Your Next Time Saver: How To Use AI To Save Time On Hosting Maintenance, Agency Edition via @sejournal, @Hanrahan7

This post was sponsored by Cloudways. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Have you ever woken up to a 3 AM client website panic?

Did your client’s ecommerce site crash during a flash sale?

Has another client asked why their site is slow, “even though we’re paying for premium hosting.”

This isn’t just an occasional nuisance.

If you’re managing multiple client sites, hosting maintenance becomes a full-on job in itself. The worst part? None of this time is billable, and every minute spent troubleshooting is a minute you’re not spending on business growth.

Here’s the truth: The way you handle hosting maintenance may be broken. And it’s costing you far more than you realize, in time, money, and missed opportunities.

In this article, we’ll explore:

Ways You’re Accidentally Draining Agency Revenue

You and your agency may lose countless hours to hosting maintenance without realizing the true cost.

Behind every “quick fix” lies a hidden drain on productivity and profits.

Are You Doing This?

A frantic client message or monitoring alert, often hours after the problem started. Then:

  • Developers scramble to check logs and test configurations.
  • The team disables plugins one by one as a diagnostic method.
  • Someone finally contacts hosting support after internal efforts fail.
  • The issue gets resolved (often) after hours of back-and-forth.

The financial impact is staggering when you do the math.

Consider an agency managing just 30 websites.

If each site experiences only 2 hosting incidents per month requiring 3 hours to resolve, that’s 180 hours annually.

This is nearly an entire month’s worth of lost productivity.

  • Average resolution time: 3.5 hours per incident.
  • For an agency with 50 client sites, 4,200 hours/year lost.
  • At a $150/hour billable rate → $630,000 potential revenue wasted.

Beyond direct costs, this broken system creates three major problems:

  1. Team burnout – Constant firefighting demoralizes developers
  2. Client distrust – Repeated issues make your agency look incompetent
  3. Growth stagnation – Leadership spends time troubleshooting instead of scaling

Each downtime incident plants seeds of doubt about your agency’s technical competence. After just a few occurrences, clients start questioning why they’re paying premium rates for what feels like unreliable service. This erosion of confidence makes contract renewals harder and opens the door for competitors.

How To Solve Client Website Hosting Issues

Most agencies cycle through the same ineffective solutions, each with significant drawbacks:

Don’t: Only Take The Staffing Approach

The most common solution is hiring dedicated infrastructure staff. Many agencies believe bringing a systems admin or DevOps engineer on board will solve their hosting woes. While this provides more control, it creates new problems. You’re now responsible for recruiting, managing, and covering the cost of specialized technical talent.

  • $85k+ annual salary for each infrastructure specialist.
  • Ongoing management overhead for technical staff.
  • Limited availability for after-hours emergencies.
  • Still requires hosting provider support for complex issues.

Don’t: Just Take The Managed Hosting Solution

Many agencies turn to managed hosting providers to alleviate their maintenance burden.

Technically adept teams can absolutely handle straightforward server-level maintenance, security patches, and core updates; however, most still require some additional support when faced with:

  • Application-specific troubleshooting (plugin conflicts, theme issues).
  • Custom performance optimization.
  • Specialized configurations.

The key difference lies in how managed hosting providers address these residual needs. Traditional hosting providers might still leave you waiting in support queues, while next-gen platforms automatically begin repairs.

Don’t: Simply Use Website Uptime Monitoring Tools

You may think about attempting to solve the problem through monitoring tools.

Website monitoring tools layer on services like New Relic, Datadog, and UptimeRobot, hoping the better visibility will reduce firefighting.

While these tools provide valuable data, they primarily generate more alerts for your team to interpret and take action on. You’ve essentially traded one problem for another – instead of lacking information, you’re now drowning in it.

  • Alert overload from multiple systems.
  • False positives that waste investigation time.
  • No actionable insights – just more data to interpret.
  • Still requires manual diagnosis and resolution.

Do: Incorporate AI-Powered Hosting Maintenance

Imagine, instead of the chaotic process, you:

  1. Know about issues before clients did.
  2. Understand exactly what went wrong, in plain English.
  3. Get step-by-step instructions to fix it immediately.

Copilots that can do these tasks are your first step towards using and creating a self-learning, auto-healing hosting platform.

They can use intelligent monitoring to detect and help resolve the most common and critical server issues.

Hosting Maintenance: Before & After AI Integration

The Old Way:

  • Client reports site is down (30+ minutes after it actually went down).
  • You spend an hour checking logs and plugins.
  • You contact support and wait 2 hours for a response.
  • Support suggests a fix that may or may not work.
  • Total downtime: 4+ hours.

