When your web designer disappears

It is one of the more common calls this studio gets, and it is rarely dramatic. Somebody built a site five years ago, then moved, changed careers, or simply stopped replying. The site still works, so nothing feels urgent, until the day it needs changing or it breaks.

First, find out what you actually control

There are four separate things, and people usually assume they are one thing. You can own some and not others.

• The domain name. Registered somewhere like GoDaddy or Namecheap, renewed yearly. If this lapses everything stops, including email.
• The hosting. The server the site actually sits on. A separate bill, often from a different company.
• The WordPress login. Access to edit the site itself.
• The content. Your words and your photographs, which are yours regardless of who typed them in.

Find every renewal charge on your card statements and every password reset email in your inbox. That usually reconstructs the picture faster than trying to remember.

If the domain is in their name

This is the one worth acting on quickly, because it is the only piece that can genuinely be lost rather than rebuilt. Domain registrars have transfer processes that do not require the other party to cooperate indefinitely, and the sooner it is started the better. Everything else can be recreated; a lapsed domain can be bought by somebody else.

You probably do not need to start over

A site that is still up can normally be taken over. Bring whatever logins still exist and it can be assessed honestly: sometimes the right answer is keep it and maintain it, sometimes it is rebuild. Either way you should get told which, and get a price in writing for that recommendation, not a reflexive “you need a whole new website”.

How to not be here again

• Register the domain yourself, in your own account, on your own card. Let whoever builds the site have access rather than ownership.
• Avoid a proprietary page builder. If the site is built on plain WordPress, any competent developer can pick it up. If it is built on a builder with a lapsed license, your options narrow to whoever holds that license.
• Know where the backups are, and how old the newest one is. “There are backups” and “we can restore yesterday” are different claims.
• Keep the arrangement boring: one person you can name, who answers the phone, and a maintenance arrangement that says what is covered.

None of that requires hiring anyone in particular. It is just the difference between a website you own and a website you rent from someone who might stop answering.