Who Should Control Your Website Accounts?

Which website accounts should a business keep track of?

Start with the accounts that keep your website and email working. Your domain registrar manages the registration of your web address. Your hosting provider stores the website. Your website administration account lets you change its content and settings.

These may be supplied by one company, but they still perform different jobs. Logging into WordPress does not necessarily give you access to renew your domain or recover a hosting backup.

A practical account record should include:

• The domain registrar, renewal date and registration contact.
• The hosting provider, account holder and billing contact.
• The business email provider and recovery method.
• The website administration login and people with access.
• Any separate booking, payment or analytics accounts the website uses.

Record where passwords are stored securely rather than putting them in an ordinary shared spreadsheet. Assign someone to check the record when suppliers, staff or payment details change.

Should your designer register the domain for you?

A designer can help register a domain, but the registration details should identify the appropriate business or person, with a clear agreement about control. Being the person who paid an invoice is not a useful substitute for checking the registration record and recovery arrangements.

For .uk domains, Nominet’s Online Services guidance explains that its account can be used to update contact details, change registrar and transfer a domain. Access begins with the email address used for registration.

That makes the registration email an important detail to check. If only your designer can receive recovery messages, ask how access would be handed over if you stopped working together.

Use a recovery address your organisation can continue accessing if the website or its usual business email stops working. Keep that address secure and current. A domain renewal reminder is easily missed when it goes to an abandoned mailbox.

Can a supplier manage everything while you retain control?

Yes, managed hosting and technical support can work well when responsibilities and exit arrangements are clear. A supplier may legitimately host several clients in a shared management account, so you may not have a separate hosting login.

In that situation, ask what you can receive if you leave: a copy of the website, its database, relevant media and the information needed for another provider to take over. Confirm any handover charges and notice period before a disagreement makes the conversation harder.

Also check which features depend on the supplier’s licences. A premium plugin or paid theme supplied through an agency account may need a replacement licence after a move. That is something to understand upfront, rather than discovering when a renewal fails.

For day-to-day work, use separate user accounts where the platform allows it. Give people the permissions needed for their role, instead of sharing one administrator password among everyone who edits a page.

What should you check before changing website suppliers?

Check access, backups and service dependencies before cancelling anything. Moving a website and moving its email are separate tasks, even when they currently appear on the same invoice.

Make sure you can sign in to the relevant website accounts yourself, or confirm an agreed handover with the current provider. Ask the incoming supplier which files, credentials and settings they need. Obtain a usable backup before changes begin.

Keep the existing service active until the replacement has been tested. Check the website, contact forms and business email rather than judging the move only by whether the homepage loads. A rushed cancellation can remove the very account needed to finish the transfer.

When the handover is complete, remove unnecessary access and update your account record. Keep copies of the agreement and renewal information somewhere the business can find them.

If you are planning a new site, make account control part of the conversation from the beginning. Explore JigiWeb’s small business web design service and tell us how you want to manage your website after launch, so access and responsibilities can be agreed alongside the build.