Short answer: your website is really five separate things, often bought from different companies. The domain is your address, DNS is the signpost that says where the address points, hosting is where the files live, the website is what's inside, and email runs on the same address but usually lives somewhere else again. The one that matters most is the domain, and it should be registered in your name. Get that right and everything else can be moved, fixed or replaced.
Most owners only find out how their website is put together when something goes wrong. The designer stops answering, the email stops working, or a renewal notice turns up from a company they've never heard of. It's not complicated. It's just never explained.
This guide explains each part in plain English: what it does, what it costs in the UK, who should own it, and the warning signs. At the end there's a 15-minute check you can do today to find out where everything lives.
Whoever controls your domain controls your website and your email.
The five parts, at a glance
| Part | Think of it as | Typical UK cost | Should be in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | Your address | About £8 to £16 a year for a .co.uk | Your name, always |
| DNS | The signpost saying where the address points | Usually free with the domain or a service like Cloudflare | An account you can log into |
| Hosting | The building the website lives in | £0 to £50 a month, depending on the type | Your account, or a provider who'll hand it over |
| Website | What's inside the building | The build (see our cost guide) | Yours, if you've paid for it and the contract says so |
| Post delivered to your address | About £5 to £7 per person a month | Your account |
Your domain name
Your domain (yourbusiness.co.uk) is the address people type in, and the address your email runs on. You don't buy it outright. You register it for a year or more at a time through a company called a registrar, and renew it.
What it costs: UK renewal prices for a .co.uk typically run from about £8 to £16 a year in 2026. Watch out for first-year deals: domains offered at 99p often renew at ten times that. Compare the renewal price, not the headline.
Who should own it: you or your business, with your name as the registrant and an email address you control as the contact. Not your web designer, not your marketing person, not your nephew. If they registered it for you, that's fine as long as it's in your name.
How to check: for .co.uk and .uk addresses, use the Nominet lookup. It shows the registrar and expiry date. Then make sure you can log into that registrar account yourself, and switch on auto-renew.
Part 2DNS: the signpost
DNS is a set of records that says where your domain points. One record sends website visitors to your hosting. Another (the MX records) sends your email to your email provider. Others prove to Google and Microsoft that you own the domain.
You'll rarely touch it. But two things are worth knowing. First, whoever controls the DNS can move your website or your email with a few clicks, so it needs to be in an account you can get into. Second, when you move your website, the DNS changes, and that's where email breaks. If the email records don't come across, email stops arriving. We cover how to avoid that in leaving Wix or Squarespace.
Part 3Hosting: where the files live
Hosting is the computer your website runs on. What you pay depends on the type:
| Type | What it is | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Website builder (Wix, Squarespace) | Hosting bundled into the monthly plan | The site can't be moved elsewhere. Leave and you rebuild. |
| Shared hosting | Cheap space on a server shared with many other sites | Can be slow. You're responsible for updates and security. |
| Managed WordPress hosting | Hosting built for WordPress, often with backups and updates | Costs more. Check what's actually managed. |
| Static hosting (e.g. Cloudflare Pages) | Fast, simple hosting for sites without a database | Often free or close to it, but you need someone to build for it. |
| Hosting from your web designer | They host it on their account | Fine if you can get the files and access when you leave. Ask before you sign. |
For transparency: our Zenlio Local sites run on static hosting, which is why hosting costs you nothing on top of the monthly. If your site is on WordPress, our 10-minute health check shows whether the hosting and updates are being looked after.
Part 4Email on your domain
Email on your own domain ([email protected]) looks far more professional than a Gmail or Hotmail address, and it's cheap. The two big providers in 2026, before VAT:
- Google Workspace Business Starter: about £5.90 per person a month on an annual plan, or £7 on the flexible monthly plan.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: £5.40 per person a month on an annual plan, after a price rise that applies at renewals from 1 July 2026.
Some hosts include basic email too. That's fine for a sole trader, but it ties your email to your hosting, which makes moving either one harder. Keeping email with Google or Microsoft means you can change web designer without touching your inbox.
Whichever you use, make sure you are the administrator on the account, not just a user on someone else's.
Part 5The padlock (SSL)
The padlock in the browser means the connection to your site is encrypted. Without it, browsers show a "Not secure" warning, which puts people off before they've read a word. For a normal small business site, a certificate costs nothing: free certificates from Let's Encrypt or your host do exactly the same job. If you're paying extra each year for a basic one, ask why.
Do this todayThe 15-minute ownership check
- Look up your domain. Use the Nominet lookup for .uk addresses, or the ICANN lookup for .com. Note the registrar, the expiry date, and whose name it's in.
- Log into the registrar. If you can't, start the password reset now, while nothing's urgent. Switch on auto-renew.
- Find out where the site is hosted, and check you have a login. If your designer hosts it, ask in writing how you'd get the files if you left.
- Check your email admin. Can you log into the Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 admin, not just your inbox?
- Save it all in one place. A password manager is best. Add a second trusted person as a backup admin on each account.
If any of those turn up a problem, sort it now, while everyone's still talking to each other. If someone's already stopped answering, our guide to getting your website back takes you through it step by step.
Learn from othersFive common traps
- The domain in the designer's name. Legally, the registrant owns it, even if you paid.
- The contact email nobody checks. Renewal reminders and password resets go to an old address, and the domain quietly expires.
- Everything with one provider who won't hand it over. Common with "free website" deals. More in pay monthly vs upfront.
- Email on the hosting. Change host, lose email, unless someone plans for it.
- The 99p domain. Cheap for a year, then the renewal arrives.
What we do
On every site we build, the domain is registered in your name, you get the logins, and if you ever leave you take the files with you. If you're not sure who owns what on your current site, book a free 15-minute call and we'll help you work it out, whoever built it.
Keep reading: How to write a website brief (free template) · Website jargon explained: a plain-English glossary · Pay monthly websites you own · How long does it take to build a website? · Website security: the short list that matters