With Cloudways Copilot:

  • Copilot detects the issue immediately (often before users notice).
  • You receive an alert with exact cause and fix.
  • You implement the solution in minutes.
  • Total downtime: Dramatically reduced resolution time compared to traditional troubleshooting.

How To Get Automatic Hosting & Site Alerts, Repairs & Updates

You can configure Cloudways Copilot to manage many facets of web hosting.

Host Health

Triggers when your entire server goes down, typically from:

Webstack Health

  • Alerts when core services fail (Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PHP-FPM).
  • Catches crashes before they take sites offline.
  • Identifies resource exhaustion issues.

Disk & Inode Health

Warns before you hit critical limits:

  • Disk space (95%+ utilization).
  • Inode usage (separate from storage space).

Result: Instant problem detection!

Copilot continuously monitors your servers and applications for:

  • Performance bottlenecks.
  • Security threats.
  • Resource constraints.
  • Configuration errors.

Unlike traditional monitoring tools that just tell you “something’s wrong,” Copilot identifies the specific issue.

What AI Reports Look Like For Website Maintenance

For each problem detected, Copilot provides:

  1. What happened: The specific error or issue
  2. Where it occurred: Which site, which server
  3. Why it happened: The root cause analysis
  4. How to fix it: Step-by-step resolution instructions

Real-World Example

Instead of just “High CPU Usage” alert, Copilot tells you:

“Your WordPress site on Server X is experiencing high CPU due to a poorly optimized WooCommerce query in Plugin Y. Disable the plugin or contact the developer for an update.”

To be more specific, the example below shows Copilot detecting a DDOS attack, listing malicious IPs, and identifying the file that is being attacked. It then provides remediation steps to prevent the DDOS attack.

Investigation Summary

The investigation shows that much of the server load is driven by multiple concurrent Magento cron tasks and frequent POST requests to the xmlrpc.php endpoint. These factors have caused high CPU usage and intermittent HTTP 500 errors. It appears that the repeated bot visits to xmlrpc.php and resource-intensive Magento cron jobs are the likely cause of the problem.

Remediation Steps

To mitigate the issues related to the potential DDoS attack and improve server performance, please follow these steps:

  1. Block Offending IPs: Use the `.htaccess` file to block the specific IP addresses that are contributing to the abuse. Add the following lines to your .htaccess file:
    1. deny from 66.249.75.34
    2. deny from 114.119.136.249
    3. deny from 182.43.65.168
  2. Implement Cloudflare: If you haven’t already, consider setting up Cloudflare for your application. This will enhance your website’s security and help mitigate DDoS attacks by filtering malicious traffic before it reaches your server. Follow the integration steps provided by Cloudways to set up CNAME records.
  3. Enable Under Attack Mode: Once Cloudflare is set up, enable Under Attack Mode, which performs an extra security check for every visitor and helps protect your site from ongoing DDoS attacks, especially targeting specific URLs like /xmlrpc.php.

By taking these actions, you can significantly reduce the strain on your server and improve its performance.”,

Support links:

https://support.cloudways.com/en/articles/6009152-how-to-integrate-cloudflare-with-your-application

https://support.cloudways.com/en/articles/5120765-how-to-monitor-system-processes-using-htop-command

This is how Cloudways Copilot uses AI to identify hosting and server issues by comparing them to similar cases across the fleet, quickly suggesting the most effective remediation solutions with step-by-step instructions. This saves you time by providing immediate solutions without the need for manual detection, troubleshooting, or back-and-forth support tickets, preventing disappointment for your clients.

Image create by Cloudways, April 2025

At the end of the day, hosting headaches shouldn’t waste your agency’s most valuable resource: time. Every minute spent troubleshooting is a minute taken away from client work, business growth, or simply having a life outside of server emergencies.

Cloudways Copilot tackles this problem at its root by:

  • Detecting issues before clients notice.
  • Pinpointing exactly what broke and why.
  • Showing where problems occurred (specific apps/servers).
  • Providing step-by-step fixes in plain language.
  • Cutting resolution time from hours to minutes.

What’s coming next makes Cloudways Copilot even better:

  • One-click fixes – Resolve common errors automatically with a single click
  • Automated resolutions – Let Copilot handle routine tasks like server-wide cache purges and backup management
  • Developer workflows – Automate performance monitoring and testing to free up your team

Best of all? During our early access period, Cloudways Copilot is completely free. We’re currently onboarding users through our limited-access program – visit the Cloudways Copilot page and submit your details to secure your spot.


Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Cloudways. Used with permission.

In-Post Image: Images by Cloudways. Used with permission.

GoDaddy Is Offering Leads To Freelancers And Agencies via @sejournal, @martinibuster

GoDaddy launched a new partner program called GoDaddy Agency that matches web developers with leads for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs). It provides digital agencies with tools, services, and support to help them grow what they offer their customers.

