In this article · 12 sections
Launching a website feels like the finish line, but there's one more step that many business owners skip: the handover. Years later, when the original designer has moved on, the owner discovers they don't know where the domain is registered or how to log in to the hosting. Fixing that can take weeks.
Spend thirty minutes on handover day and you'll avoid that problem entirely.
1. Domain
- Registrar name (e.g. GoDaddy, Hostinger, BigRock)
- Login email and password for the registrar account
- Confirm the domain is registered in your name or company name (check the WHOIS/registrant details in the account)
- Expiry date, and whether auto-renew is on
- Which email address receives renewal reminders (it should be yours)
2. Hosting
- Hosting company and plan name
- Control panel login (cPanel, hPanel, Plesk)
- Renewal date and renewal price
- Server details if it's a VPS (IP, SSH access, who manages updates)
3. Website admin
- Admin panel URL (for example
/adminor/wp-admin) - Your own admin username. Don't share a single login with the agency; ask for separate accounts
- A short guide or video on how to change text, photos and prices
4. Database
- Database name and user (from the hosting panel)
- phpMyAdmin access, so a future developer can export it
5. Files and backups
- A full backup (files + database) on launch day, stored somewhere you control: Google Drive, an external disk
- How automatic backups work, how often they run and how long they're kept. See how to back up your website
6. Email
- Business email accounts and passwords
- Where email is hosted (hosting email, Google Workspace, Zoho)
- DNS records for email (MX, SPF, DKIM). Your developer can note these in a text file
7. Google and analytics accounts
- Google Search Console: you should be an owner, not just a user
- Google Analytics 4: you should be an administrator
- Google Business Profile: you should be the primary owner
- Google Tag Manager, Meta Pixel or ads accounts, if set up
8. Third-party services
List every service the website uses, with the login owner: - Payment gateway (Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree) - SMS or WhatsApp API provider - Map API keys - reCAPTCHA or Cloudflare Turnstile keys - Paid plugins or themes, with licence keys and expiry dates
9. Assets
- Logo files (high-resolution PNG and, ideally, SVG)
- Brand colours and fonts used
- Original photos supplied or shot for the site
- Any stock image licences purchased
10. Documentation
- What custom features exist and how they work (one page is enough)
- Which forms send email to which address
- Any scheduled tasks (cron jobs) running on the server
Store it safely
Put everything in one place: a password manager (Bitwarden, 1Password, Google Password Manager) or, at minimum, an encrypted document. Share access with one trusted person in your business so you're not the single point of failure.
Then change any passwords that were shared over WhatsApp during the project, and turn on two-factor authentication for the registrar, hosting and Google accounts.
Why this matters for SEO too
If you ever redesign or move hosts, a developer will need all of the above to do it without losing Google rankings. Owners who can't access Search Console or DNS often end up with broken redirects and lost traffic. See redesign without losing rankings.
Every Joboo Web project ends with this handover pack. If you've lost access to an old website and need help recovering it, contact us.