Your website is one of your most important business and marketing tools. Having full control and ownership over it is equally important.
What Does It Mean to Own Your Website
When we talk about owning everything related to your website, we don’t necessarily mean you need to go out and buy GoDaddy so you have ownership of your hosting. There are some aspects of your website that you don’t legally own but should still have control over. Here are the elements of your website that you should own or control.
Domain Name
You have the exclusive right to use your domain name as long as you continue to pay your hosting provider for it, so in a sense it’s a little more like renting. But what’s important is that your domain is set up and registered under your name or your company name and not anyone else’s. Otherwise, you will forever be reliant on that person or risk losing your domain.
Content & Design
You should own all the content, text, images, videos, visual elements and overall design of your site, even if you didn’t create it yourself. If you are working with a third party to create your website, make sure it’s in your contract that they transfer ownership of it to you upon completion.
Access & Control
Even if someone else is going to perform all your website updates, you should still make sure you have backend access to your website and control over who else has access.
Hosting
While you do not own the hosting, it’s important that you are the one who manages the account where your website’s files are stored. Otherwise, you risk losing control of your entire website.
Why It’s Important to Own Your Website
If you don’t own your website and everything related to it, that means someone else does. They are the ones in control of it, and you have no choice but to rely on them. You never know what could happen. That company could go under, the relationship could sour, and you could be out your entire website. Your website is too important to your business and there are too many “what if” scenarios to leave it in someone else’s hands. Owning everything related to your website, including the domain name, hosting and website content, provides significant benefits as well as safeguards your online presence.
Complete Control & Flexibility
Owning your website gives you full control of how your brand is represented. You can make changes, update content, swap out images, implement functionalities, hire a new designer or switch hoisting providers without ever worrying about being held hostage or having to start over.
Protects Your Online Presence
Owning your domain gives you full control of where it points and stops unauthorized use or appropriation. You don’t have to trust anyone else to renewing your domain and you also don’t need to worry about losing any of your website assets since you own them and you aren’t relying on a third-party provider for access.
SEO & Marketing Advantages
Search engines value established domains with longer registration histories. So, by having your domain registered in your name from the start and keeping it registered to you, you can actually help improve its search engine ranking. It also gives you the ability to easily redirect an old domain to a new one if you do decide to rebrand. This will help preserve your existing SEO value and avoid customer confusion.
Business Benefits
Your website is a digital asset that can appreciate in value over time, adding value to your brand – if you own it. It can also be more cost effective. The initial investment to own all the elements of your site might seem higher, but if you don’t own it, you’ll be paying ongoing fees to third-party providers for the life of the website.
Reduced Risk
When you own your website, you have access to and control over all of it. That includes ensuring you have a reliable and secure hosting setup with backup and recovery options, rather than entrusting this to someone else who may not care and try to cut corners. This ensures your website remains accessible and minimizes the risk of downtime.
Intellectual Property Protection
Owning your website’s content, design and visual assets gives you full copyright protection, not only strengthening your brand identity, but preventing others from infringing or misappropriating your work.
Pick a Website Designer Who Has Your Best Interest in Mind
Your website is too important to ever sign control of it over to someone else. Any company you work with knows that and if they are truly working in your best interest, they will make sure you own everything related to your website in the end. We understand that not everyone is comfortable with these backend aspects of a website, but we still feel that’s no reason for you not to have ownership and control. We will help you purchase your domain, set up hosting, whatever you need, but we will always make sure it’s in your name and that you own it. If you are interested in learning more about our company and our web design work, reach out online or give us a call at (414) 232-7862. We’d be happy to help you take ownership of your website.
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