In short
- A website handover is for the client, not a colleague: show what they'll actually do, in their words, not how the site was built.
- A series of short videos (tour, editing, accesses, support) is easier to watch and to find again than one long recording.
- Never show passwords or recovery codes on video: say where the accesses are, and send them through a password manager or a separate channel.
- End the handover with who to contact, for what, and how: the question every client has a month later.
- If your video links expire, give the client the MP4 files too, in a folder they own.
A website handover is the moment the client takes over the site you built, and video is the easiest way to do it well. Record a short series: a tour of the finished site, how to make the edits they’ll do most often, where the accesses are (without ever showing a password), and who to contact when something goes wrong. Pair it with a one-page written summary, and give the client the files to keep.
This guide is about handing a site over to a client, not to another developer. The client doesn’t need to know how it was built. They need to feel confident running it on Monday morning.
What a client handover is for
A developer handover explains the code. A client handover answers three questions:
- What do I have? The pages, the features, the things that happen automatically.
- What can I do myself? Change a photo, publish a news post, update opening hours.
- What do I do when something breaks or I need more? Who to write to, what’s covered, what costs extra.
Everything in your handover videos should answer one of these. Anything else, like the plugin stack or the deployment pipeline, goes in a technical document for whoever maintains the site.
One long video or a series of short ones
A single 40-minute recording feels thorough. In practice the client watches the first ten minutes, and three weeks later can’t find the part about the menu.
A series is better. Each video covers one topic, has a title that says what’s in it, and stays short.
| Video | What it covers | Rough length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Your new site, a tour | The main pages, what’s on each, what happens automatically (forms, emails) | 3–5 min |
| 2. Logging in and finding your way | Where to log in, the dashboard, what not to touch | 2–3 min |
| 3. Editing a page | Changing text and images on an existing page | 3–5 min |
| 4. Publishing a news post or product | The thing they’ll do most often | 3–5 min |
| 5. Accesses and accounts | Which accounts exist and who owns them, without showing any password | 2–3 min |
| 6. Getting help | Who to contact, for what, how, and what’s included | 1–2 min |
Videos 3 and 4 are really training videos. If the client will do a lot of editing, split them further, one task per video, as we explain in how to make a CMS training video for clients. For lengths by type of video, see how long should a client video be.
The tour
The tour is the video the client will forward to their colleagues, so make it understandable to someone who wasn’t in the project.
- Start from the homepage, as a visitor. Not from the admin. Show the site the way their customers will see it.
- Name each section in their terms. “This is where people book a visit”, not “this is the CTA block”.
- Show what happens behind the scenes. Submit the contact form and show the email that arrives. It’s the most reassuring 30 seconds of the handover.
- Show the mobile version. Most clients look at their site on a phone first.
How to edit the main things
Pick the three to five edits the client will actually make, and show each one from start to finish, including saving and checking the result on the live site.
- Say what you’re about to do. “Let’s change the photo on the About page.”
- Do it at a normal pace, saying each click out loud. Don’t skip steps that feel obvious to you.
- Save and show the result on the public site.
- Say what to do if it goes wrong. Undo, revisions, or “write to us before you try to fix it”.
Use content you’re happy to lose: a test page, a draft post. Editing a live page during the recording risks publishing a half-finished change.
Accesses and credentials: never on video
This is the one rule with no exceptions. A video gets forwarded, downloaded and rewatched by people you never met. Anything on screen should be safe for all of them to see.
What the accesses video should do instead:
- List the accounts that exist: hosting, domain, CMS, email, analytics, payment provider.
- Say who owns each one. Ideally the client owns all of them, with you as a user. Say so clearly, and say what to do if that’s not yet the case.
- Say where the credentials are, for example “in the shared vault we invited you to”, and send them through that channel, never in the same message as the video link.
The handover email follows the same rule: links and the summary, no logins.
Hi Sara, the new site is live. Here’s the first of six short videos, a tour of the site. The other five, from editing a page to getting help, are linked in the one-page summary attached.
Your logins are in the shared vault we invited you to. I’m not putting them in this email on purpose.
https://justrec.app/v/k3f9Qa
Before recording any part of the handover, run through our screen recording privacy checklist. Admin panels are full of real names and email addresses.
Who to contact
The last video is the shortest and the one clients come back to most. Say:
- who to write to for a problem, and how (an email address, not your personal WhatsApp, unless that’s the deal);
- what’s included in their maintenance or support plan, and what isn’t;
- what counts as urgent, and what to do when the site is down;
- how to report a problem well. Ask them to record their screen when something looks broken. Our guide on getting clients to report bugs by video has a message you can send them.
A website handover checklist
Before you send the handover
- The tour video, recorded on the live site, desktop and mobile.
- One video for each edit the client will make regularly.
- An accesses video that shows no credentials.
- Credentials sent separately, through a password manager or another secure channel.
- Every account owned by the client, or a plan to transfer it.
- A support video: who, how, what’s included.
- A one-page written summary with links to every video.
- The original video files delivered to a folder the client owns.
Expiring links and keeping the originals
Handover videos are watched more than once: in the first week, and again when a new colleague joins or the client forgets how to change the menu. That makes them different from a design review that’s obsolete after the next round.
If your share links don’t expire, keep in mind that the admin panel you recorded stays online for as long as the link works. If they do expire, plan the handover around both the links and the files:
Launch day
Send the handover email
The one-page summary with a link to every video. Credentials go through a separate channel.
First week
The client watches the tour and the editing videos
Answer questions in writing, or with one more short video.
First month
The links still work
Use the longest link you have for the handover, so the client can come back while they learn.
After that
The files take over
The MP4s in a folder the client controls (their shared drive, their intranet) are what a new colleague will watch. The videos are theirs, not a link that depends on you.
We explain the trade-off in why expiring video links are safer.
If you hand over sites every month, see how JustRec fits a studio’s workflow on JustRec for agencies. For the other client conversations that work well by video, start from our guide to async video for client communication.
Frequently asked questions
What should a website handover include?
A tour of the finished site, how to make the edits the client will do most, a list of accesses and who owns each account, the support and maintenance terms, and who to contact for what. Written documents and short videos work well together.
Should I record one long handover video or several short ones?
Several short ones. A five-minute video per topic is easier to watch, and the client can find the one about the menu without scrubbing through half an hour.
Is it safe to show logins in a handover video?
No. Passwords, recovery codes and API keys should never appear on screen. Record with them hidden, say where the client will find them, and send them separately.
How long should a client keep handover videos?
As long as they use the site the same way. If your share links expire, give the client the original video files in a folder they control, so they don't depend on you to rewatch them.
