7 November 2009
Hi Janine,

This is one of those really horrible situations that could have a thousand different answers/possibilities and unfortunately all too common a problem. I

8 November 2009
Hi Janine,
This sounds like quite a pickle.

We've had a number of clients of have had this issue with previous web design companies they've used.

Usually, when a website is designed, you SHOULD hold the copyright to the site, for the pure and simple fact that its your website, about your business or organisation.

As you've paid for the website, you can request all the website files. It's a bit like if you go into a shop and buy a coat, you wouldn't expect to pay for it and walk out the shop without it, and this follows the same principles.

You've paid for the website to be designed and uploaded, so it's your right to request the website folders, usually on a CD. It is also your right to have access to your own sites FTP access areas.

Now i'm presuming you've signed a contract for their hosting services? if not, then you have a right to be able to transfer away and choose your own host, and, if you've paid for your website in full, then you also have the right to take your website with you.

Put simply, your designers are just being difficult, they simply want to make more money out of you. My advice - see a solicitor, the whole scenario is in your favour, as you've paid for it all. if you were for example paying monthly, then it becomes more complicated. But if you've paid in full, then its your right to be able to do what you like to your own site.

Hope this helps.

11 November 2009
Hi Janine,

Sorry to hear of your situation. Not giving out ftp details to a client sounds a little crazy if you are also offering hosting. It suggests that their server hasn't been organised to allow secure entry to view by client area eg Client A can't access Client A assets without seeing client B,C, D 's assets.

In terms of the copyright, this doesn't automatically pass to the client as it depends upon many different factors such as the intiial client brief, the web agency proposal/scoping document and the approved build estimate. The latter should include a Terms of Supply document which defines the agreement.

Clearly we as agencies are in the service business so to hold on to client assets presents a very short term view and ultimately a very short list of clients!

I can recommend a lawyer that specialises in this area. His firm drew up our Terms of Supply and they represent many design agencies so you'll get a quick and honest view from both sides of the fence:

d.stuartsmith@humphrieskirk.co.uk

Good luck with it and I would encourage a face to face meeting as emails can quickly get out of hand.

Cheers,


Simon

7 December 2009
My best sugestion is cut and run.
Probobly not the help you need however if you have not specified that you wish the source code for your website and in the contract they specify you will not own your information you could be stuck. At Crocodile Communication Ltd we alway provide source code on completion of any development.

It is quite common for companies not to give out ftp access as the sites are hosted on shared environments, so they could have access to many sites and their effectivley their client list.

Alternativley you could ask you developers to impliment the work for the SEO company.

Good Luck

18 December 2009
Janine, as Alan has already said, "this is a horrible situation that could have a thousand different answers/possibilities".

Without knowing the website address and domain ownership, all advice is very general. If you could post the website address then more specific help can be offered. Not sure if you can modify your question, if not then just post a new question with the website address.

Anyway, here goes:

It is not absolutely critical to have the same company doing the changes to your site as the company giving you SEO advice. There are many SEO companies which will provide you with SEO advice, tasks to carry out, and changes to make, which you then go and organise.

So first option is to have the SEO company give you SEO advice and have the other company do the changes. Costs of two providers may be an issue for you. The other potential issue is if the SEO company refuses to give you advice unless they have access to the code.

Second option: If you are willing to have the code owners do the changes and the SEO company refuses to give you advice without access to the code then look around for another SEO company. One part of SEO is on-page SEO which needs access to the code. The other part of SEO is off-page SEO which does not need access.

Third option, if you want to stay with the code owners but only deal with one company then have the code owners give you SEO advice. If they can

7 January 2010
To defend the original company, if an inexperienced SEO person/company (and there are loads!) goes poking around in PHP/ASP/Java code to try and do what they think is good SEO and then break the content management system, who is liable to fix it?

I do think that it should have been made very clear to you who owns the code but this situation is probably one of the most common issues in this industry.

Developers hate handing their code over to someone else and perhaps your site is using a content management system that is in use by other clients.

Maybe when you purchased the website it was not made clear that you are essentially licensing the site. You might own the imagery and copy but not the layout and the underlying code.

It's a tricky one.

Can you not get the SEO companies recommendations and ask the original company to action those requests, this might be slightly more expensive but might actually be safer in the long run.

8 January 2010
Hi..

In Small and best option you can go with a company who can give all access of your website and your all content and make new web site with a service provider who can work with transperent mind.. Becasue once you try to resolve this issue, your money and time will waste and in same amount you can create new web site and host also and start your SEO work...

22 January 2010
Hi Janine,

You are going to have to have a look at your contract with the web company to find where you stand with then holding your website information hostage. If it clearly states it in the contract that you signed with them then there is not much you can do bar get a new website built by another company. You might have to go see a lawyer and talk through your options.

Thanks
Andrew

27 January 2010
Janine,

I sincerely hope you have solved your problem, but in case you haven't here's my two penn'orth.

It's an old familiar problem which we come across over and over again. Firstly, let me say that there are almost no legitimate reasons why you should not have full access to the code that creates your website, you've paid for it after all. If there is custom code involved and the developers are paranoid about it getting into 'enemy' hands then they should encrypt it.

Secondly, there is nothing to stop you or your new web company downloading the old site via http or one of the 'offline browsers' . Of course, if your site is PHP or ASP based or something similar all you will have is the static HTML, but it gives you something to put up for continuity while a new site is being developed. If the original company are going to carry on being stubborn then this is probably the way to go.

Do you have control over the domain name? This can be another problem; sometimes people find it isn't even registered in their name but is registered to the web design company.

Whatever you do DO NOT give the original company more money. Web design companies that behave like this give the whole industry a bad name. There are plenty of good guys out there.

16 February 2010
Hi

Actually this is fairly simple to sort out. Your SEO company should be able to copy the source code make the changes they want, then email the file to you existing company change for the existing online ftp files?

Would your existing company not be happy just to upload the new files?

What is you website by the way? I would advise never missing an opportunity to to promote yourself. :-)

Kind Regards

Ashley

Webmaster
Acknowledged Web and Print

www.acknowledgedwebdesign.co.uk

19 February 2010
Hi Janine,

As most have said you need to look back to your contract or service agreement to see if there is a statement in regards to releasing the right to the source code once the job was paid in full. All of my contracts have this as do many other design firms. They probably just put your site as an addon to their hosting account and that is why they don't want to give out the ftp info. You need to transfer the site to a new host and you need to find a new design company. If you need some real help I would be more than happy to talk to the design company in question and see if I can't get it released for transfer for you.

Best of luck,

Jeremy Morris

11 March 2010
Hi,

I'd recommend you go and have a read of their terms and conditions about interlectual property rights and code ownership upon completion.

As said above, this is really grey area and there's no definitive answer. Was anything of this nature mentioned in your original contract/agreement?

Thanks

Rob

17 March 2010
Maybe your CMS enables you to edit meta tags for every page? If not you can ask your developer to remove all in-code meta tags related to SEO and leave it to search engines to crawl under their terms. In any case meta tags are not nearly as important factor in SEO as links from high ranking sites for example.

16 June 2010
Janine,

It's an awful situation, and one I've seen a few times before. I think your best bet is to get your SEOs to provide a report detailing all the changes they suggest are made to your site. You can then pass it on to your hosts.

Andrew Nattan
FirstFound
http://www.firstfound.co.uk