain can be bought by someone else.
If the renewal notices go to your web designer, or you’ve never seen a login, ask for the domain to be moved into an account in your name.
Want this done for you?
Tell us about your business in three quick steps. We reply with honest next steps and, if we are a fit, a fixed-price plan.
Logins: owner access versus shared passwords
Sharing one password with everyone who helps you feels simple. It causes trouble later, because you can’t take access away from one person without locking out everyone.
The better way is to keep the owner login yourself and give each helper their own access. Most tools support this. Your registrar, your hosting, your Google Business Profile and Search Console all let you add managers or users. When a helper moves on, you remove them and nothing breaks.
Write it down once
Keep a short list of every account: the company, the login email and who has access. Store it somewhere safe, like a password manager. When something breaks at 6 PM on a Friday, you’ll know exactly where to look.
What your website contract should say
Before you sign with any designer, look for plain answers to these questions in writing:
- Who owns the domain, and in whose account is it registered?
- Do you own the design, code, words and photos once the project is paid?
- If you stop working together, do you get your files and logins, and how quickly?
- Are there any yearly licenses for themes, plugins or fonts, and who pays for them?
- Is there a fee to move the site somewhere else?
If a contract avoids these questions, ask about them. Our guide to choosing a web designer in Tampa lists more questions to ask.
Builders and platforms: what you can take with you
Website builders and some agency platforms keep your site inside their system. You can move the domain, but often not the site itself. Wix doesn’t let you move a site to another host, and Squarespace exports only part of your content. That doesn’t make them bad choices, but it’s worth knowing before you build. We compare the options in Wix, Squarespace or a custom website.
If you’re locked out today
If someone else controls your domain or site, stay calm and work through it in order:
- Ask in writing. Most designers will move the domain into your account when asked politely, especially if your bills are paid.
- Use the registrar’s transfer process. The current holder unlocks the domain and sends a transfer code, and you move it to an account in your name.
- Reclaim your Google Business Profile. Google has a process for requesting access to a profile someone else manages.
- Save your content. Copy your words and photos while the old site is still online.
- Plan the rebuild. If the site itself can’t be moved, rebuild it and forward the old addresses to new pages.
How we handle ownership
At Revdeploy, you own your domain, your site and every account. If you ever move on, everything goes with you. You can read more about how we work, or tell us about your project.
Questions about owning your website
Can my web designer keep my domain name?
If the domain was registered in their account, they control it until it’s moved to yours. Most will move it when asked. Check your contract, and register new domains in your own name from the start.
How do I get my Google Business Profile back?
If someone else manages it, ask them to add you as an owner. If they won’t or can’t, Google has a request access process that lets the current owner respond, and it can transfer access to you.
My website is on my designer’s hosting. Is that a problem?
Not always. Many designers host their clients’ sites. What matters is that you can get a full copy of your site and move it if you need to, and that the domain is in your name.
Do I own the photos and words on my website?
Photos you took and words you wrote are yours. Stock photos are licensed, and work your designer created depends on your contract, so get ownership of paid work in writing.