I train jiu jitsu. One of the first things you learn is that the submission is never the dangerous part.
By the time somebody’s arm is locked up, the fight was already over. It ended two minutes earlier when they gave up a position that seemed fine at the time. They weren’t in pain. Nothing felt urgent. They just let somebody settle into a spot that was going to cost them, and by the time it hurt there was nothing left to do about it.
That’s exactly how the $99 a month website works.
The math nobody runs
Somebody sells you a website for $99 a month. Sounds reasonable. No big check up front, they handle everything, one line item on the card.
Three years later you’ve paid $3,564.
Now cancel it and see what you own.
The site goes dark. Not “you get a copy and have to move it.” Dark. Because you were never buying a website, you were renting one, and the whole model depends on you not thinking about it too hard for long enough.
Some of these arrangements also have your domain registered to them. Which means the address customers have been typing for three years isn’t yours either.
Why it doesn’t feel like a trap
Because it isn’t one, at month three. At month three it’s a fine deal. You got a site up without a big outlay and somebody else is handling it.
The problem is that it never gets better and it never ends. Year five you’re at $5,940 for the same template you got on day one, probably with the same photos, and you still can’t leave with anything.
Meanwhile the guy who paid $950 once, three years ago, has spent $950. And if he wants to move hosting, hire somebody else, or hand the files to his nephew who’s learning to code, he can do it Tuesday.
That’s the position you gave up. Not painful at the time. Very hard to escape later.
The tell
Here’s how to know which one you’re in. Ask whoever built your site one question:
“Can you send me the files?”
Not the login. The files. The actual HTML.
If the answer is yes, you’re fine. You own something.
If the answer is a paragraph, you don’t.
The paragraph usually sounds like “well, it’s built on our proprietary platform, so it doesn’t really work like that.” That’s the answer. That’s a no with extra steps.
What I do instead
I charge once. $399, $950, or $1,850 depending on how many pages you need. When it’s done you get every file, the domain in your name, and the hosting in your name. There’s no monthly fee attached to the website at all.
If you never speak to me again, the site keeps working. That’s not generosity, it’s just what owning something means.
I do have a monthly service, $299, and I want to be straight about it: it’s Google Business Profile management. Posts, review generation, photos, tracking where you rank across the city. That’s ongoing work that produces ongoing results, and you can cancel it any month you want without losing your website. It’s a service, not a hostage situation.
If you’re already in one
You’re not stuck, you just have to move on purpose.
- Check who your domain is registered to. Go to whois and look. If it’s not you, that’s the first thing to fix and it’s usually a phone call.
- Ask for the files in writing. Sometimes you get them. It’s worth the email.
- Assume you’re rebuilding from scratch and price accordingly. Usually it’s cheaper than eleven more months of rent.
- Save your content. Your copy, your photos, your reviews. That’s yours regardless of what the platform claims.
Then get out. Every month you wait is another $99 toward something you’ll never own.
The good news about a bad position is that it’s usually escapable right up until it isn’t. This one’s escapable. It just costs you more the longer you sit in it.
