You send an email about a small change to your website. No reply. You send another a week later. Nothing. You try calling and it goes to voicemail. Somewhere around the third attempt you start to wonder whether you still have a website at all, or just the hope of one.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. A good number of our clients first came to us exactly this way. The good news is that in almost every case the site is fine, and getting back in control is very doable. It just helps to do things in the right order.
Don’t panic, and don’t start clicking
Your website is almost certainly still running. Hosting and domain renewals usually keep going on their own as long as the card on file is good. So before you try to log in to things or change anything, take a breath. The worst outcomes we see come from rushed changes, not from the designer going quiet.
Work out what you actually own
Every website is really three separate things, and it’s worth knowing who controls each one:
- The domain name. This is your address, like yourbusiness.com. It’s registered with a company such as GoDaddy, Namecheap or Network Solutions. Search your email for “domain renewal” or the name of your domain and you’ll usually find the receipt.
- The hosting. This is the server your site lives on. Again, look for renewal receipts or invoices. Sometimes the designer paid for it and billed you, which is fine, but it means the account may be in their name.
- The website itself. If it’s built on WordPress, there’s an admin login, usually at yourbusiness.com/wp-admin. If you’ve never had your own login, write that down. It matters.
If the domain is registered in your name, you are in a much stronger position than you might think. Even if everything else had to be rebuilt, nobody can take your address away.
Get a backup before anything else
Once someone has access to the hosting or the WordPress admin, the very first job is a full backup of the files and the database, stored somewhere other than the server itself. We do this before we touch anything on a site we’re taking over. It costs very little and it means that whatever happens next, nothing is lost.
Recover access, one account at a time
Start with the accounts you can reset yourself. Most registrars and hosts will let you reset a password through the email address on the account. If that email belongs to your designer, the company’s support team can usually verify you as the owner with a receipt, an invoice or your business details. It takes a little patience, but it works.
Then make sure you have your own administrator login for WordPress, in your own name, with your own email address. Not a shared one.
Decide: fix it, or start again?
Once you’re back in, you can look at the site properly. Sometimes it just needs updating, tidying and a few repairs, and it will serve you well for years. Sometimes it’s built in a way that makes every change painful, and a rebuild is the better use of your money. An honest look at the site should tell you which, and nobody should push you towards a rebuild you don’t need.
So it doesn’t happen again
A few simple habits will protect you, whoever you work with in the future:
- Keep the domain registered in your organization’s name, with an email address you control.
- Always have your own administrator login to the website.
- Keep a short list of every account: registrar, hosting, website, email, analytics. Store it somewhere safe.
- Ask your designer how backups are handled, and where they’re kept.
A good designer will be glad you asked. We’d rather our clients stay because they want to, not because they can’t leave.
If you’re in this situation now, tell us what’s happened. We’ll help you get back in control, and we’ll answer when you call.