Three things have to be yours: your domain name, your hosting and your content. On a surprising number of small-business sites at least one of them is in the agency's name — and you find out at the moment you want to leave.
The five-minute test
- Domain name. Look your domain up in a WHOIS service, or ask your agency for the registrar login. Is there another company name next to "registrant"? Then the name your customers find you by is not yours.
- Hosting. Do you have an account you can log into? Or does everything run through one agency account holding twenty sites?
- Content. Could you take your text and photos out if you left tomorrow? And are the photos yours, or licensed to the agency?
- Code. Do you get the files, or only a login screen?
- Email. Does your email run on the same domain? Who manages it?
If you answer "I don't know" to any of these, that is the answer.
Why a "free website" is expensive
The usual model: little or nothing up front, and a three-year contract with a monthly fee. Work it out. At € 150 a month that is € 5,400 over three years, plus whatever you paid at the start. And at the end of those three years you usually do not have a site you can take with you — because that is exactly what holds the model together.
This is not a scam. It is a business model, and it is in the contract. But it is not what the brochure suggests.
What to settle before you start
- Whose name does the domain go in? Answer: yours.
- Do I get hosting access? Answer: yes.
- How long is the contract and how do I cancel? Monthly is the standard you should want.
- What does it cost to transfer everything? Here: nothing. Ask, because this question is rarely asked.
- What happens to the site if you stop working? Every one-person business should have an answer. Mine: you have the code, the hosting is in your name, and any developer can take it over.
How I do it
Domain in your name. Hosting on an account of yours, which I get access to. The full source code is yours and transferable to anyone you like. Maintenance is € 79 a month, cancellable monthly — if you stay, it is because it suits you, not because you are stuck.
That is not a generous gesture. It is the minimum you should demand from anyone who builds your site.
What it costs is on the pricing page. How the work runs is on the process page.