What to get when your new website is finished

The short version

• Accounts: the domain, DNS, hosting, website admin, email admin, Google Business Profile, Search Console and Analytics, each in the business’s name with you as owner.
• Licenses: every paid theme, plugin and service, who holds the license, and when it renews.
• A full backup of the files and the database, taken at launch, stored by you.
• Your materials: design files, fonts and image licenses, and the text you paid for.
• A one-page setup note: where things are, how forms send, and who to call.

Before you hire anyone, our article on what to ask a web company covers the promises to get in writing. This checklist is for launch day.

What should be on the handover list?

Go through it with your web company before the final invoice is paid. Tick each item only when you’ve tried the login yourself.

1. Accounts and access

WordPress’s roles page explains that only Administrators can manage plugins, themes and users. For Google’s tools, the Search Console permissions page and the Analytics users page show how owners add others. Our answer on what logins you should have explains each one.

2. Licenses and renewals

List every paid item the site depends on:

• premium theme and page builder;
• premium plugins (forms, SEO, backups, security, booking);
• outside services (an email-sending service for forms, a booking system, maps or font services).

For each one, write down whose account holds the license. Note when it renews and what it costs. Note what happens if it lapses. A plugin bought on the web company’s account can stop getting updates if you part ways. So ask: is the license moved to you, or only included while you’re a customer?

3. A full backup

Ask for a full backup taken at launch. It should hold all the site files and the whole database, in a format another host could restore. Keep it where neither the web company nor the host can delete it, such as your own cloud storage. That’s the “1 off-site” in the 3-2-1 rule our website basics guide describes.

4. Design files and content

• The source design files, logo files in vector and image formats, and the brand colors and fonts.
• Licenses for stock photos and fonts, showing they’re licensed to your business, not only to the designer.
• The final text, if you paid for writing.

Our article on owning your digital assets covers who should own each of these.

5. A one-page setup note

You don’t need a manual. You need a page that answers:

• Where is the site hosted, and where is DNS managed?
• Which plugins are installed, and what does each one do?
• Where do form entries go, and how is form email sent? See making your website send email properly.
• What redirects were set up from old pages?
• Is there any custom code, and where’s the copy?
• How are backups, updates and monitoring handled, and by whom?
• Who do you call when it breaks?

6. A final check before you sign off

Walk through the site on a phone with our phone checklist, send a test through every form, and make sure monitoring is set up as in uptime, SSL and domain monitoring.

Why does it matter?

Most “we can’t get into our own website” stories start on launch day. The accounts were left in someone else’s name. A handover list makes the site something your business owns, not something your web company holds. It also makes any later move quicker and cheaper: a new host, a new web company or a redesign.

What are the common mistakes?

• Accepting “we’ll send the logins later.” Get them before the final payment.
• One shared Administrator login instead of your own account.
• Licenses on the designer’s account, which stop renewing when the relationship ends.
• No backup at launch, so the only copy lives with the host.
• Google tools owned by the agency, so your history leaves with them.

What if I’m missing things from an old project?

Start with the domain and hosting, because everything else depends on them. Our help page on who owns your domain and who to call helps you find the registrar, and our help page on sharing access safely explains how to add people without sharing passwords. For Google tools you can’t reach, each one has an ownership request process.

How much does it cost, and how long does it take?

A good handover adds an hour or two to a project. Recovering missing accounts later can take days or weeks, depending on how many companies are involved.

How does E-3 handle this?

Accounts E-3 sets up are created in the client’s name, with E-3 added as a user, and domains we manage are registered to the client. For the sites we host, our monitoring tracks premium plugin license renewal dates alongside domain renewals, so a lapsing license doesn’t quietly stop a site’s updates.

Related questions

• What should I ask a web company before I hire one?
• What logins should I have for my own website?
• Own your digital assets: domains, hosting and Google
• What WordPress user role should I give my staff?
• Back to the complete guide to website basics

Sources

1. Roles and capabilities (WordPress.org documentation)
2. Manage users and permissions for a Search Console property (Search Console Help)
3. Add, edit and delete users and user groups (Analytics Help)
4. Do you have a domain name? Here's what you need to know (ICANN blog)