Preparing Your Website Hosting and Technical Accounts

Every website requires a domain name, hosting environment and supporting technical configuration. These services are related, but they are not the same.

The domain is the website address (for example, www.yourwebsite.com). Hosting is the server environment where the website files and database are stored. DNS connects the domain to the website, business email and other services.

Before development begins, the existing setup will be reviewed to determine whether the website should remain with the current host, move to a new hosting provider or be developed in a separate staging environment.

Technical setup may include:

• Hosting account access
• Domain registrar access
• DNS review
• WordPress installation or migration
• SSL certificate configuration
• Development and staging environments
• Backup and security settings
• PHP and server configuration
• Email-related DNS records
• Analytics and search platform connections

The business should retain ownership of its domain, hosting and primary digital accounts whenever possible. KNDS Digital Marketing may be granted administrative access to complete the work without becoming the permanent owner of those accounts.

Hosting fees, domain renewals, premium software licenses and third-party subscriptions are separate from website design fees unless they are specifically included in the proposal.

Do not cancel an existing hosting account, domain service or email service during a rebuild or migration unless you have been instructed to do so. Cancelling a service too early can interrupt the website, email or access to files needed for the project!