Free guide · 16 pages · PDF
Do you actually own your business online?
A free 10-minute check of who really controls your domain, email, website and Google listing, with worksheets, copy-and-paste emails and a plain-English fix plan. Written for Alberta owners, not IT people.
Updated · By AltaSmith, Calgary
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Why this is the first thing we ask every owner
Websites, email and online accounts are usually set up by whoever was helping that day: a designer, a bookkeeper, a relative, a former employee. It works fine until that person moves on, stops replying, or the relationship sours. Then you find that the domain, the email administrator login or the Google listing is in their name, not yours.
Nothing is stolen. It simply was never yours on paper. The fix is usually an afternoon of work, if you start while everyone is still friendly and reachable.
The six checks, free to read right now
This is the heart of the guide. You can run it today without downloading anything. The PDF adds the exact steps for each check, a scoring page and everything you need to fix what you find.
| Check | Ask yourself | A pass looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Domain name | Whose name is it registered in, and can I log in to the registrar myself? | You are the registrant, you hold the login, auto-renew is on and your card pays. |
| 2. Email | Am I an administrator, and do I recognise every other admin? | You (or a co-owner) are admin, there are at least two admins, no leavers remain, and two-step sign-in is on. |
| 3. Website and hosting | If my web person vanished tomorrow, could I or a new developer still edit and move the site? | You hold a hosting login, the site can be exported, and you own the content in writing. |
| 4. Google listing | Am I an owner of my Google Business Profile, and does it match my site? | You are an owner with an email you control, there is a back-up owner, and the details match. |
| 5. Money and business accounts | Who created my accounting, payments and social accounts, and whose email is the login? | Each sits under a business email you control. You are the owner and others have limited, named logins. |
| 6. Passwords and exits | If someone left today, could I remove their access to everything within an hour? | A password manager, two-step sign-in on key accounts, and nobody shares a login. |
What's inside the PDF
- The 10-minute Ownership Audit: six checks, each with where to look, what a pass looks like, and how to fix it, plus a score
- Two copy-and-paste emails to get your accounts back from whoever set them up: a friendly first ask and a follow-up
- A one-page Business Technology Register to fill in, so anyone you trust knows where everything lives
- Access checklists: before you give a contractor access, and what to remove when someone leaves
- A get-found checklist for Google, your website and AI assistants
- Six security habits, a 15-minute backup restore test, and what Alberta’s privacy, health-information and card rules ask of you
- Your first hour after a scare: what to do, in order, and who to call
- Five rules for using AI safely, with a 15-minute first project
- Questions to ask before you hire anyone, and a 30-day plan
It's built to be used, not read once: the worksheets and checklists are made to be printed, filled in and kept with your business records.
Why we give it away
Ownership is the first thing we sort out with any new client, so we wrote down how to check it. If the guide lets you fix everything yourself, that's a good result. If you'd rather hand it over, here is how we work:
- You own it. Your website, its content and your domain name are yours, not ours. If you leave, they go with you.
- Prices are public. Fixed build prices and monthly care plans are on the homepage, with no long contract.
- Real, live work. Client sites you can open right now are listed on the homepage.
- A reply within one business day. Tell us your score and what you use, and we'll reply within 1 business day with a clear price. No sales call unless you ask for one.
Where to go from here
If your score shows gaps in how you're found online, take the free 2-minute website scorecard. For the ownership questions to put to any web designer, read Who owns your website?. For email on your own domain, see Microsoft 365 setup for small business.
Common questions
Yes. There is no payment and no trial. We ask for your name and email so we can send it and reply if you write back. The six checks on this page are free to read without giving us anything.
No. It is written for owners, not IT staff. Each check says where to look and what a good answer looks like, in plain language. If a step stumps you, mark it with a question mark and move on. It counts as a gap for now.
About ten minutes for the six checks. Fixing what you find varies. Much of the wait is usually for someone else, such as a former web designer, to reply, which is why the guide includes ready-to-send emails.
We use it to send the guide and to reply if you write back or ask us something. We only add you to a mailing list if you tick the optional box, you can unsubscribe at any time, and we don’t sell or share your details. The privacy policy has the full detail.
The six ownership checks apply anywhere. The notes on privacy, health information and breach reporting describe Alberta’s rules, so check your own province’s rules if you operate elsewhere.
No. It is general information checked in October 2026. Your obligations depend on your business, so speak to a lawyer or the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner about your own situation.
Want a straight price for your business?
Tell us what you do and we’ll reply within 1 business day with a clear number — no sales call required.