What to do if your web designer disappears

Many small businesses had their website built years ago by a friend, a relative or a one-person firm who has since retired, moved on or simply stopped replying. Everything works until something needs changing, or a renewal fails. Here’s how to get control back, in order of urgency.

1. Check your domain name first

Your domain name (yourbusiness.co.uk) is the most important thing to secure. If it lapses, your website and your email stop working, and someone else can register it.

• Look it up with a free “WHOIS” search (search for “WHOIS lookup”; for .uk names, Nominet, which runs .uk, has its own). You’ll usually see when it renews and which company it’s registered through.
• Find out whose name it’s registered in. It should be your business, not the designer.
• If it’s in your name but you can’t log in, the company it’s registered through can usually help once you prove it’s yours. If it’s in the designer’s name, ask them to transfer it to you; if they can’t be reached, get help before it comes up for renewal.

2. Find out where the website lives

The hosting is where your website’s files are kept. You may find the hosting company on old invoices or emails, or a web designer can usually tell from the site itself. If you’re paying for hosting, you’re normally entitled to access it.

3. Get a copy

Before anything else changes, get a full backup of the website and its database, plus your email if it’s hosted in the same place. If the hosting stops, a backup is what lets you rebuild quickly.

4. Move it somewhere you control

Move the website to hosting in your name, or with someone who answers the phone, and change all the passwords. Done carefully, your site and email don’t go offline during the move.

5. Decide: keep it, fix it or replace it

Once you have control, look at whether the website is worth keeping. If it’s old, slow or hard to use on a phone, this is a good moment to replace it. See should you repair your website or replace it?