Practical guides for the people who look after small-business websites
Plain-spoken advice on website care, local SEO, blogging, domains and running many client sites, written by the team behind Saywick.
Latest articles
New guides, step by step, for agencies, freelancers and the business owners they work with.
New posts are on their way.
What we write about
Six subjects, covered in depth
Every article sits under one of these. Start with whichever is giving you the most trouble this week.
Website care and maintenance
Backups, updates, security and uptime: what to check, how often, and what to do when something breaks.
Local SEO
The small, unglamorous steps that help a local business show up when nearby customers search.
Blogging that brings in customers
How to pick topics, write posts people actually search for, and keep a blog going without burning out.
Domains and DNS
Buying, transferring and connecting domains, and reading DNS records without guessing.
Moving off WordPress
When a move makes sense, how to plan it, and how to keep your rankings and content intact.
Managing many client sites
Ways to run dozens of sites without drowning in logins, renewals and repetitive tasks.
A note from the editors
This journal is for people who are responsible for a website that isn't their own: the freelancer with a dozen clients, the small agency with a long maintenance list, and the shop or studio owner who ended up in charge of the site.
Our promise is simple. We write about things we have actually done, we show the steps, and we say so when something isn't worth your time. No jargon for its own sake, and no big claims we can't back up.
We are the team behind Saywick, a website platform for agencies and freelancers, so you will sometimes see us mention it. The advice here should still be useful whatever tools you use.
Want fewer websites to worry about?
Saywick designs client sites from a one-line brief, writes their blog posts and handles domains, hosting, nightly backups and updates for one flat price.