For the person who owns the business
Your website should be able to carry on without its usual person.
You do not need to know how it was built. You need a way in, a recovery copy you control, and a clear starting point for someone who can help.
No email required. No technical homework.
backups, and taking control.
01 / A useful first step
Start with three answers.
You can do this before you understand the technology. If you do not know an answer, write “Ask our provider”.
Keep passwords and recovery codes out of these boxes. Your answers stay in this page and are not sent to us.
02 / Open the conversation
One request.
In ordinary language.
Send this to your website provider. Your first answer above will fill in the customer action.
You are asking what is already in place and what needs attention. Agree the scope and cost before anyone starts extra work.
Your message to your provider
Please help me make sure another qualified person could maintain our website if either of us became unavailable. I need my own sign-in, a recovery copy we control and instructions a replacement can use. Our most important customer action is [write it here]. Please tell me what already works, what is missing and the cost of any extra work before starting.
03 / Know when to stop for today
Save your answers.
Agree a date to review the reply.
That is a useful start. Your provider supplies the technical answers.
Go from asking to knowing
If Your Website
Person Disappears
The free sheet helps you start the conversation. The book helps you make sense of the answers and follow through.
Work through ownership, access, backups and handover at a pace that suits your business. A real-world case, with names changed, shows why giving an owner downloadable files is only part of the job.
Read the opening pagesPublication is being prepared. A purchase link will appear here when the book is available.
Inside the book
- Know what belongs to you.Clarify who controls the domain, hosting and account recovery.
- Ask for evidence you can understand.Distinguish a promise, a saved file and a demonstrated recovery.
- Make changing providers manageable.Give the next person a clear starting point and the access they need.
- Use the paperwork you need.Follow the simple reader journey, with optional worksheets for the detail.
A few reassuring answers
You do not have to
become the developer.
Is this only for a website emergency?
No. It is easier to ask these questions while your usual provider is available. If they have already disappeared, save what you have and ask a qualified replacement to assess the situation before making changes to the live website.
Does having my own login mean I own everything?
No. A login is one part of the picture. Domain registration, hosting, recovery access, data and any third-party services need to be checked separately.
Can I give the free sheet to someone else?
Yes. Give away the blank sheet unchanged with its credit, including free copies for agency clients. Do not sell it separately or imply endorsement. Keep completed business records private.
What happens to the answers I type here?
They stay in this browser page and are not submitted or saved by this form. Use “Save my three answers” to download your note. Closing or refreshing the page may lose unsaved answers. The hosting service processes ordinary web requests; there is no email gate or advertising tracker on this page.