Handing a website over to a client or another company: what to move and what to change

Handing over a site is four different things, and each has its own owner: the domain, the hosting account, the content, and the third-party accounts (analytics, e-mail, payments). The usual mistake is to hand over only the content and leave the rest in the name of whoever built the site. A year later the client cannot renew the domain or receive the invoice.

What should be in whose name

What it is In the name of How it is passed on
The domain The client (the registered holder). See registry, registrar and registrant: who owns the domain? and transferring your domain to another provider.
The hosting account The client, with their e-mail and billing details. A new account in the client’s name and the site copied into it, or agree with us to move the service. See reseller hosting or one plan per client.
The site (files and database) The client. A full backup plus the database. See making a full cPanel backup.
Third-party accounts (statistics, e-mail, payment provider) The client, with their e-mail. Add the client as owner, and only then step down.

Step by step

1 Agree in writing what is handed over: domain, hosting, site, third-party accounts, and who pays for what from now on.
2 Ask the client to open the account with their own e-mail and billing details, tax number included, before the first order. The invoices are then in the right name from the start. See your invoice: billing details, tax and receipts.
3 Move the site to that account. You can ask our migration team, or do it by hand: moving a site by hand. Run the first-day checks at the destination.
4 Pass the domain to the right holder. If the holder is the client and you keep managing it, use a sub-account: see how to manage sub-accounts.
5 Change every password: cPanel, the WordPress or CMS administrator, database, FTP, SSH keys. Remove the users that were yours.
6 Hand over the documentation: versions, plugins and licences, cron jobs, how the backup is made, who makes it and where it is kept.
7 Make the first backup together and hand it over. From then on the backup is the client’s too. See making and keeping your own backup, and testing that it works.
8 Step off the billing contact list and the notices, so renewal notices reach whoever pays.
Never hand over your own password. Giving access is one thing; giving the key to your account is another. The other way round, when a developer has to get in, see giving a developer access to your site without handing over your password.
If you will keep looking after the site, stay on by contract and through a sub-account with limited permissions, not through the client’s password. If you have many clients, see becoming a reseller: the plans, what is included and how to start.

Want to move a site or a service into your client’s name? Tell us the domain and who the holder is, and we will tell you the way.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Registry, registrar and registrant: who owns the domain?

How to manage sub-accounts

How to update your registration details

Giving a developer access to your site without handing over your password

RECOMMENDED PRODUCT

Web hosting with cPanel

Domain and SSL included, daily backups and the panel you already know. from $6.59/mo (3-year plan, with coupon)

See plans
  • 0 Users Found This Useful
Was this answer helpful?

Related Articles

How to migrate a site without downtime Changing hosting provider does not have to take your site offline. The trick is simple: set everything up here before po...
Internal migration: moving sites between plans Changing plan inside Interweb - from Hospedagem Pro to Plus, say - is far simpler than migrating from another provider....
How to generate zip and sql files to migrate a WordPress site A WordPress site is always two halves: the files (theme, plugins, images) and the database (posts, pages, settings). To...
How to restore your data with JetBackup Every account here is backed up automatically, once a day, in the early hours of the morning - the last 30 daily backups...
Making and keeping your own backup, and testing that it works Restoring a copy of ours is covered in how to restore your data with JetBackup. This article is about the other half, an...
What a backup does not include: DNS, cron jobs, certificates and outside services A copy only holds what lives inside the account, and only what that kind of copy picks up. Many people find out the rest...