What "you own your website" actually means

Everyone says it. Almost nobody lists what it means. Here are the four things you either have or you do not — and the questions that find out before you pay.

The most common story we hear is not a bad website. It is a fine website that the owner cannot get into, built by someone who stopped answering emails two years ago and is still billing for hosting.

The four things

1. The domain name, registered to you. Your name or your business name in the registrant field, and you can log in and see it. This is the one that costs the most to get wrong: a domain held by someone else is your whole online presence held hostage.
2. The hosting account, in your name. Not "we host it for you" with no login. If you leave, the site keeps working while you move it.
3. The files. The actual website, handed over, in a form another developer can pick up. Some platforms cannot export at all — that is a design decision, not a technical limit.
4. The Google Business Profile. You are the owner, not a manager. Agencies routinely create these under their own account and it is the hardest one to unpick later.

The single best question to ask anyone quoting you: "If I stop working with you tomorrow, what do I keep, and can you show me the logins today?" The pause before the answer tells you everything.

Why some studios do not do it this way

Because holding the keys makes leaving expensive, and a customer who cannot leave does not have to be kept happy. It is a business model, not an oversight — and it works right up until the client finds out.

What we do

Every password handed over on day one, the domain in your name, hosting in your account, month to month on anything ongoing. If you want to leave, you take the lot and nothing switches off. We would rather be kept because the work is good — see the pricing page, where the terms are written out.