Do You Own Your Website?

One of my current challenges is that I can’t access a new client’s analytics data because it was installed in their former designer’s Google account, not theirs.

This leads to the larger topic of who owns what when a website is built. It’s critically important to make sure that you own these things:

Domain Name 

You should be the registered owner of the domain name for your business. Think of your domain name as an important piece of business property.

Hosting Account

It is also very important to own your own web hosting account. Again, you want to have the independence to change web design companies if and when you feel it’s necessary.

Design

Your web design company should give ownership of layout and graphics to you when the project is complete and you have paid for it. If they don’t, they retain ownership (and the original art files) and it will be difficult and expensive for another designer down the road to make design changes to your site.

Photographs

If you, or an employee, took the photographs on your website, you own them. Otherwise, you don’t and need to have a valid license from a stock photography company to use them. You need to observe the terms of this license. (The exception would be genuinely free images, available from some websites.)

Written Text

You own the text content of your website if you or an employee wrote it. Otherwise, the creator of the website is the legal author and owner unless they give ownership to you.

Analytics

As I said before, it’s really important that you own the Google account that the analytics lives in; Google does not transfer ownership of an analytics account under any circumstances. If you don’t own the account, you’ll lose your analytics history if you change design companies.

This same advice applies to any type of account used in setting up your website, such as a Google+ Business account, or a Constant Contact email account. Make sure you own the account, and make sure you know the user name and password.

To sum up, just make sure you own everything, can access everything, and can transfer everything easily if and when you might need to.

It’s your website!