The new program is available to U.S. based freelancers and web development agencies. GoDaddy offers the following benefits:

  • Client leads
    Partners are paired with SMBs based on expertise and business goals. GoDaddy delivers high-intent business referrals from GoDaddy’s own Web Design Services enquiries.
  • Commission revenue opportunities
    Partners can earn up to 20% commission for each new client purchases.
  • Access to premium WordPress tools
  • Co-branded marketing
    Top-performing partners benefit from more exposure from joint marketing campaigns.
  • Dedicated Support
    Every agency is assigned an Agency Success Manager who can help them navigate ways to benefit more from the program.

Joseph Palumbo, Go-to-Market and Agency Programs Director at GoDaddy explained:

“The GoDaddy Agency Program is all about helping agencies grow. We give partners the tools, support, and referrals they need to take on more clients and bigger projects—without adding more stress to their day. It’s like having a team behind your team.”

For WordPress Developers And More

I asked GoDaddy if this program exclusively for WordPress developers. They answered:

“GoDaddy has a wide variety of products to help make any business successful. So, this isn’t just about WordPress. We have plenty of website solutions, like Managed WordPress, Websites + Marketing or VPS for application development. Additionally, we have other services like email through Office 365, SSL certificates and more.”

Advantage Of Migrating Customers To GoDaddy

I asked GoDaddy what advantages can a developer at another host receive by bringing all of their clients over to GoDaddy?

They answered:

“First, our extensive product portfolio and diverse hosting selection allows agencies to house all and any projects at GoDaddy, allowing them to simplify their operations and giving them the opportunity to manage their business from a single dashboard and leverage a deep connection with a digital partner that understands their challenges and opportunities.

On top of that, there’s the growth potential. Every day, we get calls from customers who want websites that are too complex for us to design and build. So, we have created a system that instead of directing those customers elsewhere, we can connect with Web agencies that are better suited to handle their requests.

If a digital agency becomes a serious partner and the work they do meets our standards, and they have great customer service , etc. we can help make connections that are mutually beneficial to our customers and our partners.”

Regarding my question about WordPress tools offered to agency partners, a spokesperson answered:

“We have a wide variety of AI tools to help them get their jobs done faster. From website design via AI to product descriptions and social posts. Beyond our AI tools, agency partners that use WordPress can work directly with our WordPress Premium Support team. This is a team of WordPress experts and developers who can assist with anything WordPress-related whether hosted at GoDaddy or somewhere else.”

Takeaways

When was the last time your hosting provider gave you a business lead?  The Agency partner program is an innovative ecosystem that supports agencies and freelancers who partner with GoDaddy, a win-win for everyone involved.

It makes sense for a web host to share business leads from customers who are actively in the market for web development work with partner agencies and freelancers who could use those leads. It’s a win-win for the web host and the agency partners, an opportunity that’s worth looking into.

GoDaddy’s new Agency Program connects U.S.-based web developers, freelancers and agencies with high-intent leads from small-to-mid-sized businesses while offering commissions, tools, and support to help agencies grow their client base and streamline operations. The program is a unique ecosystem that enables developers to consolidate hosting, leverage WordPress and AI tools, and benefit from co-marketing and personalized support.

  • Client Acquisition via Referrals:
    GoDaddy matches agency partners with high-intent SMB leads generated from its own service inquiries.
  • Revenue Opportunities:
    Agencies can earn up to 20% commission on client purchases made through the program.
  • Consolidated Hosting and Tools:
    Agencies can manage multiple client types using GoDaddy’s product ecosystem, including WordPress, VPS, and Websites + Marketing.
  • Premium WordPress and AI Support:
    Partners gain access to a dedicated WordPress Premium Support team and AI-powered productivity tools (e.g., design, content generation).
  • Co-Branded Marketing Exposure:
    High-performing partners receive increased visibility through joint campaigns with GoDaddy.
  • Dedicated Success Management:
    Each partner is assigned an Agency Success Manager for personalized guidance and program optimization.
  • Incentive for Migration from Other Hosts:
    GoDaddy offers a centralized platform offering simplicity, scale, and client acquisition opportunities for agencies switching from other providers.

Read more about the GoDaddy Agency program:

GoDaddy Agency: A New Way to Help Digital Consultants Grow

Apply to join the Agency Program here.

How To Onboard Digital Marketing Talent According To Agency Leaders

Effective onboarding of digital marketing talent is key to setting the foundations for a positive employee experience.

It’s also vital for accelerating productivity, boosting employee retention, and cultivating a positive company culture.

When done right, it leads to more engaged and profitable staff in the long run.

