Webflow Transfer Project to Client - What You Need To Do

Webflow is great in that as a business owner, you have options on control.

You can have semi-control, where you only have access to changing out text and not risking to break the design.

Or, you can have complete control where you manage everything.

In any event there might be a need to transfer ownership of a Webflow website to someone else. And so in this post I wanted to show you how to do this. It's quite simple!

Webflow domain transfer ownership video

I created this video to show how to transfer a Webflow project to another account.

‍

Webflow editor or administrator

Have Webflow editor access

If you (the client) are afraid of "breaking things" or "messing up a design", then you can have your designer/developer maintain your website on his or her Webflow account as the website administrator. In doing so, the Webflow developer maintains the designer part of Webflow where the actual building of the pages takes place.

The client then only has editor-only access. This allows clients to only make text changes or add new content like blog posts or other collection items.

This is safer to prevent accidentally messing up the website. But also, this is a great option for someone that doesn't want to waste time on technical things when it's not productive.

Have Webflow administrator access

But I work with other business owners that want complete control of their website. And so when this occurs, I need to transfer the Webflow website I designed from my account to their Webflow account.

I made this quick video on how to transfer a Webflow project to a client or essentially a different account. You can watch how I make a website I created on my Webflow account transferred to an account of an owner.

I thought this could be useful for other Webflow designers just as a video guide for their clients on signing up to Webflow.

But also for clients, I just wanted to show you how simple it can be.

If you're a client, there are only a few steps required for your website to be transferred to your possession.

Any downtime with a Webflow domain transfer?

If the website being transferred is already online, meaning it is connected to a hosting plan, then downtime is practically zero. The downtime will simply occur when the existing hosting plan is cancelled and transferred to the new account. Once this happens, then the new account just needs to purchase a hosting plan, enter the domain address, and publish.

This can be done in minutes.

If on the other hand a completely new web domain is desired, meaning to change the url/name of business, then you'll need to make sure that the new domain is pointing to the Webflow hosting records. This is simple, but it can take a few hours for your new website to be live. In web talk, this is called Domain Propagation or DNS propagation - the time needed for servers across the web to update and display your website.

Preparing for Webflow Client transfer

If this is your first time doing a transfer, try to provide clients with clear instructions and what to expect. It's a simple process but I know non-technical clients might be scared of messing something up.

Once the client sets up an account, you can always ask for temporary access to the login and do everything yourself, but avoid it if you can just to save yourself time.