Hey everyone! I'm hoping to get some guidance on a sticky situation I'm facing with a web development agency that my organization has been using for our WordPress site. I joined my organization not long ago and quickly realized that working with this agency has been a major headache. Our site was chaotic when I started - unorganized menus, broken links, and it wasn't mobile-friendly at all. I've been learning CSS and HTML to improve it, but we now want to take control of our hosting and cut ties with the agency.
Currently, our site is hosted on WP Engine, our domain is registered through Bluehost, and the nameservers are managed by Cloudflare, which the agency oversees. We're looking to transfer hosting directly to WP Engine, but the agency is refusing to provide the necessary support PIN, claiming we can't move our site without extensive redesign due to their supposed ownership of all the plugins, themes, and even emails associated with it. However, we never signed any contract with them outlining these terms.
I've made many modifications to our theme and even added new plugins that the agency refused to support. On top of that, they've removed my admin access to the site, though I managed to download an XML backup before that happened. I'm trying to figure out if we should just move on and start fresh on WP Engine or if there's a way to salvage what we've built, especially regarding Google Analytics and SEO. Any advice on what steps to take next?
4 Answers
I noticed you mentioned they’ve removed your admin access. Be careful! But if you had access before, create backups of your data and site right away. You can always work on a fresh site, but you might lose valuable history and settings if you don’t act quickly. Ensure all your links continue to work once you transition, and you should be good SEO-wise.
I've been in a similar spot! If you’re currently paying them for services, keep doing that while you start rebuilding your site on WP Engine. Without a solid contract, their claims about owning everything might be shaky. Make sure you keep SEO in mind when building the new site; try to keep the same URLs and meta tags to help with search rankings. If you can, focus on taking your site’s content and structure while you work on the new build.
It's important to clarify what they mean by transactional emails. They might be talking about something like Mailgun or SendGrid, which are typically used for sending out emails from WordPress, like form submissions. If you’re using something else for emails internally, then you might be fine. Make sure to check what your current setup actually requires so you can plan accordingly when you move everything over.
If you still have admin access, definitely consider using a backup plugin like Duplicator to create a full backup of the site and database. This way, you can transfer everything over to a new host. For the licenses, you can always buy new ones that you can manage independently. Just ensure that your new setup maintains the same URLs to safeguard your SEO as much as possible. Don't stress too much about losing historical Google Analytics data if you can salvage everything else.
Yeah, that makes sense. We don't have any documentation to refer to for ownership, so it feels like we might have some wiggle room.