White-label web development: how agencies outsource websites without losing control

What white-label development means

A partner studio designs or builds websites that your agency delivers under its own name. Your client only sees you. The partner signs an NDA, leaves no credits on the work, and stays in the background. Unlike hiring a different freelancer for each job, it is an ongoing relationship with a shared process.

When it makes sense

• You sell more projects than your team can build, or your workload comes in waves.
• Clients ask for things you do not do in-house, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, page speed or ad tracking.
• You are a design, branding or marketing agency without developers.
• You want to test a new service before hiring for it.

What to agree on before the first project

• Confidentiality. An NDA covering your clients, prices and materials.
• No branding. No credits in the footer, the code, file names or emails your client could see.
• Non-solicitation. The partner does not approach your clients or accept work from them directly, for an agreed period.
• Ownership. Code, designs and content pass to you or your client on payment, in writing. Premium themes and plugins are licensed in your name or your client's.
• Accounts. Hosting, domain, Shopify store and analytics belong to your client or your agency. The partner gets access as a collaborator or staff user, never the other way round.
• Personal data. If the partner can see customer data, such as orders or form entries, GDPR requires a data processing agreement (Article 28). A partner inside the EU keeps this simple, because no data leaves the EU.
• Scope and changes. What the quote includes, and how extra requests are priced.
• After launch. Who fixes bugs, for how long, and how fast they reply.

How a project runs

1. Brief. You share the client brief, designs or references, and access.
2. Quote. The partner sends you a fixed quote and timeline, and you set your price for the client.
3. Build on a preview. Work happens on a staging site or preview link with no partner branding, so you can show it to your client as your own.
4. Review. Feedback goes through you, or the partner joins calls as part of your team.
5. Launch. Redirects, forms, tracking, speed and every page on a phone are checked before go-live.
6. Handover. A short editing guide in your branding, so your client can update the site.

Behind the scenes or on the call

There are two ways to work, and both are fine as long as everyone knows which one you chose.

• Behind the scenes. You are the only contact and the partner never speaks to the client. You keep full control, and your project manager carries more of the work.
• Embedded. The partner joins calls as part of your team, often with an email address on your domain. Questions get answered faster, but it needs trust and clear rules.

How to check a partner before you say yes

• Look at live sites they built, not only screenshots. Open them on your phone and run them through PageSpeed Insights.
• Ask how clients edit the site. A good build lets your client change text, photos and prices without a developer.
• Start with a small paid pilot before a big project.
• Check the time zone, language and response times.
• Ask who does the work: the people you talk to, or another subcontractor further down the line.

Red flags

• They want to contact your client directly without your agreement.
• They use pirated (“nulled”) themes or plugins.
• They keep admin accounts, domains or licences in their own name.
• They edit live sites directly, with no staging or backups.
• Their quotes have no clear scope.

How we work with agencies

Remi Visuals is a web studio in Lithuania, in the EU, working in English. We build WordPress and WooCommerce sites, Shopify stores, landing pages and migrations, and take on speed, technical SEO and tracking work, all under your agency's name. We sign an NDA, add no credits, and usually start with a small pilot. See white-label for agencies and the projects we have built.