Website handover: what the client should own
What a one-person AI agency hands over when a client website goes live, from the domain and hosting to logins, files and renewals, so the client can run it.
A good handover from a one-person AI agency gives the client everything they need to run the site without you. They can log in to everything that is theirs, they know what renews and when, and they know what your ongoing work covers and what it doesn't.
A poor handover looks fine on launch day and turns into a problem months later, when a domain renewal notice goes to your old email address, or the client wants to change hosting and can't log in.
This article is general practice for small website projects, not legal advice.
What should a client own after a website handover?
The accounts the business can't run without, in the client's name, with the client able to log in:
- the domain name;
- the hosting account, the paid space where the site lives, or at least a copy of the site they can move;
- the domain settings (DNS), usually kept with the domain or hosting company;
- business email;
- Google's search and visitor stats tools, such as Google Search Console;
- their map listing, such as their Google Business Profile;
- any booking, payment or form tools the site relies on.
The table in who should own each client account explains the reason for each one. You can keep access to all of these to do your work. The difference is that the client gives you access, not the other way round.
Who should own the domain name?
The client, in almost every case. The domain is the business's web address. If it sits in your account, the client depends on you for every change, and an expired card or a lost email can take their site and email offline.
Register it in the client's name, with contact details they control. If you already registered it in your own account, move it. For common endings such as .com, the Transfer Policy from ICANN, the body that oversees web addresses, sets the rules for moving a domain from one domain company (registrar) to another, including when a registrar may refuse, such as within 60 days of the domain being set up. Country endings, such as .com.au, follow their own rules, so check those.
What about hosting, domain settings and email?
Hosting is more flexible. Some agencies host every client site in one account as part of a care plan, and that can be a fair arrangement. If you do, write down what happens when the arrangement ends: how the client gets a copy of their site, and how long you will keep it running while they move.
The domain settings (DNS) decide where the web address sends people and email, and hold the small codes that prove to services like Google that the site is theirs. Give the client access, and keep a plain list of the settings you added and why. A setting nobody can explain is one nobody dares to remove.
Business email should be in the client's account. Past emails belong to the business.
How do I hand over Google Search Console and visitor stats?
Google Search Console is Google's free tool that shows how a site appears in search. Make the client an owner, not a guest. Google's help page explains that every site in it must have at least one confirmed owner, and that owners can add and remove other people. If you set the site up under your own account, add the client as an owner, then decide whether you stay an owner or become a full user.
The same idea applies to visitor stats and to their map listing: the business owns it, and you have the access you need to do the work.
How should I hand over logins and passwords?
Don't send passwords by email or chat. Invite the client to each account with their own login where the service allows it. Where it doesn't, share through a password manager app and ask the client to change the password after handover.
Keep a list of every account: the service, who owns it, who has access and what it is for. The client gets a copy.
What should the handover notes include?
One or two pages the client can keep:
| Item | What to write |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Each service, who owns it, who has access |
| Renewals | Domain, hosting, email and tools, with dates and who pays |
| The site | Where it is hosted, how to get a copy, the version handed over and its date |
| Your ongoing work | What your care plan or support covers, and what costs extra |
| Contacts | Who to call for what, including the companies themselves |
Date it. When something changes later, update the notes rather than relying on memory.
When should the handover happen?
After the final check of the site on a computer and a real phone, not before. Go through the site with that checklist, fix what needs fixing, and hand over the version you checked. Then what you hand over is exactly what you checked. How ownership works in Volant follows the same rule for your own agency's accounts.