Solid and thorough inductions also help new employees understand the company culture, responsibilities, and nuanced team dynamics. More importantly, they can also serve to bridge any skill gaps and set the stage for success.

With all of this considered,  you’d naturally think that onboarding would be a top priority for all founders.  Sadly, this is often not the case.

Poor Onboarding Or Lack Thereof Is Killing Your Retention

Last year I placed 70 candidates in new roles. Seven quit of their own accord before their probation was up. Of these, all of them but one attributed a poor onboarding process to their early departure.

  • Three had never met their manager in person, not even once.
  • Two cited feeling isolated and removed from the rest of the business, despite working in the office.
  • Three had commented about trying but being unable to meet every stakeholder in the business to understand their motivations.
  • One reported not having a single proper conversation with their manager about key performance indicators (KPIs).

Historical Resentment Combined With Poor Communications

Nobody intentionally onboards staff poorly.

It often happens when there’s a rush to get the new hire started fast, usually because of bad planning and a long recruitment process, which translates to: “We needed you yesterday, so just jump in.”

This urgency can create a stressful environment for new staff.

Existing team members who might have taken the slack in their absence may quickly start offloading responsibilities, potentially overwhelming the employee.

Businesses that don’t address this early on end up with a high turnover.

So, How Can Agencies Improve Their Onboarding Process?

I spoke to various agency founders and directors across the UK, the U.S., Australia, and Dubai and I asked them for their insights and advice about onboarding.

Here’s what they recommend:

Observation And Shadowing Are Vital

Zoe Blogg, the Director of Operations at independent SEO & Content Marketing agency, Reboot, says:  “It’s about immersion. Our process is designed to give new hires time to truly absorb how we work before they’re expected to contribute. In the first two weeks, we encourage new team members – especially at a senior level – to focus on listening, observing, and understanding our culture, processes, and workflows before making any major changes or suggestions.”

Supporting the idea that early collaboration and involvement are key, Kristi Hoyle of Kaizen actively encourages new starters to sit in on ideation sessions and client strategy meetings, even with teams they won’t directly work with. The ultimate aim is to gradually ease them into the agency.

Phil Dukarsky, SEO lead at Dubai-based SEO Sherpa, leverages a buddy system to ensure that new starters are given the best introduction. Effectively, somebody from the same department is chosen to take this person under their wing and induct them into the department and the wider business.

Emma Welland, founder of paid media agency House of Performance, emphasizes a similar approach with a twist: “We assign everyone a mentor as well as a manager to make sure they have multiple people to check in with and speak to from day one.” They also make sure new employees have time with the founders on a weekly basis to ask questions and get extra support.

Use The Right Tool Kit

I’ve spoken to many digital agency founders and hiring managers, and many have their own nuanced tool stack to ensure that their onboarding is on point.

Zoe Blogg was the first to recommend ClickUp as a project management platform that has been adopted by businesses all over the world.

She explains: “We use the tool to centralise everything from training materials to role-specific onboarding tasks.”

“A key feature we leverage is a dedicated ‘sandbox’ space, where new team members can test ideas, experiment with workflows, and familiarise themselves with our systems in a low-pressure environment before making live changes,” she shares.

Systems like this provide central spaces for new employees to get to grips with existing workflows and ways of working very early on, so they’re not in the dark. This also offers them the chance to ask questions and even make suggestions for improvements, making them feel valued early on.

Kristi Hoyle of Kaizen Search uses ClickUp in combination with Notion, another project management tool, to centralize all learning resources, induction documents, and educational resources.

Vervaunt was the only agency that cited Asana as a key onboarding tool.

Bethan Rainford, the company’s general manager, shares: “We use Asana across Vervaunt and have a comprehensive on-boarding flow which all new starters enroll within.”

Tools For Positive And Negative Feedback

Kaizen Search is an agency that takes considerable steps to continuously improve its employee experiences.

It uses 15Five, a performance management tool that enables new starters to record confidential feedback on their onboarding experience, helping the agency record any shortcomings or needs for improvement.

Emma Welland takes a similar proactive approach to this at House of Performance: “We ask every new joiner for feedback on the joining process, so we can evolve it.” She expects their process to be even more advanced over the next 12 months.

This is actually worlds apart from some of the experiences I’ve been told about.

Of the seven people who left their roles before probation, only one was even given an exit interview with an opportunity to give their feedback, while the rest were never asked what had gone wrong.

In fact, some of the hiring managers refused to acknowledge any feedback given by the employees.

CharlieHR

Zoe shares that CharlieHR helps them make the heavy administrative side of onboarding more efficient.

It also gives new starters immediate access to key information early on, such as company benefits, perks, and policies. “This removes the logistical friction and allows them to focus on integrating into the team”, says Blogg.

