Hiring website help
What Should an AI Website Agency Hand Over?
Before hiring an AI website agency, agree on domain control, editing access, content files, ongoing costs and a usable handover.
Los Angeles Marketing · Sources checked October 22, 2026
Start with an account and asset map
A finished website involves more than the address a visitor opens. A business may have separate providers for its domain, hosting, editor, forms and measurement. Access to one service may not give you access to another. Ask the agency to map the actual setup rather than assume there is a single master login.
For each item, record the provider or account, business-controlled contact, required role, evidence that access was tested, renewal or support owner, export or recovery method and any unresolved limitation. Keep passwords, recovery codes, payment details and customer submissions out of this inventory.
- Domain registration and DNS: who manages the address and its technical routing?
- Hosting or website platform: where does the site run, and who manages the subscription?
- Editor or source repository: how will an authorized person change and publish pages?
- Copy and media: which approved files are supplied, and what use rights or credits apply?
- Inquiries and measurement: where do requests arrive, and who can use the relevant reports?
Confirm the domain and renewal responsibilities
ICANN distinguishes the registrant, the person or entity registering a domain, from the registrar that registers and maintains it under an agreement. Registrants manage domain settings through the registrar. That distinction helps you ask a more precise question than ‘Who has the website?’
Identify the registrar, the registration arrangement, the business contact who receives renewal notices and the person responsible for payment. Confirm that the business can reach the appropriate support process if its usual agency contact becomes unavailable. Do not treat an invoice, a public lookup or possession of a login as a complete answer to a legal ownership dispute.
This inventory exercise does not require moving the domain or changing DNS. Plan any transfer or account change separately, with the relevant authorization and a check for effects on email and other connected services.
Test the access your team will actually use
Agree who needs to edit content, approve changes, publish pages, see reports or manage billing. Have each authorized person demonstrate their agreed task through their own appropriate account. A shared password in a handover email is a poor substitute for clear responsibilities.
Roles vary by product. Google Search Console, for example, distinguishes owners, full users and restricted users, with different capabilities. Being able to view a report does not establish control of the domain or the website platform. Choose access for the task rather than making every collaborator an administrator.
If access is missing, record the gap and ask the authorized account owner to arrange the appropriate change. Do not remove the existing provider’s access or alter recovery settings as a casual handover test. Security and account changes need their own agreed plan.
Ask what the export or backup can restore
Ask for a file list and a demonstration of what those files are for. Approved page copy, permitted source photographs, final design assets, website source files and deployment instructions may be different deliverables. Their availability and permitted use depend on the agreed scope, platform and applicable licenses.
WordPress documents a WXR/XML export containing content such as posts, pages, comments, custom fields and taxonomies. That example illustrates a specific content export, not a promise that every design, integration or platform can be moved intact. Ask what remains outside the export and what another provider would need to rebuild or restore the agreed experience.
Distinguish a content export, the site’s source files and a recoverable backup. The provider should explain the recovery or rebuild route it has agreed to support and any dependencies that still need active accounts. Do not accept ‘you get the code’ as the entire portability discussion.
List ongoing services and the inquiry destination
Record domain and platform charges, licensed components or assets, form services, automations and separately scoped support. Note who receives renewal notices, who pays and where the current terms can be found. Do not assume every tool used during development must become a permanent subscription, or that every recurring service is included in the agency’s fee.
The inquiry path deserves its own check: destination, responsible person, storage location if applicable and the agreed way to confirm receipt. Use a clearly labeled dummy entry in an authorized test when needed. Do not include real customer messages in a sample handover packet.
As an illustrative example, a Los Angeles design showroom receives an AI-assisted catalog-style site. Its team can edit appointment information but cannot identify the domain renewal contact or where inquiries arrive. An account map makes those gaps visible. This is a hypothetical example, not a client story or a reason to assume the site needs rebuilding.
Run a small handover exercise before closing the project
Agree the exercise in advance and use an authorized preview or draft, not a live customer-facing page. Keep the changes harmless and reversible. The goal is to show that the agreed responsibilities are workable, not to change security settings or prove that every future problem has been eliminated.
- Have the intended business user find a named page in the editor and make, preview and revert a harmless draft edit.
- Locate the approved copy and assets, their permitted uses and the file or folder where future updates belong.
- Identify the inquiry owner and demonstrate the agreed receipt-check process with dummy information if a test is authorized.
- Have the provider explain or demonstrate the agreed recovery or rebuild route in a safe environment.
- Record anything incomplete, who will address it and which responsibilities begin after handover.
Put the limits into the scope before you hire
Control of an account, permission to edit, a license to use an asset, transferability and legal ownership are different questions. Ask for specific answers about the deliverables you need. Contract and intellectual-property questions may require appropriate advice; this guide is practical scoping guidance, not a determination of your legal rights.
A useful handover leaves your team with a verified way to do its part and a clear record of what still depends on the provider. It need not promise universal portability or unlimited future support. Agree those boundaries before the work starts, then check the actual delivery against them.
A practical starting checklist
- Account map: domain, DNS, hosting, editor, assets, inquiries and measurement identified.
- Business access: the appropriate people can perform their agreed tasks without shared secrets in the worksheet.
- Domain continuity: registration, renewal notices, billing and support responsibility understood.
- Files and recovery: export contents, permitted uses, dependencies and limitations documented.
- Ongoing services: paid tools, support boundaries and inquiry ownership recorded.
- Acceptance exercise: safe draft tasks completed, with unresolved items assigned.