Here is a question most business owners cannot answer: if your web designer disappeared tomorrow, could you still get into your own website?
For a lot of small businesses the honest answer is no. The domain is in the designer's account, the hosting is on the designer's card, and nobody wrote the passwords down. Nothing is wrong until the day something is.
The three things you need to hold
A website is really three separate things. You want all three in your name.
- The domain. Your web address, like yourbusiness.com.au. This is the one that matters most. Whoever holds it controls your website and usually your email as well.
- The hosting or builder account. Where the website actually lives. This might be a hosting company, or a builder such as Wix, Squarespace or Shopify.
- The website admin login. The username and password that let you change the words and photos.
How to check your domain
For any address ending in .au, go to whois.auda.org.au and type in your web address. auDA is the body that looks after .au domains, and the lookup is free.
Look at two lines:
- Registrant. This should be you, your company, or your trading name, matched to your ABN or ACN. If it shows your web designer or a business you have never heard of, the domain is not legally in your name.
- Registrar. This is the company the domain is registered through. That is who you would log in with, or ring, to manage it.
Then ask yourself: do I have a login for that registrar, with my own email address on it? If the renewal notices go to someone else, you will not know the domain is about to lapse.
How to check the rest
Look at your bank and card statements for hosting or website builder charges. If you cannot find any, someone else is paying, which means it is in their account.
Then try logging in to the website itself. If you have never had a login, or it stopped working years ago, add that to the list.
What to do if it is not in your name
Do not panic, and do not start with an argument. Most of the time this happened because it was quicker on the day, not because anyone meant harm.
- Ask your designer, in writing, to transfer the domain into your own registrar account. It is a routine job.
- Ask for the hosting and admin logins, or for the account to be moved to your email address and your card.
- Keep paying any reasonable outstanding invoice. It keeps the handover friendly.
If the designer cannot be found, the registrar shown in the lookup can usually help you prove you are the rightful registrant.
How we do it
Every site we build goes into accounts registered in the client's name, including the domain. If you never speak to us again, nothing stops working. That is not a favour. It is how it should be done the first time.
If you are not sure what state yours is in, that check is part of the free look we take at any site before quoting. See also what a website actually costs.