The Monthly Website Checklist: 12 Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Most people compare monthly website providers on price and page count. Those are the two things least likely to cause a problem later.

What causes problems is the stuff nobody asks about until they want to leave. Below are twelve questions worth asking before you pay anything, what a good answer actually sounds like, and the two answers that should end the conversation.

Use it on us as well. If we cannot answer any of these plainly, we do not deserve the work.

Ownership and exit

1. If I stop paying, what happens to the website?

The most important question in this market, and the one most often left off pricing pages entirely.

A good answer: a clear statement of one of three models. You own it from day one. You own it after a stated minimum term. Or the site stays with the provider and you leave with your domain and content only.

All three can be fair. What is not fair is finding out which one you bought in month thirty-seven.

Ends the conversation: any version of “that has never come up”.

2. Whose name is on the domain registration?

Your domain is the one asset you absolutely must control. It carries your email, your Google Business Profile verification and every link anyone has ever made to you.

A good answer: yours, and they will show you how to check on a WHOIS lookup. A provider managing the renewal for you is fine. A provider being the legal registrant is not.

Ends the conversation: “we hold all our clients’ domains under our account”.

3. Can I have a copy of the site files and database?

Even when a provider keeps the design, your content should be portable.

A good answer: yes, on request, in a usable format, at no charge or a stated small one. Ask what format. A folder of files and a database export is portable. A set of PDF screenshots is not.

4. Is there a minimum term, and what does leaving early cost?

Both rolling and fixed terms are legitimate. A 12 month term is often why the headline price is lower, because a real design cost is being spread across the year.

A good answer: a specific number of months and a specific exit position. “Twelve months, and if you leave at month six you settle the remaining six” is clear and fine. “No contract, cancel any time, 30 days notice” is also clear and fine.

Ends the conversation: vagueness. If nobody will put a number on it before you sign, nobody will put a number on it after.

5. Who holds the logins?

Hosting, domain registrar, CMS admin, analytics, Google Business Profile. Ask for the list.

A good answer: you have an admin account on everything that is yours, even if you never use it. Being locked out of your own Google Business Profile because the person who set it up stopped replying is a genuinely common and genuinely painful problem.

What you are actually getting each month

6. What exactly counts as an update?

Nearly every provider in this market advertises unlimited updates. It usually means one of three things: unlimited content changes, unlimited requests in a queue, or unlimited within a monthly time allowance.

A good answer: examples on both sides of the line. “Text, photos, prices and opening hours are included. A new page template or a booking integration is quoted.” That is a provider who has thought about it.

7. How long does a normal change take, in business days?

Unlimited is worthless if it is also slow.

A good answer: a number. One to two business days for small changes is a reasonable standard for this price range. Anyone promising instant is either very small or not being straight with you.

8. Who owns the content, the copy and the photos?

If the provider wrote your copy or supplied stock images, ask whether you keep the right to use them elsewhere.

A good answer: the copy is yours, and stock images are licensed in a way that travels with the site or will be identified so you can replace them.

9. Is business email included, and what happens to it if I leave?

Losing a website is annoying. Losing the mailbox that six years of customers write to is a different order of problem.

A good answer: either email is on your own Google Workspace or Microsoft account, or the provider hosts it and can hand it over cleanly. Get this one straight regardless of who you buy from.

The provider themselves

10. What is the price in year two?

Some introductory prices are introductory.

A good answer: the same, or a stated review mechanism. Ask them to confirm it in the email thread. That costs them nothing if it is true.

11. What happens to my site if you stop trading?

Most providers in this market are small. That is not a reason to avoid them, but it is a reason to ask.

A good answer: a plain one. You have the domain, you can get an export, here is how you would move it. A provider who has thought about their own failure case is a provider who has thought about your risk.

12. Can I see a site you built more than two years ago?

The best question on this list, and almost nobody asks it.

Anyone can show you a portfolio of new builds. A site that is still tidy, still fast and still updated three years on tells you what the monthly fee actually buys once the exciting part is over. Ask for the URL and go and look at it on your phone.

How we answer these

In short, so you can hold us to the same standard.

You own the site, the content and the domain. The domain is registered in your name. You can have an export whenever you ask. There is no setup fee. Content changes are included and normally done within one to two business days. New functionality is quoted before any work starts. The price does not go up in year two. If we ever stopped trading you would keep your domain and your site.

If you want a second opinion on terms you have already been sent, send us the link or paste the clause and we will tell you what it means in plain English, whether or not you end up working with us. That offer is not a sales trick. People signing bad contracts is bad for everyone selling this model honestly.

We build small business websites from $39 a month with hosting, updates and support included, no setup fee, and you own your domain, your content and your site. See what is included, work out what yours should cost, or send us a contract to look over.