Developer Handover to Owner
on Website Completion

Once your website build has been completed and handed over to you there will be issues that you need to be aware of.
These are best dealt with now while the developer is all cheerful and expecting final payment after site handover.

HERE TODAY AND GONE TOMORROW

Abandonment by the Website Developer

But consider what happens if the developer falls under a bus, or there is a fatal split with yourselves, developer emigrates, moves out the industry, etc. We are looking at maybe a year or a few from now.
The most important question to ask is whether there are any functions of the site that require ownership identification (usually a usercode/password pair or mailbox ownership) to be able to get external support and future upgrades. Some Wordpress themes and plugins would be typical examples.

Wordpress Specific Issues

If this is a Wordpress build then there are Wordpress specific issues to clear.

• Are auto updates set for the core upgrade. Normally recommended.
• What plugins have been loaded and for what purpose. They need to be listed.
• Are any of these plugins "paid for" and if so what are the renewal conditions. Do you need ownership codes and passwords.
• Are all plugins set to auto-update or not. Reasons for each. Usually not recommended due to clashes with the auto-updated Wordpress core and/or hosting PHP upgrades. You will need to establish who will do the manual plugin upgrades - perhaps yourself.
• if SEO is an issue, then has a plugin (such as Yoast) been loaded and setup for SEO.?

Are the Basics in Place for Search Engine Traffic

You could be asking the question : "When will my traffic arrive?"
The most important component in good SEO is that best practice principles were used in assembling the website. This incorporates strategy, key word selection and structural build so it is a bit late to be considering that now. Every developer will tell you that their expert skills have been applied in applying only the best SEO methodologies and you have to be patient in waiting for trust and authority to grow and for backlinks to set. Often the lack of this ever happening is what destroys some developer relationships but there is little you can do at this time.

But it is a good idea to ask the developer what you should be doing to monitor traffic and what you can do to keep the SEO in prime condition.

Performance and Usage Tracking

Then there are performance tracking issues to consider:
You want to know what visitor behaviour patterns are emerging and what the search engines are doing about indexing. Are the SEs happy with your site? What keywords are delivering traffic and if your chosen keywords are not delivering, then why is that?

- Has a Google G4 Analytics account been opened and is the correct data gathering (a.k.a. tracking) code been placed.

- Has a Google Search Console account been opened and linked to G$ Analytics for keyword access tracking.

Are these accounts registered under your name and do you have access to all the reports under your Google account? Are the email alerts all sent to your email account?

Snags and Fixes

There should normally be a period specified and agreed with the developer for no-charge attendance to snag lists and corrections. It avoids friction if that is agreed before handover.
The developer may even agree to a limited Service Level Agreement for the first year to cover fixes and bedding down.

Warranty and Accountability

Some consider it a good idea to get a statement from the developer that only generic and industry accepted "best practice" methodologies have been used in the website build. It may raise eyebrows and you may need to have a reason for that request other than "so that we can sue you for shoddy work" but, effectively, that's what it is.
Ask for a confirmation that you have legitimate rights for all images used. You don't want a photo stock company breathing down your neck in two years time and demanding R40,000 for pirate use of their images. They consider you liable unless you can prove the developer lifted their images. Most of these image theft accusations are from scammers but you will still have to identify that before the legal wrangling begins. It happens..... But best you know beforehand that you are in the clear.
You could also ask for a confirmation that content has not been plagiarised as that duplicate content could earn penalties with the SEO.

Succession, Support and Future Enhancements

You might want to ask the developer who could be recommended to service and continue supporting the site development should the current developer become unavailable in that respect. You are basically asking for assistance with the developer's succession and that is a reasonable request. The developer may feel threatened in terms of giving you competitor access but you need to stress that the information would be used only in a succession situation.

Be Sure you have the Best Hosting Arrangements

Are you paying the developer a monthly fee for the hosting of the website? If so, you are at some risk of losing access to your site if there is a succession or developer relationship issue. If the site is hosted physically within South Africa you may still need court orders to take control in a litiginous situation. But if it is hosted offshore, and especially in the USA, then without valid access codes and access to the registered email address you can easily have a cancelled hosting and deleted website situation. It is best that the hosting is onshore or under the control of a South African hosting company and you need to be sure you have direct access to the hosting arrangements.

Using a boutique hosting operation such as ourselves will give you two tiers of support and security. As well as extra no-cost ad hoc consulting and assistance in areas that traditional hosting companies will not touch as that is "developer" responsibility. The same developer that may no longer be available.

Backups and Security

Be certain that the hosting facility is making daily backups of your site and that you have access to those backups.
How far back in time do they go? The norm is usually around 20 days and seldom longer than that.
You need to know how to take a complete backup of your site and how to download it to store offline. This is a precaution to defend against defects (and delayed response hack injections) that extend back past the oldest hosting rolling backup.
The frequency to do this varies with the rate of change on the website. For some it may be a six monthly task while for others it may be needed every month. Assess the downsides for that answer.

Audit and Review

Test all functions regularly. All sorts of variables change over time and certain website aspects of the website may stop working. You could experience a few weeks of very few, if any, orders and inquiries and then find that the form completion function is broken. Those potential sales and customers are lost.
So it is a good idea to have a diarised follow up to regularly test the critical website functions.

Who Really Owns What?

Generally, what you paid for is yours, but not always.
Images may have been bought from a photo stock company and if so it is best that you keep proof of purchase on file in case of future challenges. Ask the developer for that documentation.
The developer would generally have no rights in the material worked on unless some separate agreement was made for custom imagery generation. It is rare for copy generation to have ownership retained by the researcher or copywriter. You will have common law copyright protection against illegal use of your textual content but be aware that it difficult to prove such piracy and even more difficult to prove damages for a restitutive claim.

Domain Name Custodianship

Your website traffic (or indexing in the search engines) is linked to your website through the registration of the domain name. To lose control or ownership of that domain name could be disasterous for your online presence and the success of the website.
Top level domains such as .com and .org. are particularly vulnerable as the offshore registrars (such as GoDaddy, Tucows, etc) are, for their own protection, extremely rule bound. Lose your codes or control over an authenticating email address and you may lose your domain. If the site has good traffic that domain will go to auction and will reappear at a ridiculous price such as US $5,000 or more. Effectively it is lost.
A South African domain is at less risk but you could still have legal costs and major inconvenience in regaining control. So it is best you do not lose that control.

This is a good time to discuss the registered owner name and the registrant email addresses with the developer and make sure these are in your name.

At site handover time with final payment pending you have the last leverage opportunity to make these requests. So best you make them now.


 
 

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