This post is part 3 of the “10 Things Every Business Should Know Before Starting a Website” post.
Thing #3: Website copyright When choosing a web development company, it is important to determine the copyright (a.k.a. ownership) to the website files that make up the website itself. Allow me to explain: Some web development companies provide website packages that include the website itself (the files that make up the website), the domain name (explained more in my next post), and the web hosting (also explained in further posts) in one package. While this allows for greater convenience and is a service that I offer myself, you need to ensure that your company owns the copyright to the website files once completed. The reason why this is important is that if you outgrow your web development company or if your relationship were to sour with them, you want to make sure that you can take your website files to a different hosting company. This will allow you to continue to have your website the way that you planned, worked-toward, and paid for and not lose the investment that you have put into your website. While this seems like a simple request, there are some (quite popular) services out there that will charge you to create your website, but once you do not want their company to host that site for whatever reason, you do not have the option of taking your files with you.
