1 min read#hosting#ownership
Own your domain, your hosting, and your files
The cheapest way to lose a website is to let someone else keep the keys. Three things should always be in your name.
When a business leaves a web vendor, the painful part is rarely the design. It is discovering that the domain is registered to the vendor’s account, the hosting is inside their reseller plan, and nobody has the files.
The three things that must be yours
The domain. Registered under your own account, with your own email address as the contact. If the vendor registered it for you, ask for a transfer code and move it. A .com costs about RM50 to RM70 a year, and no vendor needs to hold it for you.
The hosting account. Even if the vendor manages it, the account should be yours, with your billing details. This is the difference between changing suppliers and starting over.
The files and the data. Source files, images, and a database export. Ask for them at the end of every project, even if you are staying. A vendor who hesitates is telling you something.
What we do
We build in your hosting account, not ours. Your domain stays with your registrar. At handover you get the source files, the database export, and a one page note listing where everything lives and how to move it. If you leave, we do not have to be involved at all.
The test you can run today
Log in to your registrar and check who the registrant is. Try to get into your hosting control panel. If either step fails, fix it before the relationship changes, because negotiating while your site is offline is a bad position.
A question about your own site?
Answered in a message, not a form letter.