Guide for business owners
How to edit a website someone else built
The short answer
First make sure the site is really yours: the domain, the hosting and the logins should be in your name, or at least shared with you. Then use the editor the site already has, if it has one you can use. If it doesn't, or you'd rather not touch it, ask the person who built it to add ReCopyFast's line once; after that you change the words yourself, and they only hear from you for real changes.
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First: whose website is it?
- The domain: which company is it registered with, and is the account in your name and email?
- The hosting, or the platform account on Squarespace, Wix, Shopify or Webflow: who pays the bill, and can you log in?
- The website login: do you have your own account, rather than a shared password?
- The DNS settings: whoever controls them controls where your website and business email point.
- A copy: do you have, or can you get, a backup or export of the site?
- The agreement: what does it say about who owns the site and its content?
If the answers are mostly no and the person who built it has stopped answering, sort out access before anything else. Ask in writing for the domain and accounts to be moved into your name; your registrar and host can explain their own recovery process. Bekee's guide for owners whose web person disappeared is a good place to start.
ReCopyFast can't help with this part. Someone has to be able to change the site once, so access comes first.
Ways to edit it, once you have access
- Squarespace, Wix or Shopify: log in and use the built-in editor yourself.
- WordPress: ask for your own account rather than a shared admin password, then change text under Pages.
- Webflow: ask your designer for a Content editor seat on their Workspace.
- A custom or AI-built site with no editor: every text change goes through whoever can edit the code, or through a tool added on top.
- Paying per change or for a care plan: fine for occasional changes. See what a small website change typically costs.
The developer handoff with ReCopyFast
- Sign up and add your site. When asked who will add the line, choose “My developer will”.
- You get a ready-to-send email with your site's line, where to paste it on WordPress, Webflow, Framer or a custom site, and a short security note. You send it from your own email; ReCopyFast sends nothing.
- Your developer pastes the line once. Nobody shares a password.
- When your site first checks in, we email you that it's connected.
- Open your site, click the words you want to change, type and publish.
Want your developer to check your changes first? If they hold the account on the Pro plan, they can invite you to edit without publishing: you save drafts, they publish. The developer guide answers their technical questions.
How to ask without souring the relationship
- Say what you want to change yourself (hours, prices, specials) and what stays with them (design, new pages, anything technical).
- Ask for your own login, not theirs.
- Agree how bigger changes will be quoted, so neither side is surprised.
Where ReCopyFast fits
ReCopyFast fits when the site is yours and your developer still answers, but every change of wording goes through them. They add one line, once; you change the words and existing photos from then on. Layout, new pages, forms and code stay with them.
It doesn't give you the domain, the hosting or the logins. If you don't have those, get them first.
How it works, honestly
You can change existing words and swap existing photos, not the layout, new pages, forms or code. Published changes are applied in the visitor's browser just after the page loads, so the original text can show for a moment first. Google can run JavaScript when it indexes pages (Google Search Central: JavaScript SEO basics), but Google also notes that not all bots can run JavaScript, and those see the original text, so keep your main headline and key search text in the site itself. We don't promise any SEO benefit. If your developer later moves things around or redesigns a page, some of your changes can stop showing, and we don't warn you about that yet.
Questions owners ask
- My developer says I can't change the site myself. Is that normal?
- Some developers lock sites down so nothing breaks, others because changes are how they bill. It's reasonable to ask for your own editor login or another way to change your own text.
- What if I can't reach the person who built my site?
- Get the domain, hosting and logins into your name first, with your registrar's and host's help. Until someone can change the site once, no editing tool can help, ReCopyFast included.
- Do I have to give ReCopyFast my website password?
- No, and we never ask for it. Your developer pastes one line; you sign in to ReCopyFast with your own email address.
- What can I change once ReCopyFast is on the site?
- Headings, paragraphs, prices, hours, button labels, and existing photos swapped for new ones. Not the layout, colours, new pages, forms, checkout or code.