Jen Wlodyka, who heads up the talent team at London and Hertfordshire-based Distinctly Digital, also praises the tool for its ability to schedule performance reviews and ensure that detailed feedback is created and distributed privately and timely. This is vital for keeping staff happy and loyal.

Breathe HR

Breathe is another solid tool for onboarding.

Olivia Royce, the operations director at ecommerce SEO agency NOVOS, explains, “We rely on tools such as ClickUp for task management, BreatheHR for HR processes, and Assembly for fostering team connections. Cybersecurity training during the first week equips our team to handle IT security.”

Jen Wlodyka also stresses the importance of having the right tools for success.

She points to Slack and their bespoke intranet as vital for smooth communication from the start. Both platforms serve as the company’s centralised hub for policy documents, internal communication between teams, and regular company updates, making new starters feel included right away.

Onboarding Shouldn’t Stop After 2-4 Weeks

Many agencies and brands see onboarding as a short, 30-day process, but that’s not enough. Here’s what the best agencies are doing in that respect:

Rolling Inductions

Zoe Blog from Reboot addresses this head-on as she tells us, “We recognise that onboarding is more than your ‘first month’. That’s why we have rolling induction slots in the calendar, so if someone wants a refresher or misses a session, they can easily join again. This ensures that information isn’t just received once and forgotten – it’s reinforced in a way that makes it stick.”

The 30/60/90-Day Approach

The ecommerce-focused agency NOVOS adopts a structured approach to onboarding.

Its 1-30-60-90-day plan aligns with probation periods and breaks the process into clear milestones: a structure for day 1, week 1, and months 1, 2, and 3.

Olivia Royce, the company’s operations director, explains, “We have a clear onboarding process in our task management system which outlines who is responsible for what during the onboarding process.”

This structured approach consists of a comprehensive introduction to the company and its mission, vision, and values, and helps set personalized KPIs that match the employee’s development areas for the first three months.

Bethan Rainford from Vervaunt outlines their ongoing approach that ensures onboarding doesn’t end after probation: “At the end of a probationary period, we have a tradition of ‘end of probation presentation’.”

They started this when they were a team of five, and now at 65, it still continues.

She goes on to explain the process: “The employee presents back to the full team on a topic they are passionate about or a key project they have worked on during their initial time here. We’ve always found this to be a really rewarding and supportive way for new team members to close up on their probation, and the support and encouragement from the wider team is always really lovely to see.”

Onboarding Should Start Before Day One

Kristi Hoyle from Kaizen Search explains that their onboarding actually starts before an employee even steps foot in the office: “Our process begins two weeks before their official start date to ensure employees feel informed, prepared, and welcomed.”

She breaks this down in detail:

Pre-Start Preparation

Hoyle describes how 14 weeks prior to starting, new hires are given a comprehensive welcome deck they’re encouraged to look over in detail.

The document includes key company information, details on benefits and key policies, a full organization structure chart, short bios and photos of everybody in the company, and a comprehensive outline of what to expect from day one, including training schedules and full immersion sessions.

Emma Welland shares a similar philosophy: “When we bring new people into House of Performance, we make sure our onboarding starts before they walk through the door, whether that is inviting them to any company events we have in the lead-up to their start date or a simple email answering all those little questions such as ‘what should I wear?’, ‘who am I working with’, ‘where do I get lunch on my first day’, etc.”

As Hoyle points out, this proactive approach ensures new hires arrive feeling comfortable, informed, and excited for their first day. She then goes on to outline the full and detailed itinerary.

Day 1 Experience

“On their first day, new employees receive an HR onboarding session introducing them to our core systems, including 15Five, Breathe HR, and ClickUp. We aim to align new starter dates where possible to deliver these sessions efficiently in group settings. New joiners also enjoy a welcome lunch with their manager and buddy to foster early connections,” she explains.

Similarly, at House of Performance, they always start new joiners at 10 a.m., when the rest of the company is already in the office and set up. This creates a smooth entry, avoiding the common situation of arriving on time only to find that managers aren’t there.

Welland goes on to say: “We always go out for lunch on the first day, and try and ensure there is some social event in their first few weeks so they can start building relationships (an integral part of account management life!).”

First Week Focus

Hoyle goes on to say that the first seven days are centred around training, with new joiners gradually taking on client tasks designed as learning exercises.

This structured approach allows them to contribute early without pressure, ensuring mistakes are treated as learning opportunities with full support from their line manager and buddy.

New starters also have a values session with the CEO to better understand the behaviors expected of them and the culture they are trying to build from the start.

Check-Ins And Progress Tracking

Midway through onboarding, Hoyle and the directors at Kaizen conduct a formal HR check-in to assess how the role aligns with expectations and identify any points of friction.

