What records should I keep for each website?
The short answer
Keep one list per website: every service it uses (domain, DNS, hosting, email, payments), who controls each account, what each costs, when it renews, which card pays, and where backups and logins are kept — but never the passwords themselves. That list is what you need when something breaks, when you change web designers and when you sell.
A website is several services from several companies, and each one has its own login, bill and renewal date. When they live only in your inbox and your memory, renewals get missed, cards expire unnoticed and nobody knows which account controls what.
| Record | Why you need it |
|---|---|
| Each service and the company that provides it | So you know what your website depends on |
| Who controls each account, and the email it uses | So you can get in when someone leaves |
| Cost, billing cycle and next renewal date | So renewals and price rises don’t surprise you |
| The card or account that pays | So an expired card doesn’t take your site offline |
| Where the backups are | So you can recover from a mistake or an attack |
| Where the logins are stored (a password manager, not the password) | So access survives staff and designer changes |
Keep the passwords themselves in a password manager, never in the same list. See where to keep passwords.
Words used here
- Service
- Anything your website relies on that another company runs for you — your domain, hosting, database, email sender and so on.
- As-built map
- A diagram of how your services connect — from the address people type, to the website, to the data and services behind it.
- Payment method
- The card or account that pays a bill. SlopDox only stores a nickname and the last four digits — never the card number.
- Handover dossier
- A print-ready document for selling a website: every service, a map, a step-by-step transfer plan and safety warnings.
Still have a question?
Ask the SlopDox assistant: it answers from this catalog, any time. Or let SlopDox keep track of your websites for you, free for up to 3 websites.