Do you own your website? What to ask before hiring a web designer

You own your website only if the domain, the hosting and the files sit in accounts registered in your name, with you as the owner. Many owners find out they do not at the worst possible moment — when they want to change designer. Check before you hire, not after.

Plain-language guide by E.L. Johnsdotter, founder of LEUX Design. · Published 8 October 2026

Who should own my domain, hosting and website files?

You should, all three. The domain should be registered to you, the hosting account should be billed to you, and the website’s files and content should be yours to take elsewhere. A designer can have access to all of it. Access and ownership are different things.

Domain: registered in your or the business’s name, with your email as the registrant contact. This is the most important one, because everything else can be rebuilt.
Hosting: an account in your name that you can log into and pay for. “I host it for you” usually means it lives in their account.
Files and content: the website’s code, your text, your images, and the original design files.
Everything attached: analytics, Business Profile, email, booking and payment accounts. → link: R2
On our projects, clients own every account.

What happens to my website if I stop working with my designer?

If everything is in your name, you change designer and your site keeps running. If it is in theirs, you may be leaving without your domain, your hosting or your files, and a new designer has to start again. The time to fix that is before you need to.

Ask now, while the relationship is good: “Which accounts are in my name, and can I log into them?”
A site built on a platform you cannot export from is a site you rent, not one you own.
Brand files go the same way. If your logo only exists as a small image on your website, you do not have a usable logo. → link: R8
If files are already gone, they can usually be rebuilt from what is published. That is ordinary work, not a last resort. → link: services page

What’s the difference between a redesign and a rebuild?

A redesign changes how the site looks. A rebuild changes how it is built and delivered. If your problem is that the site feels dated, a redesign may be enough. If machines receive an empty page, or you cannot edit it yourself, new visuals on the same foundation change nothing.

Our own site looked finished and well designed. On 6 October 2026 a crawler received one character of text from it. The design was not at fault; the code was.
Our own grades before our rebuild: 25% (F) against a published technical guide to answer engine optimization, and 10% (F) against one on structured data.
A rebuild should keep your existing addresses working, so pages that already rank are not lost. Ask how that will be handled.
Ask which one you are being sold, and what the difference will be for machines, not only for visitors. → link: R1

What should a website quote include, and what will I pay every year after launch?

A quote should list what you get, what it costs, and what happens after launch. Ask for a fixed price rather than an estimate, and ask separately what you will pay every year: the domain, hosting, email, any paid tools, and support. The yearly cost is the one people forget.

Get in writing: the number of pages, how many rounds of changes, who writes the words, who supplies images, the launch date, and what support is included afterwards.
Ask what is extra: copywriting, photography, additional pages, changes after launch, a logo.
Ask about each recurring cost by name, who pays it, and whose account it sits in.
A low build price attached to a long lock-in contract is not cheap.
Our prices are published, so you can compare before you talk to us. → link: services page

How do I know if my current website is the problem?

Find out what your site actually does, rather than how it looks. Three checks tell you most of it: can machines read its words, can you edit it yourself, and does it turn visitors into enquiries? If visitors arrive and nothing happens, the problem may be the words, not the build.

Read what a machine reads. Right-click your page, choose View Page Source, and look for your headline. If it is not in that code, crawlers that do not run JavaScript cannot see it either. → link: R1
Try to make a small edit yourself. If you cannot change a phone number without asking someone, that is a problem that will keep costing you.
Check whether you are measuring anything at all. No analytics means no evidence either way. → link: R2
A site can be beautiful, readable by machines, and still wrong, if it does not say what you do and who for.

What questions should I ask a web designer before I sign?

Ask six things: will the domain, hosting and files be in my name; is this a fixed price; what will I pay each year; who writes the words; what will machines receive from my pages; and what happens if I want to leave? Get the answers in writing.

Will the domain, the hosting and the files be in my name, and can I log into each account?
Is this a fixed price, or an estimate? If it is an estimate, what makes it go up?
What will I pay every year after launch, and to whom?
Who writes the words, and who supplies the images?
What will a crawler receive from my pages? Ask to be shown, on a site they have already built.
What happens to my existing addresses? A rebuild should not lose pages that already rank.
Who does the work, and who will I be talking to?
What happens if I want to leave? What do I take with me, and how?

A good answer is specific. “Do not worry about that” is an answer too, and it tells you something.
Ask to see a site they built, then view its page source yourself and see what a machine receives.
We answer all eight in writing before anyone pays us anything. → link: services page · → link: resource center

Common questions

Can I take my website with me if it was built on a website builder?

Sometimes. Some platforms let you export your content; many let you export almost nothing, and the design does not come with it. Ask before you build, because the answer decides what a future move costs you.

My designer has disappeared. Can I get my site back?

Often yes, if the domain is in your name or you can prove the business owns it. Start with the domain registrar and the hosting company, and gather your evidence: invoices, the business registration, and the email address on file.

Should I pay a deposit?

A deposit is normal. What matters is what it buys, what the remaining payments are tied to, and what you keep if the project stops. Put all three in the agreement.

Is a cheap website always a bad idea?

No. A small, well-built, readable site is a good buy. What costs you later is a site you do not own, cannot edit, or that machines cannot read — and that can happen at any price.

About the author: E.L. Johnsdotter is the founder of LEUX Design, in Burlingame, California. → link: R5 founder bio