Own your online presence: domains, hosting and data every owner should control

It happens more often than you'd think: a business parts ways with a developer and discovers the domain is registered in the developer's name, the website login belongs to someone else, and nobody knows where the backups are. A few minutes of setup now prevents that.

Your domain name

• Register it in your business's name, with an email address you control.
• Turn on auto-renew and keep your payment details up to date — expired domains can be bought by someone else.
• Enable two-factor authentication on the registrar account.
• Your developer can be given access, but you should be the owner.

Your hosting account

Know which company hosts your website and make sure you can log in, or at least that your contract says you can get a full copy of your site on request.

Your business email

An address like hello@yourbusiness.com looks more professional than a free webmail address — and because it's tied to your domain, it stays with the business even when staff change.

Your website files and backups

• Confirm that backups are made automatically and stored separately from the live site.
• Ask how quickly the site can be restored if something breaks.
• Keep a copy of your logo files, photos and written content somewhere you control.

Your accounts and listings

Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, Search Console, social media pages and advertising accounts should all be owned by the business, with others added as managers.

Your customer data

Know where form submissions, customer lists and orders are stored, who can access them, and how you'd export them. Canadian privacy law expects businesses to protect the personal information they collect, so keep access limited to people who need it.

A 10-minute checklist

1. Log in to your domain registrar — is the account in your name?
2. Check the domain's expiry date and auto-renew setting.
3. Confirm who owns your Google Business Profile.
4. Store all logins in a password manager.
5. Ask your web provider when your last backup was made.