For clients
Getting me access, in about 15 minutes
Everything below takes about 15 minutes in total, and you only do the ones that apply to your job. None of it requires you to send a password, and none of it gives away control of anything. You stay the owner on every account; I am added as a person and removed the same way. You pay for these accounts yourself, direct to the company providing them. I do not buy them and bill them back, which means no markup, no renewal running through me, and nothing to untangle if you ever want me gone.
Things I will never ask you for
- A password, ever
- A code from an authenticator app or a text message
- Card or bank details
- Access to anything the build does not touch
If anyone building your website asks you to email a password, that is the moment to stop. Every platform below supports adding a person by name, and that is the only mechanism used here.
Where to start
Only do the ones that apply
Most jobs need the first three. The rest depend on what you bought.
| Account | Needed when | Takes |
|---|---|---|
| Your domain registrar | Always, unless you are buying the domain during the build | 2 minutes |
| Netlify, the hosting | Every build that is not Shopify or Squarespace | 2 minutes |
| GitHub, where the code lives | Every build that is not Shopify or Squarespace | 2 minutes |
| Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, for email | Only if business email is part of the job | 2 minutes |
| Your booking page, on the platform you already pay for | Only if you want people to book time with you without an email exchange | 2 minutes |
| Google Analytics and Search Console | Only if measurement is part of the job | 2 minutes |
| Google Business Profile | Only if you are a local business and it is part of the job | 2 minutes |
| Shopify | Only on a commerce build | 2 minutes |
01
Always, unless you are buying the domain during the build
Your domain registrar
The domain has to point at the new site on launch day, and the records that make your email work live in the same place. This is the one account where a mistake takes email down, so it gets the most care.
- 1. Work out who your registrar is. If you do not know, search your inbox for "domain renewal" and look at who invoiced you.
- 2. Log in and find the section called Users, Contacts, Team or Account Access. Every registrar calls it something different and it is always in the account settings rather than next to the domain.
- 3. Add hello@evolutionwebstudio.com as a user, with DNS or technical permission if it asks.
- 4. If your registrar has no way to add a person, tell me. I move the DNS to a service that does, which costs nothing and takes about ten minutes.
What this lets me do
Change DNS records so the site and the email work.
What it does not
Transfer the domain, change the owner, renew it, or buy anything on your card.
02
Every build that is not Shopify or Squarespace
Netlify, the hosting
This is where the site actually lives. Your account, your card if you ever exceed the free tier, and it deploys from your repository whether or not I am involved.
- 1. Go to netlify.com and sign up with your business email. Choose the free plan.
- 2. When it asks for a team name, use your business name.
- 3. Top right, click your avatar, then Team settings, then Members, then Invite members.
- 4. Invite hello@evolutionwebstudio.com and set the role to Owner for the build, which you can drop to Collaborator afterwards.
- 5. That is it. You do not need to connect a repository or deploy anything; I do that from the invitation.
What this lets me do
Deploy the site, configure the domain, and read the form submissions.
What it does not
Bill anything to you without you approving the plan change yourself.
03
Every build that is not Shopify or Squarespace
GitHub, where the code lives
Every change to your site is recorded here with a date and a reason. It is what makes a bad release reversible in about a minute, and it is what any future developer will ask you for first.
- 1. Go to github.com and sign up with your business email. The free plan is genuinely enough.
- 2. You do not need to create anything. Send me the username you chose.
- 3. I create the repository under your account and add myself as a collaborator, so it is yours from the first commit rather than transferred at the end.
What this lets me do
Push changes and open the previews you review.
What it does not
Delete the repository or remove you from it.
04
Only if business email is part of the job
Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, for email
Mail records and website records live in the same DNS, so they have to be changed together or one of them breaks. This is the single most common way a website launch takes down a business's email.
- 1. Sign up at workspace.google.com or microsoft.com with your business name. Do not use a personal account, because a personal account cannot be handed to a bookkeeper or an employee later.
- 2. You are the super administrator and you stay the super administrator. Write the recovery details down somewhere that is not the mailbox itself.
- 3. In the admin console, go to Directory, then Users, then Add new user, and create the addresses you need.
