Do I Own My Website, or Does the Person Who Built It?

Maybe, and you should find out now. A website is several separate pieces, and each one can have a different owner. The ones that matter most are your domain name, your content, your site files, and your logins.

I'm Derek. I build sites for small businesses in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Here is how I'd check who owns what.

A website is not one thing

People say "my website" like it's a single item. It's not. It's a bundle:

• Domain name. Your address, like yourbusiness.com.
• Hosting. The computer that serves your site to visitors.
• Content. Your text, photos, logo, menus, and so on.
• Site files. The pages and code that make it all work.
• Logins. Access to every piece above.

You can own some of these and not others. That's where people get burned.

The domain is the big one

If you lose your domain, you lose your address. Customers, Google listings, email, and printed materials all point to it.

Here's the problem. Some designers register the domain in their own name or on their own account "to make it easy." Then you're a guest on your own address.

To check, look up your domain on a public WHOIS lookup. Many registrars hide personal details with privacy, so you may not see a name. If you can't tell, ask your designer: "Whose account is the domain registered under?" The right answer is yours.

You want to be listed as the registrant, with your own email on the account. The designer can be added as a helper. That's fine. They shouldn't be the owner.

Content: it should be yours

Your photos, your writing, your logo, your menu. These should belong to you. A fair contract says so.

Watch for two things:

• Stock photos or fonts the designer licensed. These may be licensed for your site only, which is normal, but ask.
• Content that lives only inside a site builder. If you can't export it, you can't easily take it with you.

Ask for a copy of all your content in plain files: text documents and image folders. If they hesitate, that tells you something.

Site files: ask what "owning" means

This is where I'm careful. Not every site is built the same way.

If your site runs on a platform like Wix or Squarespace, you usually can't take the whole thing with you. You can keep your domain and your content, but the site itself lives on their system. That's the trade-off for those tools.

If your site is custom-built, the question is what the contract says. Some designers keep rights to their code and license it to you. Others hand it over. Neither is automatically wrong. What's wrong is not knowing.

At HPTS, my clients own their domain, their content, and their site files, and they can leave with them. If I use any of my own tools that stay mine, I list them in writing up front. I don't hold your site hostage. But read any contract, mine included, and ask questions before you sign.

Logins: the quiet problem

Even if you own everything on paper, you may not hold the keys. Check that you have:

• Your domain registrar login
• Your hosting login
• Your site admin login
• Access to the email address tied to each account

If the only person who can log in is your designer, you don't control your site yet.

Red flags

• The designer won't say who owns the domain.
• You've never seen a hosting or registrar login.
• The contract is silent on who owns files and content.
• Leaving means paying a "release fee" nobody mentioned.
• The designer is hard to reach and holds all the passwords.

None of these prove bad intent. Many designers are just disorganized. But you shouldn't have to guess.

What a good setup looks like

Plain and boring:

• Domain registered in your name, your email on the account.
• Hosting account you can see, or a clear written statement of where the site lives.
• A written note on who owns content and files.
• A copy of your content and files stored somewhere you control.
• A designer who answers these questions without drama.

You can see how I handle this on real projects. Adkinson BBQ is a local smokehouse site, mobile-first, owned by the operator. The Question Mark uses NFC cards tied to Apple and Google Wallet passes for verification. Different jobs, same idea: the owner should know what they have.

Hosting and backups are a separate question from ownership. If your site goes down, who gets it back up? I cover that here: What happens if my host goes down or a storm hits (backfill link to #2).

What I'd do this week

• ☐ Find out where your domain is registered and whose name it's under.
• ☐ Confirm you can log in to the registrar yourself.
• ☐ Write down where your site is hosted and who pays for it.
• ☐ Ask your designer for a copy of your content and files.
• ☐ Find your contract. Look for words about ownership, files, and leaving.
• ☐ Put all logins in a password manager you control.

FAQ

Can my designer take my website down?

If they control your hosting or domain, yes, they can. That's why you want your own name on the domain and a clear agreement about hosting.

Do I own my site if I use Wix or Squarespace?

You can keep your domain and your content. The site itself usually runs on their platform and doesn't move to another host as-is. Know that going in.

What if my designer disappeared?

Start with the domain. Contact the registrar and show you're the business owner. Then find out where the site is hosted. It's a hassle, but it's often fixable.

Should I pay for a site built on someone else's template?

It can be fine. Just ask what you're getting, what you can export, and what happens if you leave.

If you want to see how I build sites, start at Website builds.