10 tips for effective small business website management

Small business website management can be a bit of a catch-all term, so in this article, we’re going to break down what exactly should be included in any robust website management service.

We’ll also discuss best practices for how to deliver on each component of your small business website management services, so you can leave every client delighted with the service they received.

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Why you should offer website management services

Whether you’ve already dabbled in the world of website management for small business or you’re new to it, it is worth understanding exactly why it deserves a prominent spot in your portfolio of solutions.

• Growing market: Millennials and Gen Z are 188% more likely to be interested in starting a business than older generations, and as a provider of small business website management services, you can be positioned to meet this growing demand (Salesforce). The number of small businesses is growing, and many of them need help with their online presence. By offering website management services, agencies can tap into this growing market and expand their customer base.
• Recurring source of revenue: Small business website management services can extend well beyond the initial website handoff, giving you an opportunity to turn a one-time job into a reliable source of monthly revenue for your agency.
• Upselling and cross-selling opportunities: Small business website design and management lends itself well to bundling with other services like SEO management, PPC advertising, content creation, social media management, and other solutions your agency may offer.

1: Regularly update website content

Regularly updating website content is important for maintaining a visible online presence and staying top-of-mind for audiences. Fresh and relevant content not only helps to improve search engine rankings but also keeps existing fans engaged by giving them a reason to return to a site. The specific website content you create will depend on each client’s niche and audience, but broad themes include sharing industry-specific news, providing entertaining or useful content, and updating audiences on new products or services.

To effectively update website content for your clients, consider these strategies:

• Create a content calendar that includes regular content updates and content for special dates, like holidays or product launches.
• Leverage user-generated content, which can be perceived as more trustworthy, relatable, and authentic than brand-generated content.
• Repurpose existing content across platforms. For example, if a TikTok video did well, create a blog post based on the same content.
• Cross-sell content creation services so that your small business clients don’t have to worry about creating enough content in-house to keep their websites updated.

2: Monitor website uptime and performance

As their provider of website management services, your clients rely on you to keep their website up and running and performing well. This is an especially important component of small business website management because it can significantly impact what matters most to clients: their bottom line. Downtime and slow loading speeds can lead to frustrated visitors that abandon the website before getting the chance to convert into paying customers.

The most essential tool for monitoring—and managing—website uptime and performance is an excellent hosting platform. This will not only ensure minimal downtime and optimal speed and performance, but it will also provide valuable analytics that help you spot and address performance issues swiftly. Using a cheap, low-quality hosting provider is one of the most common hosting services mistakes that agencies make.

3: Optimize website for search engines

Search engine optimizations help get websites in front of motivated audiences who are already looking for what your clients offer. Organic traffic is highly valuable to your clients because it helps them balance the cost of paid traffic and maximize the number of visitors to their site. While some SEO optimizations take place off-site, such as link-building, on-site optimizations are also crucial.

Here are some best practices for making all our client websites as search-engine-friendly as possible:

• Conduct keyword research to identify high-traffic keywords and incorporate them throughout headings, meta descriptions, alt-text, and copy.
• Optimize website structure and navigation for both users and search engines.
• Incorporate high-quality, informative content that includes keywords.
• Optimize the website for speed by minimizing file sizes and using a trusted hosting solution.
• Optimize images and videos with descriptive alt text and file names.
• Update website content regularly with fresh, relevant posts.

4: Backup website regularly

Regular website backups ensure that if a cyberattack or data loss occurs, a recent version of the website, along with all of its data, is available to be installed. This helps businesses minimize the impact of these stressful events, protects their data, and ensures they can keep operating with minimal interruptions.

The best way to offer daily backups as part of your small business website packages is to put them on autopilot by using a website solution that includes automatic backups.

5: Implement website security measures

Website security is a major concern for businesses of all sizes, with over 40% of cyberattacks targeting small businesses (Astra). Attacks can compromise private business information or user data such as passwords or log in credentials, which can be expensive—not to mention reputation-damaging—for your small business clients to deal with.

The best way to avoid these attacks is by taking preventative security measures, like installing SSL certificates on all websites, conducting regular malware scans, using firewalls, and hosting websites on highly secure and trusted platforms.

6: Monitor website analytics

Analytics provide valuable, quantifiable insights into what’s working and what isn’t on a client sites. Including them in your small business website management services will give clients the data they need to understand their bounce rates, traffic sources, conversion rates, high-converting pages, and more. All these key metrics can help inform website optimizations that will grow their bottom line.

To offer website analytics, look for a website builder that includes built-in analytics for a reputable provider, like Google Analytics.

7: Regularly check website for broken links

Broken links make a website look out-of-date and poorly maintained to Google’s bots, which can negatively impact SEO performance. Regularly checking for broken links as part of your small business website management packages gives you the chance to fix them before they can impact the site’s performance on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Free tools like the Google Search Console can be used to identify broken links and 404 pages.

8: Provide customer support through the website

Customer support can be one of the most important distinguishing factors that sets you about from other competitors offering small business web design and management services. Small business owners and teams don’t necessarily have the in-house capacity to troubleshoot website issues. If they can rely on your agency to be available 24/7 with support through your website, you’ll inspire a higher level of confidence than competitors who are hard to reach.

If you want to offer high-quality, around-the-clock support, consider using white-label experts who will work under your agency’s banner to support clients through your site. This way, you don’t have to go through a costly and risky hiring process, and you can be confident your clients get the support they require when they need it most.

9: Regularly check website for mobile responsiveness

Today, over 58% of web traffic globally comes from mobile devices (Exploding Topics). This means that mobile responsiveness is no longer optional. Visitors should have an excellent user experience no matter which browser or device they’re using, and responsive design makes that possible.

Using a website-building solution that has built-in mobile responsiveness is the best way to ensure your sites are mobile-friendly. You can also use free online mobile responsiveness checkers to ensure your client sites look great across any device.

10: Regularly update website software and plugins

Updating software, such as the WordPress version of your websites or the installed themes, and keeping third-party plugins up to date, both play a key role in keeping websites secure and performing well. Out-of-date software and plugins can create website vulnerabilities that hackers and other bad actors can exploit, so keeping everything current is an important protective measure.

If you’re offering small business website management services at scale, a tool like the Website Admin Dashboard in Website Pro is essential. It can be used to make all of these important updates from a single dashboard, rather than having to manually log into each client account to see if it needs updating.

Frequently asked questions

What are some common website management tasks for small businesses?

Common tasks for a small business website manager include updating the site’s content, monitoring website uptime and performance, optimizing the site for search engines, maintaining regular backups and security measures, and updating software and plugins.

What are some common tools and software for managing a small business website?

Common tools and software for small business website management services include hosting platforms that provide SSL certificates, daily backups, secure environments, and fast speeds, admin dashboards that enable the management of multiple sites from a single page. Additionally, analytics tools are typically used to provide insights into how well a website is performing.