It is one of the most common stories business owners tell about marketing companies. They decide to move on, and find out the agency registered the domain in its own name, built the site on a platform nobody else can use, and wants a fee to hand anything over. On owner forums people describe it as their website being held hostage.
It is avoidable. These are the five things to check, whether you are hiring someone new or already working with someone.
1. Your domain name
Your domain is your address on the internet, and everything else points at it. It should be registered to your business, in an account you can log into.
- How to check: find the registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Squarespace and so on) and log in. If you do not have a login, that is your answer. A public lookup at lookup.icann.org shows the registrar, though the owner's details are often hidden for privacy.
- What good looks like: the domain is in your account, or in an account you can move it out of at any time.
2. Your hosting and website files
Hosting is where your site actually lives. The files on it are the website.
- How to check: ask who pays for the hosting and whether you can get a full copy of the site today.
- Watch for: sites built on an agency's own platform. Some cannot be moved at all, so leaving means starting again from nothing.
3. Your Google Business Profile
For most local businesses this brings in more calls than the website. It must be yours.
- How to check: open your profile, go to the settings, then People and access.
- What good looks like: you, or someone in your business, are the primary owner. An agency should be added as a manager, never as the owner.
4. Google Analytics and Search Console
These hold the history of how people find your business. If the agency owns them, the history leaves with the agency.
- How to check: sign in to Google Analytics and Search Console with your own Google account and see whether your site is listed.
- What good looks like: the property lives in your account, and the agency has been given access to it.
5. Your phone number
This is the one people forget. Many agencies put a call tracking number on your website and listings. That is useful for measuring calls, but if the number belongs to the agency, leaving means losing the number on your listings, your ads and maybe your trucks.
- How to check: call the number on your website and your Google profile. Is it the number you pay for?
- What good looks like: your own number everywhere, or a tracking number that is in your name and can be moved.
What to ask before you sign
Ask any marketing company these questions before you sign anything, and get the answers in writing:
- Whose name will the domain be registered in?
- Can I have a full copy of my website whenever I ask?
- Will I be the primary owner of my Google Business Profile?
- Will Analytics and Search Console live in my Google account?
- If you add a tracking number, who owns it?
- What exactly happens, and what does it cost, if I leave?
We put our own answers on the pricing page: everything is in your name, and if you leave, you take all of it with you.