Buy A Domain And Establish Client Account Ownership Rules
Independent Web Studio
The simplest ownership rule is also the safest: the client owns the accounts that are essential to the client’s business. That normally includes the domain, primary hosting or billing relationship, business email, analytics, payment services, and key social profiles. Your studio should receive the level of access needed to do the agreed work—not sole ownership of the client’s identity.
Buy the domain in a client-controlled identity whenever possible. Record the registrar, renewal date, recovery email, billing contact, DNS provider, and the person who has authority to approve changes. If a client asks you to purchase on their behalf, document that arrangement and make the transfer path clear from the start.
Separate account ownership from delegated access. You might be an administrator in WordPress, a technical contact at the host, or a manager in analytics. Those roles let you do useful work without making the client dependent on a personal email address they cannot recover.
Do not skip recovery planning. A domain that renews automatically is still at risk if the recovery email belongs to a departed employee. Review renewal contacts at launch and during care-plan check-ins.
Definition of done: the client can name the owner and recovery contact for every core account, and you have the least access necessary to complete the project.
Next: Open a SiteGround account for a small web studio. Return to the Independent Web Studio guide.
