Who owns your website? Check before you need to

Most small businesses find out who really controls their website on a bad day. The site goes down, the email stops working, or they want to move to a new provider, and it turns out the domain is registered to someone who left years ago.

It's rarely anyone's fault. A friend set it up, or a freelancer, or an agency that has since closed. They registered things in their own name because it was quicker. Nobody thought about it again.

The four things you should hold

The domain name. This is your address, and usually your email too. Whoever controls the registrar account controls both.

The hosting account. Where the site's files and database live.

The website admin login. The account that lets you edit pages, and ideally an administrator account in your own name rather than a shared one.

The DNS settings. Often managed at the registrar or a service like Cloudflare. These decide where your domain points, including your email.

A fifteen-minute check

Look up your domain on a WHOIS service or ask your registrar. Check who's listed as the owner and which email address the account uses. If it's a personal email of someone outside the business, that's the first thing to fix.

Try logging in to each of the four accounts above. If you don't have a login, write down who does.

Check where renewal reminders go. A domain that expires because the reminder went to an old inbox is one of the most avoidable outages there is.

Make sure at least two people in the business can get in, so one person being away isn't a problem.

If someone else holds the keys

Ask, politely and in writing, for the domain to be moved into an account you own and for admin access in your name. Most people are happy to do it, especially if you make it easy. Registrars have a standard transfer process, and hosting providers can usually add you as an owner.

If the person can't be reached, the registrar may be able to help if you can show the domain is used by your business. It takes longer, which is why it's better to sort it out while things are calm.

How we handle it

When we build a site, the domain and hosting are registered to the client from day one, and we work on them as invited users. If you ever move on, nothing has to be handed back because it was always yours.

If you're not sure where your accounts sit, send us your web address and we'll tell you what we can see from the outside and what to ask for.