Guides

For the person who inherits a website: the agency taking over a client, the marketing lead whose developer left, the IT person handed “the website” with nothing else. Plain, in order, with the free checks to run along the way.

Website handover checklist
Every website rests on five layers, and each one is usually looked after by someone different. A handover is complete when you know, for each layer, who holds it, where the login lives and who pays. This is the list.
About 7 minutes
The site is down and nobody knows who hosts it
The first hour of an outage is spent finding out who can fix it, not fixing it. Here is how to find the host, the DNS and the registrar from outside, in the order that gets the site back fastest, and what to say when you reach them.
About 6 minutes
Who owns a domain name?
A domain has a registrant, a registrar, and an account holder, and they are often three different parties. The one that matters when something goes wrong is the one with the login. Here is how to tell them apart, look a domain up, and get control back.
About 6 minutes
Taking over a WordPress site from another agency
You have the admin login and a sense of dread. Here is the first week, in order: get every login, see what you really have, lock the site, then find out what it depends on.
About 8 minutes

Guides

Website handover checklist
Every website rests on five layers, and each one is usually looked after by someone different. A handover is complete when you know, for each layer, who holds it, where the login lives and who pays. This is the list.
About 7 minutes
The site is down and nobody knows who hosts it
The first hour of an outage is spent finding out who can fix it, not fixing it. Here is how to find the host, the DNS and the registrar from outside, in the order that gets the site back fastest, and what to say when you reach them.
About 6 minutes
Who owns a domain name?
A domain has a registrant, a registrar, and an account holder, and they are often three different parties. The one that matters when something goes wrong is the one with the login. Here is how to tell them apart, look a domain up, and get control back.
About 6 minutes
Taking over a WordPress site from another agency
You have the admin login and a sense of dread. Here is the first week, in order: get every login, see what you really have, lock the site, then find out what it depends on.
About 8 minutes