We had the opportunity to host a workshop at the Columbus Chamber’s Accelerate Columbus, which helps small business owners strengthen their business operations through business planning, marketing, finance, and more.
For our workshop, we covered SEO, websites, and what small businesses should know about marketing for 2025 and beyond. We found that these same businesses faced similar challenges in managing their websites and online presence, so we wanted to share tips on addressing them below!
Whether you’re just starting your site or already working with a digital marketer in Columbus, these insights can help you take your website to the next level.
Four FREE Website Management Tools That You Should Be Using
Managing a website is time-consuming and, contrary to belief, is more than just updating plugins. You also need to monitor performance, uptime, and user behavior. Here are a few essential tools every small business should use to lighten the website management load:
- Microsoft Clarity: This free tool shows how visitors interact with your website through heatmaps and session recordings. It helps you identify which areas get the most engagement and rage clicks and which parts may need improvement. You can integrate it by adding TXT records to your DNS.
- Uptime Robot: Ever checked your site only to realize it’s been down for days or even weeks? Uptime Robot automatically monitors your site and sends an email alert if it ever goes offline. All you’ll have to do is register and confirm email verification through your domain.
- Google Analytics: Still one of the best tools for tracking traffic sources, user behavior, and conversions. It’s a must-have for anyone serious about better business through website performance.
Five SEO Tools to Improve Your SEO Game
A solid website management plan must include consistent SEO performance. The key here is to target the right keywords with high intent and meaningful search volume, all while ensuring your web pages are properly indexed. Otherwise, targeting low-search volume, low-intent searches would be a waste of resources. Check out five tools that can help wrangle your SEO:
- Google Ads Keyword Planner: Great for discovering relevant keywords and search trends. Use your findings to build out a content plan. You’ll need to sign up for a Google account to get started.
- Moz or SEMrush: This appears above and is ideal for tracking rankings and monitoring competitors. Identify keyword opportunity gaps and attack them. These services offer free scans that provide an overview of your website.
- PageSpeed Insights: Website speed impacts user experience and SEO. This tool helps you identify what’s slowing your site down and areas of improvement. Punch your website URL into the tool to uncover your audit.
- Google Business Profile and Bing Places: Keep these profiles up to date to strengthen your local search presence. Maintain a consistent flow of reviews. Submit/claim your businesses on both and go through their verification process for your business to appear.
- Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools: These platforms show how your site performs in organic search results and indicate technical or indexing issues with your website. Register with both and add a TXT record to your DNS to get started.
The Golden Rule for 2025 & Beyond
AI is everywhere today, and if you want to appear in ChatGPT and Claude, you must embrace it. However, it’s important to use it responsibly. Search engines have started penalizing sites that rely on AI-generated content, which has flooded the internet over the past year. In fact, 74% of all new web pages contain AI-generated content. As a result, the overall search experience has suffered, forcing Google and Bing to rethink their stance on AI.
We recommend avoiding word-for-word copying or overusing AI-generated content. Instead, use AI tools to brainstorm ideas, proofread drafts, or refine choppy messaging. Most importantly, always keep the final content authentic and written in your brand’s voice. Otherwise, you risk your site being deindexed or flagged for low-quality/spam content.
Bottom Line
Website management can be overwhelming as a business owner, but with the right tools and a smart process in place, you can keep your site running smoothly, improve search rankings, and maintain a consistent brand presence.
If you’re looking for web design and development help, we can guide you through every step, from optimizing your site’s SEO to managing your website for long-term performance. Contact us for your free consultation today!
