A new client came to Web Matters worn down by a familiar problem. Their web designer had become harder and harder to reach. Small changes were taking weeks, and some requests were simply going unanswered. Tired of chasing someone to look after a site that was, after all, their own, they decided to move the management of their website across to one of our care plans.
It was the right call — but as we looked under the bonnet, it became clear this was going to be more involved than a straightforward handover.
The situation: one provider holding all the reins
The previous web person had looked after the website for several years, and they had done what many web people do — they managed everything, not just the website. The site was hosted with them. The domain name was registered through their own reseller account. Email ran through the hosting. And they controlled the DNS, the domain name management system that quietly directs where the website and email actually point.
On paper, that’s tidy. In practice, it meant the client had no real control or autonomy over their own web presence.
To be fair, this arrangement can work perfectly well. But only if you have a high-trust relationship with your web designer and they’re responsive to your requests, having one person quietly manage the technical details is convenient — you get on with running your business and don’t have to think about any of it.
The trouble comes when circumstances change. Because every critical part of this client’s online presence was tied to a single provider, moving elsewhere was far more work than it should have been. It meant carefully untangling a set of interconnected services while keeping the website online, email flowing, and the domain moving into the client’s control — all without dropping a beat.
What we did
We worked through it methodically, one thread at a time:
- Transferred the domain name into the client’s own registrar account, so they finally owned the foundation of their online presence outright.
- Moved DNS management to Cloudflare, giving us a fast, reliable, independent place to manage where everything points.
- Migrated email to a dedicated, privacy-focused email service — separated from the website hosting, so the two are no longer joined at the hip.
- Relocated the website to managed WordPress hosting built for performance and reliability.
- Set up a care plan – the website is now on a Web Matters care plan which includes monthly content updates.
Each step reduced the client’s dependence on any single provider and handed a little more control back to them. By the end, no one part of their online business could be held hostage by another.
The outcome
The client now owns their domain, controls their DNS, has independent email, and sits on responsive managed hosting with a care plan behind it. If they ever want to make a change — including moving away from us — nothing is locked behind someone else’s account. That’s exactly how it should be.
The lesson: ownership and flexibility
This isn’t a criticism of web designers who manage domains, hosting and email on behalf of their clients. Many provide an excellent service, and for plenty of businesses it’s genuinely the right approach. It’s a warning that if you do this, things can get messy.
The important question is one of ownership and flexibility. If you hand over all the reins, you need to go in with your eyes open, because it can leave you in a tricky spot down the track.
Circumstances change. Service levels can slip, a business can outgrow its setup, a relationship can run its course, or a provider can simply retire. When that happens, you should be able to move your website without putting your domain name, your email, or your other critical services at risk.
Sadly, I’ve seen the worst version of this. New clients held to ransom by a former web designer who refused to release their domain name — and rather than fight for it, they chose to start fresh with a brand-new domain. That’s a costly, painful place to end up over something that should never have been in question.
So here’s the simple rule: at a minimum, keep your domain name under your own control. If you own the domain, you control everything else through DNS — and you’re never trapped.
Thinking about who holds the keys to your website? Web Matters can review your setup and, if needed, help you take back control — cleanly and without downtime. Get in touch.
