Your website can be one of your most valuable assets, do you control it?
At Covet, we don’t host any websites for our clients. Which might seem strange for a web development company.
Instead we assist our clients with setting up their own hosting accounts with a variety of providers (these days it’s typically Cloudways or Kinsta), and help them manage and maintain these accounts when requested.
I won’t say it’s not slightly more complicated for our clients (rest assured we provide training). We’re also unable to make recurring revenue on their web hosting. So why do we do it this way? It comes from decades of experience in the industry that we’ve boiled down to a principle for our company: No lock-in.
In every decision and consideration we make for our clients we recommend that they avoid any kind of vendor lock-in, where the cost to switch away from that vendor (including us) is too high.
Time and time again over the years we’ve worked with clients that are currently struggling with their web developer or agency that controls their website. Frequently the concern is that they’re unresponsive, so imagine how difficult it is to get the assets and control back from them when the relationship is already strained. You may be working with the best company, who assures you that they will help you migrate away at any time. That’s great to hear of course, but do you think the relationship would be any different if they knew you could leave at any time of your choosing, not theirs?
If you have control, you can swap out your hosting/developer/agency for a better fit easily.
Save yourself the potential for a crisis later, by making sure you’re in control now.