A Hibu alternative where the website is yours

Hibu sells websites, listings, ads and social media services to local businesses on monthly plans. The parts that matter when you want to leave are in its published Digital Products and Services Terms, and three of them matter most.

Start with ownership. The terms say Hibu owns, or has the rights to, the intellectual property in the services it provides. In some cases, such as a service paid in full upfront, you get a license to keep using the written copy. The site itself isn't handed over, and the terms also say Hibu isn't responsible for storing your content after you cancel.

Then the domain. If Hibu provided the domain name for your website, the terms say it is registered to Hibu. You can ask Hibu to transfer it to your name, and that request should come before anything else.

Last, the term. Services run for the minimum term in your order and continue month to month after it. Some website packages carry a 12-month term with an early termination fee, listed at $99 to $449 depending on the package.

Hibu takes cancellations by phone, and its terms say a cancellation takes effect as soon as possible after the request. That is quick, so do the prep work first.

Get the domain into your own name. Ask Hibu for the transfer, or if you registered the domain yourself, make sure you can still log in to the registrar. If your email runs on that domain, it moves with it, so check that too.

Check that you own your Google Business Profile and aren't just a manager on it. In the profile, open Business Profile settings, then People and access, and see who is listed as primary owner. Your reviews live on that profile, and they stay with you as long as it's yours.

Save what you want on the next site: your photos, any copy you wrote yourself, your list of services, and a list of the page addresses on the current site so the new pages can redirect from them. Then read your order for the minimum term and any early termination fee, and decide whether to time the switch to the end of the term.

It starts with a discovery call and a discovery form. The 14-day build starts after our kickoff call, once your photos are in. I write your copy in the first three days from our call and your Google reviews, show you the real design at the First Look review on day 9, and launch on day 14.

Keep the Hibu site live until launch day so there's no gap. At launch I point your domain at the new site, redirect each old page address to its new page, and update the website link on your Google Business Profile. Your domain and Google accounts are in your name from day one, and the code moves to your GitHub account once the build is paid in full.

The build is $4,500 flat. After launch, Foundation hosting and maintenance is $150 a month with no minimum term. Rank (SEO), Capture (lead capture) and Ads Management are separate plans you add only if you want them.

If you want one company to run your website, listings, ads and social posts as a single bundle, and you'd rather not own or manage any of it, Hibu's model is built for that. ChegTech doesn't run social media, and it isn't a national company with a phone team.

If what you want is a site you own, written for the searches your customers make in your area, at a price you can read before you call, that's the work ChegTech does.