Lost Touch With Your Web Developer? We’ll Take Over Your Website
When the freelancer stopped replying, the agency closed or was sold, or the person who built your site simply moved on, the site does not have to go with them. We take over sites in this situation for businesses anywhere in the US, secure what you own, and look after it from then on.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Signs your website has been abandoned
Most owners do not find out their developer is gone until something breaks. If any of these sound familiar, it is worth acting before the next renewal date passes.
- No replies. Emails and calls about a small change have gone unanswered for weeks.
- Updates never happen. The price list, the hours or the staff page are months out of date because nobody can get in to change them.
- A security warning on your own site. Browsers show “Not secure” or a certificate error, which usually means the SSL certificate expired and nobody renewed it.
- A domain or hosting notice you do not understand. A renewal email arrived from a company you have never heard of, or the site went dark for a day and came back.
- You do not know where the site lives. You cannot say where it is hosted, who the domain is registered with, or how to log in.
- The invoices stopped, or never started. Nobody is billing you for hosting, which means nobody may be paying for it either.
Our free website grader will tell you whether the site is still secure, still fast and still findable. It is a good first look when you are not sure what shape the site is in.
First, secure your accounts
Do this whether or not you hire us. A website is really four or five accounts, and the business should own every one of them. Gather what you can find; we can track down the rest.
- The domain registrarThe company your domain name is registered with. The registration should be in your name or your business’s name, with your email on the account. This is the one account you cannot afford to lose.
- HostingWhere the site’s files live. Look for an old invoice, a welcome email or a card charge from a hosting company.
- DNSThe settings that point your domain at the hosting and your email. Often managed at the registrar, sometimes at the host or a separate service.
- The website admin loginFor a WordPress site, the address ending in /wp-admin/ and a username and password. For other platforms, the account the site was built in.
- Google Analytics, Search Console and your Google Business ProfileThese should be owned by a Google account the business controls, with any developer added as a user, not the other way around.
If some of these were set up in your developer’s name, that is common and usually fixable. Start with the registrar, because the domain is the part everything else hangs from.
How a takeover works
A takeover ends with your site on our hosting, with the accounts in your name and someone who answers the phone when you need a change. Along the way:
- A short callCall 317-572-7457 or use the form below. Tell us what you know about the site and what has stopped working. We will tell you what we need and what we can find ourselves.
- We move the site to our hostingThe site is copied to our hosting and checked there before the domain is pointed at it, so the old copy stays up until the new one is ready. Hosting, domain setup and company email are part of every plan.
- Backups, security and updates beginDaily backups you can restore from, an SSL certificate, antivirus and malware scans, and software updates, from the first day on our hosting.
- Your changes get madeContent and page updates are made in under 48 hours. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are set up in an account you own.
What it costs
Once the site is on our hosting, hosting and maintenance is $200/month. That covers hosting, daily backups, security updates, SSL, and content and page changes made in under 48 hours. There are no hidden fees and you can cancel anytime. The written quote before any work starts will say whether the takeover itself costs anything on top of the plan.
Platforms we take over
We host and look after WordPress sites and static sites like this one. If your site was built on something else, tell us what it is on the call and we will say plainly whether we can take it on as it is, or whether it is better rebuilt.
After the takeover: three ways to go
- Keep it as it is. If the site does its job, we host it, back it up, keep it updated and make your changes. Nothing else has to happen.
- Fix what is broken. Expired certificates, broken forms, missing pages and out-of-date content get fixed on the plan, and larger repairs are quoted in writing.
- Redesign it. If the site is holding you back, we redesign it without losing the rankings it has, with every old page redirected to its replacement.
What a takeover costs
Published starting prices, and a written quote before any work starts.
Hosting and maintenance
$200/month
Hosting, backups, security updates and content changes made in under 48 hours.
Small Business plan
$200/month
Branding, copywriting, design and development on one monthly bill, with no large invoice at the start.
Grow Together
10% of sales
Nothing up front. We build the site and run the marketing, SEO included, and we are paid only from the sales it brings in.
From a client we look after
“They do great work from logo design, websites to apparel. Croix Area Fence gets comments on our website from customers on a weekly basis. They are easy to work with, very responsive and can easily make changes when needed.”
Tony Miller, Croix Area Fence
Read every review on the testimonials page, or see the work in our portfolio.
Frequently Asked Questions
What owners ask when the person who built the site is gone.
Start the conversation anyway. Most takeovers begin with partial access. Registrars and hosts have account recovery processes for the business that owns the domain, and the site itself can usually be copied from the hosting account once that is recovered. We will tell you what we can recover and what needs your signature.
Whoever is named on the registration at the registrar. It should be you or your business. If it was registered in a developer’s name, the first job is getting it into an account you control, and we help with that as part of the domain setup every plan includes.
The move is planned so it does not. The site is copied to our hosting and checked there first, and the domain is pointed at the new copy only when it is ready, so the old copy keeps serving visitors until then.
We host and maintain WordPress sites and static sites. For anything else, tell us what it was built on and we will say whether we can take it over as it is or whether a redesign onto a platform we support is the better route.
No. Hosting and maintenance is $200/month with no hidden fees, and you can cancel anytime. The accounts stay in your name, so you are never locked in.
No. Takeovers run by phone, video call and email, and we work with businesses anywhere in the US. Our studio is in Fishers, Indiana, and our clients include businesses in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as Indiana.
Is the site still healthy?
Get a free 0–100 grade for speed, security, broken links, SEO and accessibility. No email required.
Tell us what you know about your site
The address of your site, who built it if you remember, and what has stopped working. You do not need passwords to start the conversation.
Jason replies in under 24 hours with next steps.