Monthly probation check-ins track progress against probation goals to ensure success.

Refreshingly, this agency views probation as a two-way process, using this time to gather feedback and make adjustments where needed.

Jennifer Wlodyka also advocates for regular check-ins, stating that they prioritize ongoing support with daily check-ins throughout the onboarding process and weekly meetings with their managers. And they don’t stop there!

New starters are also invited to monthly reviews for the first six months, giving them the opportunity to share their thoughts about the process, too.

Top Tips For A Smooth And Effective Onboarding

In my experience as a former marketer, hiring manager, and now a recruiter for the space, I recommend the following:

  • Take the time to map your onboarding process carefully and tailor it to the size you are currently at – it’s not a one-size-fits-all.
  • Certain tasks can be automated using the key management tools cited above.
  • Speak to new starters and ask them for feedback early on, during, and after their onboarding to keep improving.
  • Don’t let one single person handle onboarding. Get the whole team involved so new hires feel truly welcomed.
  • Encourage the entire business to partake in onboarding in some way by involving reps from every department. This will display a genuine desire to make new starters feel at home.
  • Take it slow. Onboarding can feel overwhelming for new members of staff, so spread it out. The NOVOS 30/60/90 day approach is a prime example of how it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

Olivia Royce sums it up: ”When it comes to onboarding digital marketing talent, effective onboarding serves as the launchpad for success.”

Emma Welland explains the emotional aspect perfectly: “I fundamentally believe a good onboarding is judged by how you make someone feel. For us, making sure expectations are clear from day one, is a big part of this. We want people to feel comfortable asking questions (there are no silly questions) and getting involved.”

A well-structured onboarding process, tailored to individual roles and supported by the right technology, empowers digital marketing talent.

By investing in onboarding, agencies and companies can nurture talent and drive remarkable outcomes in the fast-moving digital world.

More Resources:


Featured Image: insta_photos/Shutterstock

Scaling Up: How To Expand Your SEO Services To New Markets via @sejournal, @jasonhennessey

Many SEO agency owners have a vision of growing their business, building a model that drives recurring revenue without having to sacrifice their time, energy, or sanity.

Unfortunately, many agency owners get stuck in a plateau. They hit a ceiling on how many clients they can manage, yet don’t have the cash flow to hire a team. What’s an ambitious agency owner to do?

In this guide, I’m sharing my growth strategies as a 10+ year SEO agency owner – from how to expand to new markets to how to implement a sustainable, scalable agency model.

A CEO’s Secret To Scalable SEO

How did a hopelessly distracted C student grow a 100-person global SEO agency?

Well, it wasn’t through “growth hacks”, offshoring, or selling courses.

It was through a passion for the craft: 30,000+ hours obsessing over the algorithm, speaking to clients, testing strategies, and doing the work.

There is no shortcut.

But there is a mindset.

It’s a mindset that’s attentive to the needs of real business owners. One that’s future-forward, recognizing the unique challenges business owners face today. And a mindset that’s creative in crafting an SEO service that helps business owners overcome these challenges.

This starts with understanding the market, finding the gaps, and bringing something unique to the table.

Here’s how to do that.

1. Trim The Fat

Very often, we agency owners get stuck in a rut of managing a high volume of low-paying clients. This burns out our resources and makes it very difficult to scale.

If you can’t take on more, higher-paying contracts, you have very little room to grow. That’s when it’s time to “trim the fat”, so to speak.

First, identify the clients that are causing the biggest headaches for the least amount of contract value.

  • How much time is being put into managing those clients?
  • Are the time, energy, and resources worth the measly revenue for your business?

Next, identify your best clients – not just in terms of money, but the client-agency relationship.

  • What are the characteristics that make working with them enjoyable?
  • Are these types of accounts profitable?
  • If so, what is the margin?

The tough news is that you will likely need to let some of the difficult clients go. But this is just to make space for more enjoyable, lucrative projects. Doing so also opens up breathing room for you to get more creative with your service offerings.

2. Remove The Operational Bottlenecks

Besides time-consuming clients, there are likely other factors that are hindering your agency’s growth. This could be the lack of team resources to take on new projects, a lack of skills to reach that next caliber of service, or a lack of time on your part to bring it all together.

This is the time to take a good, hard look at your agency structure, resources, and processes.

Here are a few common issues that can lead to inefficiency (and, ultimately, stagnation) in your business:

  • Lack of scalable systems to facilitate a seamless client intake to service to retention model.
  • Poorly defined roles for your team members, leading to confusion and churn.
  • Reliance on manual processes, slowing down the speed of service and creating bottlenecks in fulfillment.
  • Insufficient team training, leading to poor service quality.

