Last updated: 8 July 2026
Many businesses order a website without knowing what they are actually buying. It sounds odd, but it is easy to understand how it happens: you order "a website", it is delivered, it looks good, the invoice is paid. Everything works.
Then, two years later, you want to change supplier, and discover that the domain is registered to the agency. Or that you have never had access to anything at all. Or that "your website" was in practice a subscription you are now cancelling, and that there is nothing to take with you.
None of this need be down to dishonesty. Often it is just convenience. The supplier sorted everything out, and nobody thought about what that meant. But you should know what you are saying yes to. Here is the checklist.
1. The domain: registered to you
This is the single most important point, and the one people most often get burned by. The domain name (yourcompany.no) should be registered with your business as the owner, not the supplier. The domain is the address your customers know, the links that point to you, your email addresses. If someone else owns it, they in practice own a piece of your business.
The check takes two minutes: look up the domain in Norid's WHOIS service and see who is listed as the registrant. If the agency is there, ask to have it transferred. A serious supplier arranges that without discussion.
2. The source code and the right to it
The code is the website itself. You should know where it is, have access to it, and have settled in writing that you have the right to keep using it, including with another supplier. We have written a separate article about code ownership, because there are big differences in this industry: everything from "you own it all" to "you rent access to our platform".
Neither model is unlawful. But you should know which one you have, before you need to know it.
3. Access: administrator, not guest
On delivery you should have administrator access to what is yours:
- DNS management for the domain (where the pointing to website and email is decided)
- The hosting account or the server, where relevant
- The publishing solution, so you can change content yourself
- The analytics tools, so the data about your visitors is yours
You do not need to use the access day to day. The point is that it exists, in your name, on the day you need it.
4. Documentation: what was built, and how
Not a novel. One page can be enough: what the solution consists of, where it runs, how you change the most common content, and who has access to what. The test is simple: could a new supplier take over with what you have, without having to phone the old one?
5. Settled operations: who does what afterwards
A website needs looking after post-launch: security updates, upgrades of the foundations, backups, monitoring. We have written about why software has an expiry date. Someone has to have responsibility for making sure that does not happen to your site. It should be in the agreement: what is included in operations and maintenance, what it costs, and what is not included. "We will deal with it when it comes up" is not an operations agreement.
6. The exit terms: can you leave?
The last point is the test of all the others: what happens if the relationship ends? Can you take the domain, the code, the content and the data with you, and what does that cost? Is there a notice period? A tidy supplier has a clear answer. One who gets vague on precisely this question is telling you something important.
Red flags
Some patterns that should make you ask follow-up questions:
- The domain is registered to the supplier "for simplicity"
- "Hosting is included", but you have no access and do not know where anything is
- An ongoing monthly price where it is unclear what you are actually paying for, and where you are left with nothing the day you stop paying
- Vague or evasive answers to "what happens if we end this?"
Again: subscription models can be perfectly fine. For some businesses they are the right answer. But then it should be an informed choice, not something you discover afterwards.
The simple advice
Ask these questions before you sign, not after. Ask for the answers in writing, ideally as part of the quote. A supplier who delivers tidily is happy to answer all of this, because good answers here are a competitive advantage. And if you already have a website and are unsure what you actually own: start with the domain check. It takes two minutes, and it tells you a lot about the rest.