When you hire a web designer to create your online presence, you’re making an important investment in your business or personal brand. However, many clients find themselves confused about the technical aspects of website ownership and maintenance. A good web designer should educate you about the fundamental components of your website, ensuring you understand what you own, what you’re paying for, and how everything works together. This knowledge empowers you to make informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes down the road.

Domain Names: Your Digital Address

Your domain name is essentially your website’s address on the internet—the text people type into their browser to find you, such as www.yourbusiness.com. Think of it as the street address for your digital property. Just as you need a physical address for your brick-and-mortar store, you need a domain name for your online presence.

Domain names consist of two main parts: the actual name you choose and the extension (like .com, .org, .net, or country-specific extensions like .co.ke for Kenya). Your web designer should help you select a domain name that’s memorable, relevant to your business, and easy to spell. They should also explain that while they may assist in choosing and setting up your domain, you should always be the registered owner.

What many clients don’t realize is that domain names aren’t purchased outright—they’re leased on an annual or multi-year basis. This is a critical distinction that your web designer must clarify. You don’t own a domain name permanently; you’re essentially renting it for a specific period. This leads us to the crucial topic of domain registrars.

Domain Name Registrars: Where You Register Your Address

A domain name registrar is an organization accredited to register domain names on behalf of individuals and businesses. Popular registrars include GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Hover, and many others. Your web designer should explain that the registrar is where your domain is officially registered and managed.

Here’s what’s crucial: You should have direct access to your domain registrar account with your own login credentials. Your web designer should never register a domain in their name or maintain exclusive access to your registrar account. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous designers keep domain registrations under their control, holding clients hostage when the relationship ends. A reputable web designer will either help you create your own registrar account or transfer ownership to you immediately after registration.

Your designer should walk you through your registrar’s control panel, showing you where to view registration details, update contact information, and access domain management settings. This transparency ensures you’re never locked out of controlling your own digital property.

Domain Name Registration and Renewal

When your domain is first registered, you’ll choose a registration period—typically one to ten years. Your web designer should explain the renewal process clearly and help you set up automatic renewal to prevent accidental expiration. Domain expiration is one of the most common and preventable disasters in website management.

If a domain expires and isn’t renewed promptly, your website will go offline, your email addresses associated with that domain will stop working, and in the worst-case scenario, someone else could register your domain name. The recovery process can be expensive and sometimes impossible if another party claims your expired domain.

Your designer should ensure you receive renewal notifications directly from your registrar. These typically arrive 30 to 90 days before expiration. They should also explain grace periods (the time after expiration when you can still renew without penalty) and redemption periods (when recovery becomes more expensive). Setting up automatic renewal with a valid credit card on file is the best protection against accidental expiration.

Registration costs vary by extension and registrar but typically range from ten to fifty dollars per year for common extensions like .com or .org. Premium or specialized extensions can cost significantly more. Your designer should be transparent about these costs and recommend cost-effective options that suit your needs.

Web Hosts and Hosting: Where Your Website Lives

While your domain name is your address, web hosting is the actual land and building where your website resides. Web hosting companies provide server space where your website’s files, images, databases, and content are stored and made accessible to internet users worldwide.

Your web designer should explain that hosting is a separate service from domain registration, though some companies offer both. Popular hosting providers include Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator, WP Engine, and countless others, each offering different features, performance levels, and price points.

There are several types of hosting your designer should explain:

Shared Hosting is the most economical option, where your website shares server resources with many other websites. It’s suitable for small businesses and personal sites with modest traffic but may have performance limitations.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting provides dedicated resources on a shared physical server, offering better performance and more control than shared hosting at a moderate price point.

Dedicated Hosting gives you an entire server for your website alone, providing maximum performance and control but at a premium price. This is typically only necessary for high-traffic websites or those with special security requirements.

Cloud Hosting distributes your website across multiple servers, providing excellent scalability and reliability. This option has become increasingly popular and affordable.

Managed WordPress Hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress websites, handling technical updates and security while providing superior performance for WordPress sites.

Your web designer should recommend hosting appropriate for your website’s complexity, expected traffic, and budget. They should also explain that, like domain names, hosting requires ongoing payment—typically monthly or annually.

Web Servers: The Technology Behind the Scenes

A web server is the actual computer (or more accurately, specialized software running on that computer) that stores your website files and delivers them to visitors’ browsers when requested. Your designer should provide a basic understanding of how this works without overwhelming you with technical details.

When someone types your domain name into their browser, their computer contacts your web server through your domain name, the server retrieves the requested files, and sends them back to display in the visitor’s browser. This entire process happens in milliseconds.

Your designer should explain server locations and their impact on website speed. If your primary audience is in Kenya, hosting your website on a server located in Africa will generally provide faster loading times than hosting on a server in another continent. Some hosting providers offer Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) that store copies of your website in multiple locations worldwide, improving speed for all visitors.

Server security is another critical topic. Your designer should explain SSL certificates (the technology that makes your website address begin with “https” instead of “http”), regular backups, and security monitoring. Many hosting providers include these features, but you should understand what protection your website has.

Costs Involved: Budgeting for Your Online Presence

Your web designer should provide clear, itemized cost breakdowns for all website-related expenses. Transparency about costs helps you budget appropriately and avoid surprises.

Initial Setup Costs include domain registration (ten to fifty dollars for the first year, though some designers include this in their service fee), the web design and development fee itself (varying widely based on complexity, from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars), initial hosting setup, and SSL certificate installation (often included free with hosting).

Recurring Annual Costs include domain renewal (ten to fifty dollars annually), web hosting (ranging from five dollars monthly for basic shared hosting to hundreds of dollars monthly for dedicated or managed solutions), SSL certificate renewal (often free but can range from fifty to several hundred dollars if purchased separately), and email hosting if not included with your web hosting.

Optional Ongoing Costs might include website maintenance and updates, content management, security monitoring and malware removal, backup services beyond what your host provides, and premium plugins or themes for platforms like WordPress.

Your designer should also discuss who will handle various maintenance tasks. Will you manage content updates yourself, or will you need ongoing design support? Understanding these responsibilities helps you budget for long-term website ownership.

Ensuring Independence and Control

Perhaps most importantly, your web designer should ensure you have complete independence and control over all aspects of your website. This means:

You should have administrator access to your website’s backend
You should own or have direct access to your domain registrar account
You should have access to your hosting control panel
You should receive all login credentials, clearly labeled and explained
You should understand how to perform basic tasks like posting content or updating contact information

A professional web designer views their role as empowering you, not creating dependency. They should provide documentation, training, and support that enables you to understand and manage your digital assets confidently.

Understanding the technical infrastructure of your website—from domain names and registrars to hosting and servers—transforms you from a passive client into an informed website owner. A trustworthy web designer doesn’t just build you a website; they educate you about every component, ensure you maintain control of your digital assets, and provide transparency about all costs involved.

Before signing any contract with a web designer, ensure they’re willing to explain these concepts clearly and guarantee you’ll retain ownership and access to your domain, hosting, and website files. This knowledge protects your investment and ensures your online presence remains under your control, regardless of your relationship with any particular designer or developer. Your website is a valuable business asset—treat it accordingly by understanding exactly what you own and how it all works together.