I won't talk to you about design or colors. I'll tell you about something that happened to me three times, and every time I thought it was the last.
If you own a travel company, or any business, and you're looking for someone to build your website, read this to the end before you sign anything. At the end there are 6 questions. If I'd asked them from the start, I'd have saved myself years.
The first time: a handshake deal
My first website was with a small company that had just started. It came through people I knew. And when work comes through friends, you feel awkward saying "put that in writing". So I said fine, he's one of us.
The site got built, but it wasn't what I asked for. Every time I said this isn't what we agreed, I got a different story, because there was nothing written to go back to. We fell out, the site went down, and the money never came back.
What I understood later is that the problem wasn't the person. Neither of us knew what "the site is done" actually meant.
The second time: the site went down and nobody renewed the server
I told myself, next time I'll go to someone serious. And the second one really did good work. The site went live, it worked, and I relaxed.
Until one day I opened it and it wasn't there.
The server had expired, and the person handling it forgot to renew it. Can we bring it back? There was no backup. The site was gone with everything on it, and I didn't even know who the server was with or when it expired.
The third time: the developer's laptop was stolen
The third was the hardest. I felt I'd learned. I paid, we worked for a long time, and I sat and wrote articles by hand. This was before AI could write for you, so every article took real time and thought.
In the end, the developer's laptop was stolen.
All the work was on it. Nobody had put it on a server, or made a copy on my account, or anywhere else.
The loss wasn't only money
Three times. Work, content, money and time, and every time starting from zero.
Money comes back, by the way. What doesn't come back is the lost time, and the people who searched for me on Google and didn't find me.
But what stayed with me was heavier than that. I stopped trusting any software company. I'd sit with anyone and have one question in my head: when will this site be taken from me?
We might disagree, someone might forget, a laptop might get stolen. Or it might get personal: someone upset with me who wants to hurt me, and then the site I put everything into is in his hands, not mine.
Knowing that something you built can be taken from you at any moment is a hard feeling. And I'm sure plenty of business owners live with it right now and don't say it.
What I changed after three times
I sat down and learned to code myself, and understood what had been happening behind my back. When I started XAVIX AI, I set rules I don't bend on:
- Requirements are written before we start, and both sides sign them.
- The domain is registered in the client's name, not mine.
- A backup of the site sits on the client's own account from day one.
- The site's content and structure belong to the client: text, photos, programs and page layout. If they want to move their work to another company to continue and develop it, they can, without asking anyone.
- Server and domain renewal dates are known and written down. Nobody waits for the site to go down to remember.
- Nothing of the client's work lives on a single laptop.
Does that mean nothing can go wrong? Of course not. But if it does, your site stays with you, and your work isn't lost.
6 questions to ask any web design company before you pay
- Whose name will the domain be registered in? If they say "ours, and we'll transfer it later", ask for it in your name from the start.
- Who hosts the server, who renews it, and when does it expire?
- If we disagree halfway, how do I get a copy of the site?
- Where are backups kept, and how often are they made?
- Will the requirements be written before the work or after?
- Who owns the site's content and data? And if I want to move my work to another company to continue it, can I?
If an answer isn't clear, or someone gets annoyed by the question, wait before you sign. A good company is glad when you ask these, because it means you know what you're doing.
Common questions
Should the domain be in my name or the web company's?
Yours. The domain is your address on the internet, and whoever it's registered to is the one who can shut it down or move it.
If I change the company that built my site, do I lose my work?
Not necessarily. What matters is knowing from day one who owns what. With us, your site's content, structure and data are yours, the domain is in your name, and a copy sits on your account, and you can move all of it to any company that continues the work. What stays ours is the code we build with, and that's written in the contract from the first day.
How often should backups run?
It depends on how often your site changes. What matters is that they live somewhere other than the server itself, on an account you can open.
My site is down and nobody answers. What do I do?
Start with the domain: find out whose name it's in and when it expires. Then look for any copy of the site or its content you have. If you need someone to look with you, start your request here.
If you have a website now and don't know the answers to these questions, talk to us. The first 15-minute call is free: we take a quick look at your site and tell you whether it's really in your hands.