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If an agency will not hand you the keys, that is not a website. It is a lease.
I have met women paying a monthly fee for a website they cannot touch, hosted on an account they cannot log into, holding customer data they cannot export. Nobody explained that to them upfront, because explaining it upfront would have cost the sale.
5 minute read
The business model that depends on you not owning anything
If the domain sits in the agency's account, the accounts are theirs, and the data lives in a system only they can query, then leaving them is not a decision you can make in an afternoon. That is not an accident. A client who cannot leave without months of disruption is a client who tolerates a lot before she finally does.
This is not every agency, and I am not saying it is malicious in every case. I am saying it is common enough that you should ask about it before you sign anything, and that most sales calls are built to avoid the question ever coming up.
What ownership actually means, specifically
The domain is registered in your name, on your card, from day one. The hosting, the booking system, the email sending, all under accounts you hold the login for. The data, exportable, in a format you could hand to anyone else tomorrow.
If any one of those lives with the agency instead of with you, you do not own your website. You are renting a very convincing version of one.
Why I build it this way even though it costs me leverage
It means a client can fire me. It means I have to earn the next month, not assume it because leaving is expensive for her. I would rather build something worth keeping than something that is merely hard to leave.
In practice
- Ask, before you sign, whose name the domain is registered in
- Ask for admin access to every account your business depends on, not viewer access
- Ask what happens to your customer data on the day you leave