Identifying the bottlenecks is the first step in fixing them. Trust me, this isn’t just about good housekeeping; if your agency works like a well-oiled machine, it’s better positioned to expand to new markets and take on more clients.

3. Assess The Financial Health Of Your Agency

Now it’s time to get your financial house in order. The last thing you want to do is start selling SEO to new markets without first establishing a profitable, sustainable revenue growth model.

If available, look at your agency’s past 2+ years’ Profit and Loss statements.

  • How much revenue is your agency generating year after year?
  • What are your expenses?
  • Are you charging enough to offset the costs of personnel, software, your salary, etc.?

Analyze your financial reports to look for inefficiencies.

  • Is there a history of overspending?
  • Underearning?
  • Inconsistent cash flow?

This activity isn’t meant to deter you from expanding to new markets; rather, it’s a practice of taking a look at your business financials and making data-informed decisions.

I highly recommend having a health cash reserve to help you manage unexpected costs and/or potential setbacks as you expand to new markets. Change can come with some unpredictability, so the more you can give yourself a cushion, the better.

4. Identify High-Growth Markets

By this point let’s assume your agency is financially sound, you have the space to take on new clients (because you have trimmed the fat), and have put systems in place to facilitate growth. How do you identify the hot new markets for expansion?

One way is to “stay in the know” by monitoring industry trends and news. Outlets like our very own Search Engine Journal are great at covering emerging markets, technologies, SEO applications, and more.

Another source of market research is Google Trends, where you can spot a rise in search volumes and emerging keywords. For example, at the time of writing this article, there was a significant uptick in topics related to law and government.

I also recommend reading industry reports and surveys to see what’s new in the market. For instance, Forbes often covers ‘emerging markets’ by location, demographics, and industries.

Look for opportunities that indicate increasing and sustained growth. For example, the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been on the upswing for quite some time, while others (like all the craze about Instagram Threads) fizzle out.

5. Look For The Gaps

Look for opportunities in which your competitors have yet to capitalise on a new market or growth trend. If you’re able to beat them to the punch, you’ll be better positioned to win the lion’s share of the market.

There are a few ways to do this. For one, you can be the first to launch a service offering to a new/emerging market. However, another way to “fill the gap” is to offer a different take on an existing service/model.

For example, say there’s been an increase in demand for SEO services by tree removal service providers as a result of local storms (this has really happened).

In the midst of other marketing agencies pushing generic SEO packages, perhaps you offer a “storm-response” -focused digital strategy, including rapid content updates and pay-per-click ads emphasizing emergency services.

This really requires you to think outside the box (remember, Mindset) to figure out 1) what the market needs, 2) whether you can be first to fill the gap, and 3) what makes you different from other SEO providers.

6. Restructure Your SEO Offering

Scaling up your SEO agency requires adaptability. Stagnation is a real agency killer. To maintain an upward trajectory, you need to make some changes to your SEO service offerings.

For example, AI has been a hot topic for quite some time. While many agencies claim to leverage AI to streamline the content creation process, your claim to fame could be that you don’t use AI, and instead offer a customized content model to provide additional value to businesses.

Or perhaps instead of offering soup-to-nuts SEO services, you realize Content is the most profitable, so you niche down to focus on content strategy and blogging.

Restructuring your services doesn’t necessarily need to mean changing what you offer, though. It could mean changing how you offer it.

Like if you typically provide customized SEO strategies (that change month to month), perhaps you find it more economical to offer out-of-the-box SEO plans that include the main components most businesses need to see traffic growth.

In my own SEO agency, Hennessey Digital, I noticed where some of our services were “good to have” but not “need to have”, or even services clients never ended up subscribing to.

We focused on the services that provided the best results for clients. And we are constantly adapting to the times, incorporating new technologies and strategies.

7. Build A Scalable Team

The truth is, it’s very difficult to grow your SEO agency with a team of one. At some point, you will need to bring on support, not only to manage the growing client load but also to offset gaps in your own skillsets.

A great entrepreneur can recognize their constraints and see the strengths in others. New team members contribute new ideas, new ways of doing things, and new processes to help economize your business.

They may also have insight into the new markets you are looking to expand to. For example, if your agency has historically worked with home services providers, and now you’re looking to expand to law firms, hiring a Marketing Manager with experience in the legal industry could be a huge benefit.

Start by identifying the top 3 challenges your business is currently facing — and how hiring a skilled team member could offset these challenges. If the cost of hiring is easily offset by the new revenue brought in, it’s a done deal!

Maybe you can’t hire someone full-time right away. That’s okay! Consider outsourcing to start and then scale up incrementally as your business grows.

Scale Your SEO Agency With Confidence

Scaling up an SEO agency comes with its challenges, from resource limitations to difficult clients to financial constraints.

