What Happens When Someone Else Controls Your Website?

A contractor or business owner hires a marketing company to build a website. That company may outsource the project to another developer, who may then outsource portions of the work to someone else in another country.

Months or years later, the business owner needs a website update, wants to change marketing companies, or decides to move the website to a new provider.

Suddenly, no one knows who owns or controls the website.

• Login information is missing.
• The domain is registered under someone else’s name.
• The hosting account cannot be accessed.
• Website backups are unavailable.
• Emails and phone calls go unanswered.
• Simple updates take days or weeks to complete.

Unfortunately, this situation is more common than many business owners realize.

A Real Example of Website Ownership Problems

One of our recent clients experienced this exact issue.

Their previous marketing provider outsourced the website project to a team in South America. That team then outsourced portions of the development work to India.

Communication passed through multiple companies, people, and time zones. The client experienced long delays, poor communication, limited access, and a lack of clear answers.

When they decided to move their website, obtaining the necessary files, passwords, and account access became a major project.

Instead of focusing on running their business, they had to spend valuable time trying to regain control of their own website.

Some Businesses Lose Their Entire Website

In the worst cases, businesses are never able to recover their website.

Instead of transferring the existing website to a new company, they are forced to rebuild everything from scratch.

This often happens because:

• No one knows where the website is hosted.
• The domain name is controlled by a former employee or vendor.
• The original developer is no longer available.
• No website backups were created.
• The business does not have WordPress administrator access.
• The website was built on a platform that does not allow transfers.

Rebuilding a website can cost thousands of dollars and take several weeks or months to complete. It can also result in lost leads, search rankings, website traffic, and revenue.

Most of these problems can be avoided by making sure your business owns and controls its digital accounts.

Your Business Should Own Its Domain Name

Your domain name is your website address, such as yourbusiness.com.

The domain should always be registered under your company’s name using an email address controlled by your business.

Your marketing company or website designer can help manage the domain, but your business should remain the legal owner and have full access to the account.

This protects your company if:

• You change marketing agencies.
• Your web designer closes their business.
• An employee leaves your company.
• You need to move your website.
• You need to update your domain settings.

Losing access to your domain can cause your website and business email to stop working.

Your Business Should Own Its Hosting Account

Website hosting is the service that stores your website files and makes the website available online.

View the WP Engine Special Offer

Your web designer or marketing company can manage the hosting for you, but your business should have administrator access to the account.

Owning your hosting account allows you to:

• Download a full copy of your website.
• Create and access website backups.
• Move your website to another provider.
• Change marketing companies when needed.
• Review billing and account information.
• Maintain full control of your website files.

Your Domain and Hosting Can Be With Different Companies

Many business owners believe their domain name and website hosting must be purchased from the same company.

That is not required.

It is very common to register a domain through a company such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Cloudflare and host the website through another provider.

Separating the domain and hosting can provide more flexibility, better website performance, stronger security, and easier website management.

Our Recommended WordPress Hosting Providers

For many WordPress websites, ThreeBird Creative recommends WP Engine.

WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting provider that offers features such as:

• Automatic website backups
• Website security monitoring
• Staging environments for testing updates
• WordPress-focused technical support
• Fast and reliable website performance
• Tools that make website transfers easier

ThreeBird Creative clients and website visitors can receive 25% off eligible WP Engine purchases through our partner link.

View the WP Engine Special Offer

We also recommend Cloudflare for many websites that need improved performance, domain management, security, or protection from online threats.

The best setup depends on your website, traffic, security needs, budget, and long-term business goals.

Website Ownership Checklist for Business Owners

Ask your current website or marketing provider whether your business has access to the following:

• Domain registration account
• Website hosting account
• WordPress administrator account
• Website database and files
• Current website backups
• DNS and Cloudflare settings
• Google Analytics account
• Google Search Console account
• Google Business Profile
• Website theme and plugin licenses

These accounts should be registered using a company-owned email address, not the personal email address of an employee, freelancer, or outside vendor.

Protect One of Your Most Valuable Business Assets

Your website is an important business asset. It should belong to your company—not your marketing agency, web designer, former employee, or outsourced developer.

You can still hire professionals to manage everything for you. The important part is making sure your company remains the owner and has access to every account.

Taking a few simple steps today can help you avoid lost websites, long delays, expensive rebuilds, and unnecessary stress in the future.