Locked out of your own website?
You own the business. You should own the website, the web address and the email that go with it. If you cannot get into them, we get them back — without your email ever stopping.
None of this is unusual, and none of it is your fault.
Your email does not stop. Not for a minute.
This is the part that goes wrong when a website is moved badly, and it is the part nobody warns you about.
Your web address does four separate jobs. It says who owns the name, it points browsers at your website, it points mail at your inbox, and it proves your mail is really yours. Move the website carelessly and the last two go with it — which is how a business loses a week of enquiries and never finds out why.
- We identify where your email runs before we touch anything
- We record every setting exactly as it is, so it can be put back
- Our own system refuses to change a mail record during a website move
- You see every change we intend to make, before we make it
Find out, get in, move carefully.
We find out what you actually have
Who registered the domain, where the site is hosted, where your email runs, what is bolted on to it. Mostly public information — you do not need a single password for this part.
We tell you the truth about it
Including when the answer is awkward: sometimes a site cannot be recovered and has to be rebuilt. You get that answer before you spend anything, not after.
We get you access, properly
Invitations, transfer codes, formal handover requests to the previous developer. Through the front door, never round the back.
We take a copy of everything
Every page, every setting, every DNS record as it stands today — before anything changes.
We move it, and your email stays put
You approve the changes first. Every old web address keeps working, so nobody who has bookmarked you or found you on Google hits a dead page.
We check it properly afterwards
Site loads, certificate valid, forms arriving, analytics recording, search engines not blocked, and mail sent and received on a real mailbox.
Rebuilt does not have to mean starting again.
A website that has been around for years has addresses all over the internet: bookmarks, directories, other people’s links, and Google’s own index. Replace the site without a thought for those and they all stop working at once.
So before a rebuilt site goes live we list every address the old one answered on, and every single one gets a decision: rebuilt where it was, pointed at its replacement, or dropped on purpose with a reason you have seen. Our own system will not let the switchover start while any address is still unaccounted for.
How to find out who holds your domain.
You do not need us for this bit, and you should know it whether you hire us or not.
Look up the domain record
Search for “whois” and your web address. It will name the company you bought it from, when it expires, and often who registered it. If that is not you or your business, that is the first thing to fix.
Check the expiry date
A domain that lapses can be bought by anyone, and getting it back afterwards ranges from expensive to impossible. If it renews within ninety days and you are not sure who is paying, find out today.
Find your email settings
Search for “MX record check” and your web address. It will tell you whether your mail goes to Google, Microsoft, your web host, or somewhere else entirely. That answer decides what can safely be changed.
Look through old invoices and card statements
Hosting and domains are usually small recurring charges. The company name on a £7 monthly payment is very often the answer to “who hosts my website”.
If any of that turns up something you do not like the look of, send it to us. We will tell you what it means for free, and whether it needs doing anything about.
The ones we get asked.
My developer will not give me access. Can you force them?
No, and nor can anybody else. What we can do is make a formal, documented handover request for the things that are legally yours, and give you a clear record of what was asked for and when. If they refuse, we rebuild around what they hold rather than waiting on them — and in almost every case the domain is recoverable through the registrar even when the developer is not cooperating.
Will my website go down while you move it?
It should not. The new site is built and working on its own address before anything is switched, so the change is a redirection rather than a gap. The old site keeps serving until the new one is answering.
Will my email be affected?
No. Moving a website and moving email are two different jobs, and we do not do the second one by accident. Our system refuses to alter a mail record as part of a website change, and will not begin a switchover until we have identified where your mail runs and taken a full copy of the settings.
What if you cannot get into the old site at all?
Then we rebuild it, and we say so before you spend anything. We can see every public page of your site whether or not we can log into it, so the new one carries the same content and the same web addresses — the things Google and your customers actually hold.
Do I have to move my domain to you?
No. Plenty of clients keep their domain exactly where it is and we manage it in place. If you would rather move it to us that is fine too, and if you later want to leave, we help you take it with you. It is yours.
Will I lose my Google rankings?
Not if it is done properly, and doing it properly is why it takes longer than a weekend. Rankings attach to web addresses, so every address your old site answered on has to keep working — either rebuilt where it was or redirected to its replacement. We list them before we start and account for every one.
How much does it cost?
It depends on what we find, which is why the first step is finding out rather than quoting. A straightforward move of a site you can already get into starts at £149. Where nobody knows who holds what, we do a £79 audit first: you get a written answer about what you have and what can be recovered, and a fixed quote for the work itself. That answer is yours whether or not you go ahead with us.
Start by finding out where you stand.
Answer a few questions about what you have and what you can still get into. It takes a couple of minutes and there is nothing to pay.