How do I find out who owns my domain?

Search 'whois' with your web address, or use Nominet's lookup for a .uk address. It shows which company it's registered with and, often, the registrant. If the name isn't yours or your business's, start the transfer conversation now, before anything else.

My web designer has disappeared. What are my options?

First the domain: if it's in their name, Nominet (for .uk) or the registrar (for .com) has a process for proving the name belongs to your business. Then the site: if you can't get the files, a rebuild from what's visible is usually a day's work for someone competent. Keep the address; replace everything else.

Will I lose my place on Google if I rebuild?

Not if the new site is on the same address and the old pages point to the new ones. What Google values is the address, the consistent business details and your reviews, which live on your Business Profile anyway. A site that now works on a phone usually does better than the one it replaced.

How often should a website be updated?

Prices, hours and the phone number the day they change. Photos and the odd new job every month or two. The year at the bottom once a year, which sounds silly until you've seen one saying 2017. The tool underneath it every few years, or never if someone's paid to keep it current.

Can you fix my existing site instead of rebuilding it?

We don't patch other people's sites; we rebuild on our own setup, starting from your words and photos so nothing's lost, on your existing web address. If the only thing wrong is one price and you can still reach whoever built it, ask them. If you can't, or the site fails the ten-minute check, a rebuild is usually the cheaper road, and you see ours before you pay a penny.

My website is out of date: what to do, and how to get it back from whoever built it

The ten-minute self-check

Open your site on your own phone, then on someone else's, and go through this list. Tick what's wrong. The ticks decide everything that follows.

Does it open at all, and quickly? A site that spins for ten seconds on a phone is, to a customer, a site that doesn't work.
Is there a padlock in the address bar? Without one, Chrome shows 'Not secure' next to your business name, and some people leave on the spot.
Does it fit the screen, or do you have to pinch and zoom? Most sites built before about 2015 don't, and most of your visitors are on a phone.
What year is at the bottom? 'Copyright 2019' tells people nobody's home.
Are the prices, the services and the hours right? Is the phone number the one you answer?
Can you tap the phone number to call it? Can you tap the address to get directions?
Does the contact form work? Send yourself a message. A surprising number have been quietly broken for years.
Are the photos yours, and recent? A stock photo of a smiling American plumber costs trust.
Does your Google Business Profile link to this site, and does that link open?
Would you ring this business, if it weren't yours?

Fix it, rebuild it, or start again

What the check found	What it needs	Who can do it	Your effort
Wrong prices, hours, a dead phone number; everything else fine	A fix: an hour's edits	Whoever built it, or you if you have the login	An hour, if you still have the login and the builder answers
Doesn't fit a phone, no padlock, built on an old system	A rebuild: the words and photos can stay, the site underneath can't	Someone new, starting from what you've got	Hand over the words and photos, check the preview
Doesn't open, or the builder has gone and nobody has the login	A fresh start, on the same web address if you can get it	Someone new, once you've recovered the address	Get the address back first; then one short form
Started on a self-build tool and never finished	A decision: finish it yourself this month, or hand it over	You, honestly, or someone paid to look after it	Every weekend until it's done, or none if someone's paid to do it

Getting your domain and files back

This is the part most guides skip, and it's where the real problem usually lives. Your web address, the domain, may be registered in someone else's name: the nephew, the old designer, a company that folded. Find out before you do anything else.

Look up who owns the domain. Search 'whois' plus your address, or for a .uk address use Nominet's lookup. It shows the registrar (the company it's registered with) and sometimes the name on it. If it's not you, that's job one.
If it's in the builder's name and they're reachable: ask them in writing to transfer it to an account in your name, or to update the registrant to you. A decent builder does this without fuss. You may need a transfer code (sometimes called an auth or EPP code) from them.
If they've vanished: for a .co.uk or .uk, Nominet has a process for the business the name clearly belongs to; for a .com, the registrar does, and it's slower. Gather proof: invoices with the address on, the Google listing, your van. Start early; it takes weeks.
Ask for the site's files and any logins at the same time, in writing. Even if you're rebuilding, the words and photos save you a day's work.
Check the renewal date while you're there. Expired domains get bought by strangers and parked with adverts, and your Google listing then links to someone else's page.

What a rebuild keeps, and what it loses

People worry that a new site throws away whatever Google thinks of the old one. Mostly it doesn't, as long as it's on the same web address and the old pages point to the new ones. The things worth keeping are smaller than you'd think.

Keep the web address. Everything else is replaceable; this is the one thing people have written down.
Keep the words that were true, and rewrite the rest. The services, the towns, the story of the business. Dump the paragraph about 'our commitment to excellence'.
Keep the photos of real jobs. Replace the stock ones.
If the old site had pages people used (a page for a particular service, say), make sure the new site has the same page or points the old link at the nearest thing. Any builder can do this; ask for it by name: 'redirect the old pages'.

Make sure it never happens again

A website goes out of date for one reason: nobody is being paid to keep it current. The nephew had exams. The designer moved on. You meant to. The fix is structural, not technical.

The domain in your name, in an account you can log into, with the renewal on a card that works and a reminder in your calendar.
One person responsible for changes, with a turnaround you've agreed. If it's you, put a quarterly half-hour in the diary. If it's a service, know what's included.
A visible date, kept current. The year at the bottom is the first thing a customer reads as 'is anyone home'.
A copy of the words and photos somewhere you control, so if the builder vanishes again the site doesn't vanish with them.

What we'd do in your boots

One wrong price on a site that otherwise works, and the builder still answers: ask them to fix it today, and put the renewal date in your calendar while you're at it.
Doesn't fit a phone, no padlock, or the builder has gone: a rebuild on your existing web address. Our £40 plan starts from your words and photos so nothing's lost; the £80 plan adds a page per service and a quote form with photos; the £150 plan adds online booking.
Address in someone else's name: get it back first, using the steps above. We build the preview in the meantime and point the address at it the day it's yours.

My website is out of date. What should I do?