Who Actually Owns Your Website? Domains, Hosting and Logins Explained

The problem nobody checks until it is too late

Here is a situation that is far more common than it should be. A business paid someone to build their website a few years ago. The designer registered the domain, set up the hosting and the email, and everything worked. Then the designer moved on, stopped answering, or the relationship ended badly.

Now the business cannot update its own website. The domain renewal notices go to someone else's inbox. And one day the site and the company email simply stop working, because a renewal nobody saw was never paid.

None of this usually involves anyone acting in bad faith. It happens because nobody explained what the business was supposed to own. This article is that explanation.

The three things that make up your website

Your website is not one thing you buy. It is three separate things, and you should control all of them.

• The domain name, such as yourbusiness.co.za. This is your address on the internet, and your email usually depends on it too.
• The hosting, which is the server where your website's files actually live.
• The website itself, meaning its content, design and the logins used to edit it.

Of the three, the domain matters most. Hosting can be moved and a website can be rebuilt, but if you lose your domain you lose your address, your Google rankings and very often your email, all at once.

How to check who owns your domain

For a .co.za domain, you can look up the registered owner using the ZACR WHOIS lookup on the registry's website. For .com and other domains, any WHOIS lookup tool will do. Search for your domain and look at the registrant name and email.

The registrant should be your business, or you personally, with an email address you actually check. If it shows your web designer's name, an agency you no longer use, or an email address nobody at your company can access, that is worth fixing now, while everyone is still on good terms.

What you should have access to

Whoever built your site, you should be able to answer yes to each of these:

• The domain is registered in your business's name.
• You have your own login to the domain registrar, or at least know who the registrar is.
• You know when the domain renews, and the renewal reminders reach you.
• You have a login to your hosting account, or a clear written agreement about who manages it.
• You have an administrator login to your website, not just an editor account.
• You have a copy of your website's content and images somewhere you control.

A good web designer will happily hand all of this over. It is perfectly normal for them to manage things day to day on your behalf. It is not normal for you to have no access at all.

Keep the important logins safe

Once you have the logins, store them somewhere sensible: a password manager is best, and a sealed document in the office safe is better than nothing. Use an email address for the domain and hosting accounts that belongs to the business rather than to one staff member, so access does not walk out the door when someone leaves.

Turn on two-factor authentication wherever it is offered. Domains do get stolen, and a hijacked domain can be used to intercept your email and impersonate you to your customers.

What to ask before hiring a web designer

Before you sign, ask these questions and get the answers in writing:

• Will the domain be registered in my business's name?
• Will I get my own login to the domain and hosting?
• If we stop working together, what exactly will you hand over, and is there a fee for it?
• Who is responsible for renewing the domain, and who gets the reminders?

Anyone who is reluctant to answer clearly is telling you something important.

If you are already locked out

Start by asking politely. Most designers will transfer a domain into your name when asked, because it was always yours in their mind too. A .co.za transfer is a fairly routine process between registrars.

If the person cannot be reached, contact the registrar directly with proof that the business is yours, such as your company registration documents and evidence of past payments. It takes longer, but it can usually be resolved. The important thing is to start before the renewal date, not after it.

Five minutes checking today is far cheaper than rebuilding your website, your email and your search rankings from scratch.