The domain name
It is registered in the name of the website's owner, not the name of the provider. When this is set up wrongly, it is the most expensive thing to get back.
Good practice
A website that stays transferable.
The real risk with a website isn't that it costs a lot: it's that it becomes impossible for anyone else to take over. Here is what keeps a website transferable, whatever tool built it, and whoever looks after it tomorrow.
What must stay with the website's owner
The hosting access details
The hosting account belongs to the client. The provider has access to it, they do not own it.
The source files
The project, the original images, the texts. A website you cannot reopen is a website you have to build again.
The content, in a readable format
HTML pages, images, texts. Not a format that only one tool can read.
What this asks of each side
If someone else builds your website
- Ask for the domain name to be in your name, from day one.
- Ask for the hosting access details, even if you never intend to use them.
- Ask for a copy of the project and the original images on delivery.
- Ask the awkward question: what happens if we stop working together?
If you build websites for others
- Register the domain name in your client's name, and explain to them why.
- Hand over the project and the source files at the end of the job, without anyone having to ask.
- Put in writing what happens at the end of the contract, before the contract starts.
- What you give up in dependence, you gain in recommendations.
What we require of ourselves
With the software, the question doesn't arise: the project is on your disk and the website is with your hosting provider. With the online service, it would arise if we had not settled it: the export button is part of the subscription, and it hands your website back to you as pages you can host elsewhere.
We would rather be chosen each year because the product suits you than kept because leaving would cost too much.