Your website looks okay. It’s not winning design awards, but customers can find the menu and the phone number. Then the kitchen hours change.
You call the person who built it. The number is disconnected. You don’t know where the domain is registered, the login doesn’t work and the credit card that pays for hosting might belong to someone else.
Suddenly a simple update is a business continuity problem.
The important question isn’t who designed it
You can hire someone to build a website. You can pay someone to host it. None of that is automatically a problem. The question is what your agreement says you own, what you can access and what happens when that relationship ends.
Separate the assets: domain registration, DNS settings, hosting account, website platform, website content, photographs, analytics, email service and business listings. They may live in different systems and be controlled by different people.
Your domain is not a decorative detail
Your domain is the address customers type and where your business email may live. ICANN explains that registrants have rights and responsibilities involving renewal and transfers, subject to registrar agreements and applicable rules.
Check which legal person or company is listed as the registrant, where renewal reminders go, and whether the business can sign in to the registrar. Enable multi-factor authentication and use a business-controlled recovery method. Losing access can affect far more than the homepage.
Don’t share one mystery password with the whole staff
Use individual accounts with the access each person needs. The menu manager should not necessarily control domain transfers. Have at least two trusted administrators for critical business assets, document emergency access procedures and remove accounts when vendors or employees leave.
Keep credentials in a reputable password manager. Don’t store them in a notebook taped beneath the office keyboard. Review software updates, backups and renewal dates. Write down who to contact if the website or online ordering stops working.
Ask a vendor these questions before signing
Who owns the domain registration and original content? Will I have an administrative login? Can I export the site or move hosting? What does monthly maintenance include? What happens when we stop paying? Who pays for third-party services? What is the response plan for a security incident?
Contract terms differ, and some proprietary platforms aren’t portable in the way a standard site might be. That’s fine if you understand the trade-off. It’s not fine if you find out the day you want to leave.
Do a continuity test while things are calm
Ask a trusted employee to locate the registrar, hosting provider, renewal dates, admin contacts and the path to edit today’s menu. Have them document the steps without exposing passwords. If they can’t do it, you’ve found an important gap.
A website should serve the business, not hold it hostage. You may love the person who built yours. Good. Make the relationship even better by ensuring you can maintain the asset when that person is on vacation, retired or simply unavailable.