- 4. Add me under Admin roles as a delegated admin with the smallest role that includes DNS and domain settings. On Google that is Services Admin; on Microsoft it is Domain Name Administrator.
- 5. Turn on two step verification for your own account before you do anything else. It is the one setting that matters more than all the others put together.
What this lets me do
Verify the domain and set the mail records so your email keeps arriving through the cutover, which is the single most common way a website launch takes down a business's email.
What it does not
Read your mail. A delegated admin role does not include mailbox access, and I would refuse it if it did.
05
Only if you want people to book time with you without an email exchange
Your booking page, on the platform you already pay for
A booking page removes the three emails it normally takes to agree a time, and it generates the video link for you. Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace have one built in, so if you already have business email you almost certainly already have this and there is nothing more to buy. Which one you use is decided by the email you already have, not by me.
- 1. On Microsoft 365: open Bookings from the app launcher, create a booking page, and add one service. On Google Workspace or a personal Google account: open Calendar, press Create, then Appointment schedule.
- 2. Set the length, the hours you will actually answer, and how much notice you need. Be honest about the hours: a booking page that offers 7am commits you to being awake at 7am.
- 3. Turn on the online meeting option, so a Teams or Meet link is generated for every booking automatically rather than being sent by hand afterwards.
- 4. Add the questions you want answered when somebody books. Two or three, not ten.
- 5. If you want sessions recorded or transcribed, press the button once in a real meeting before you rely on it. Recording and transcription move between plans, both companies change what is in which plan, and the only answer that is true for your account is the one your own account gives you.
- 6. Publish the page, copy the link, and send it to me. It is the only thing I need.
What this lets me do
Put the link on your site as a button, so a visitor goes straight from reading to booking.
What it does not
See your calendar, your other appointments or who booked. The link is public, and that is all I ever hold.
06
Only if measurement is part of the job
Google Analytics and Search Console
The history belongs to you. Set up in your account, it survives every supplier you ever use; set up in mine, it does not.
- 1. Go to analytics.google.com, sign in with your business Google account and create a property for your website.
- 2. Admin, then Property access management, then the plus icon, then Add users. Add hello@evolutionwebstudio.com with Editor.
- 3. For Search Console, go to search.google.com/search-console, add your domain, then Settings, then Users and permissions, then Add user, with Full permission.
- 4. If verification asks for a DNS record and I already have registrar access, tell me and I will add it.
What this lets me do
Set measurement up properly and read the reports.
What it does not
Take the data with me. It stays attached to your property.
07
Only if you are a local business and it is part of the job
Google Business Profile
For a local business this is often worth more than the website, and it is the account most often lost because somebody else set it up years ago.
- 1. Search Google for your business name. If a profile already exists, click Own this business and follow the claim process.
- 2. Once you are the owner, open the profile, then Business Profile settings, then People and access, then Add.
- 3. Add hello@evolutionwebstudio.com as a Manager, not an Owner.
- 4. If the profile is claimed by somebody you cannot reach, tell me before you start. Recovering one is a process Google runs on its own timetable and it is worth knowing that before launch day.
What this lets me do
Correct the business details, add the website link and upload photos you approve.
What it does not
Get you verified. Google decides that, and nobody can promise it.
08
Only on a commerce build
Shopify
The store is your merchant account. It holds real orders and real money, and it should never be in anyone else's name.
- 1. Start the trial yourself at shopify.com with your business email and your own billing details.
- 2. Settings, then Users and permissions, then Add staff.
- 3. Add hello@evolutionwebstudio.com and tick only Themes, Products, Orders and Settings. Leave the finance permissions off.
- 4. You never need to give me the store password or your payment provider login.
What this lets me do
Build the theme, load products and configure shipping and tax as you instruct.
What it does not
See your payouts, change your bank details or take money out.
Stuck
If any of that goes sideways
Do not spend an hour on it. Book 15 minutes, share your screen, and click while I talk. Every one of these takes under two minutes with someone watching, and it is a far better use of your time and mine than four emails about where a menu is.
When the build is finished, every one of these invitations can be removed and nothing stops working. That is the point of setting it up this way, and there is a whole page about it.