Transparency
Plain Answers About What You Own
Before you start a website, you should know what is yours, what is ours, what costs extra and what happens if you leave. Here it is, without the legal fog.
Short version: you own your domain and the content you give us. WestSideSite keeps the reusable templates and platform. If you cancel, your site stays up through the time you have paid for, and you get 30 days to take your content with you.
Your domain is yours.
The customer owns their domain name. WestSideSite can help you register or connect it, but we never purchase or assign a domain without your approval.
Domain registration and renewal are billed separately, at the registrar's actual cost, unless a specific written agreement says otherwise. They are not included in the $29.95 Guided plan or the $39.95 managed care plan.
Cancelling your WestSideSite plan does not change who owns your domain.
- You own your domain
- We help register or connect it, only with your approval
- Registration and renewal are billed separately at the registrar's cost
- Domain fees are not part of any WestSideSite plan price
- Your domain stays yours if you cancel
Your content is yours.
You own the things you provide to us. You are responsible for having the right to use them and for their accuracy.
- Your logo
- Your photography
- Your business information
- Copy you write or supply
- Other assets you own
What WestSideSite keeps.
WestSideSite built the systems your website runs on, and uses them for many customers. We keep ownership of those reusable parts. They do not transfer with your site.
- Template systems and template engines
- The Admin system and generators
- Shared libraries and platform infrastructure
- Reusable design components
Custom designs: when you own them.
After a Custom Design project has been fully paid, you own the business-specific design and content we made for you.
That does not include WestSideSite's reusable platform components or template libraries, or third-party licensed assets and software, which have their own owners and terms.
Revisions on a Custom project
Two revision rounds are included. A revision round is one consolidated set of requested changes. Additional revisions or changes outside the agreed project scope are quoted before work continues.
If you cancel.
If your plan has a fixed term, such as the 12-month term on the monthly Guided plan, your site stays active through the period you have paid for.
After service ends, we give you a reasonable 30-day transition period to migrate or export your site, where practical. Your domain is unaffected by cancellation.
We do not keep a site hosted forever after cancellation.
- Your site stays active through the paid period
- Then a 30-day transition window to move your content, where practical
- Your domain is not affected
- Hosting does not continue indefinitely after cancellation
What you can take with you.
Where it is technically practical, WestSideSite can give you the following. Ask us before you cancel and we will tell you what is possible for your site.
- The content and assets you provided
- Content written specifically for your business
- A deployable static copy of your customer-facing website
What we cannot hand over.
Some things are part of the platform, or belong to someone else, so they cannot be exported:
- The Admin system and its infrastructure
- Template-generation systems
- Databases and platform internals
- Reusable WestSideSite template source
- Third-party licensed components that cannot legally transfer
A few other honest answers.
- No one can guarantee Google rankings or AI citations, and WestSideSite does not.
- Guided Design previews are free, and nothing is charged until you approve and choose a plan.
- Custom work never starts until you have reviewed a concept and approved a quote.
- Larger changes after launch are quoted before any work begins.
Questions about ownership and cancellation.
Do I own my website?
Why can't I take the template with me?
Who pays for my domain?
What if I cancel in the middle of a term?
How does this relate to the Terms of Service?
See it before you decide.
Preview a personalized website for free, with no obligation.