But most of these can be mitigated by proper planning, trimming the fat in your business, and shifting your mindset from solopreneur to CEO.

It’s what’s allowed me to grow my SEO business from a solo practice to a global agency. And while that didn’t happen overnight, it was made easier once I was able to identify the gaps in my own skill set and find great people to inject creativity into my business.

Every agency owner is capable of scaling up — just look for those gaps and bring a fresh take to the market!

More resources: 


Featured Image: fizkes/Shutterstock

Wix Shares How To Optimize Enterprise Marketing via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Search Engine Journal spoke with Paula Ximena Mejia, VP of Enterprise Marketing at Wix, about building high-performing enterprise marketing teams. She shared actionable strategies to achieve marketing goals and identify what holds a team back.

The discussion focused on multiple topics, including:

  • Telltale signs of misaligned goals and inefficiencies
  • How to overcome resource constraints
  • Stakeholder engagement to improve collaboration
  • Tech audits
  • Best way to use of AI in a marketing team

Reasons For Inefficiencies In Marketing Teams

Emailing with Paula about enterprise marketing she made it clear that marketing inefficiencies arise from losing focus of the overall goal. What she describes can happen almost silently and affect the productivity and success of marketing teams without hardly noticing what’s going on.

Paula shared:

“Marketing teams frequently encounter inefficiencies because they lose track of the goal. There’s a reason why certain activities are designed and executed but throughout that process, the end goal can be lost. It’s important to eliminate siloed information, bottlenecks in workflows, and challenges in managing limited resources to keep eyes on the prize and end goal.”

How To Address Misaligned Goals

Misaligned goals is something that affects marketing teams of all sizes. Over a career spanning over 20 years this is something I’ve seen quite a bit as a consultant for B2B enterprise corporations all the way to smaller offices. It’s easy to be consumed by the process and mistake them for goals.

I asked Paula what a company can do to avoid misaligned goals and one of things she touched on is pursuing trends that don’t align with broader priorities. She also mentioned “cross-functional collaboration” which is about getting employees that specialize in different areas to work together successfully on the same project.

She shared:

“Misaligned goals often emerge from unclear communication or when teams pursue trends that don’t align with broader organizational priorities. To avoid this, managers and team leads should focus on defining clear, measurable objectives that tie directly to business outcomes. It’s the project manager or team leads’ important role to make sure they understand senior leadership goals and establish processes for regular goal alignment by reviewing initiatives across teams and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Cross-functional collaboration is key. Engaging stakeholders early in strategy discussions can unify the team’s direction.

Finally, leverage data analytics to measure progress and refine strategies, ensuring that efforts are always aligned with business goals.”

Telltale Signs Of Inefficiencies And Misaligned Goals

Are collaborative inefficiencies and misaligned goals problems that an organization is typically unaware of? Paula shared the warning signs to watch for.

“Many organizations remain unaware of inefficiencies or misalignments until they manifest as missed deadlines or underperforming campaigns. It’s not uncommon for management to lose touch with some of the more day-to-day challenges so it’s important for them to be in constant communication with their teams about some of the below:

  • Keeping project timelines
  • Number of rounds of revisions which is commonly due to unclear communication
  • And inconsistent messaging across campaigns.

Additionally, if teams are experiencing burnout or higher-than-average turnover, it’s a clear indication that resource constraints or inefficient processes need to be addressed.”

Overcoming Resource Restraints

Resource constraints are a common challenge, there is only so much a team can handle, right? I asked her if there is a framework or steps for helping a team get up and over those challenges.

Paula advised:

“Overcoming resource constraints begins with evaluating your team’s current bandwidth, skills, and tools to identify gaps. From there, it’s important to prioritize high-impact projects and delay or eliminate lower-priority tasks to free up resources.

Structuring your team effectively is another step. Cross-functional teams provide agility, while specialists offer expertise in niche areas, so choose a structure that aligns with your goals.

Outsourcing can also be a practical solution, allowing you to tap into external expertise without overburdening your team. Conducting a tech audit is essential to ensure your tools are optimized and integrated, eliminating redundancies and automating repetitive tasks.

Lastly, continuously reviewing and refining team processes helps maintain adaptability and efficiency as market conditions evolve.”

That last part about a tech audit is an interesting bit of advice. Sometimes there’s a better tool that can make life easier for a marketing team.

Where Does AI Fit Into Enterprise Marketing?

Speaking of tools that marketing teams can use, I next asked her how AI fits into a high functioning marketing team. She said that AI use is often a siloed task.

Paula shared:

“Marketing teams are still navigating how to leverage AI to its fullest potential. We use it all the time for specific tasks but it’s often a siloed task.

The main thing I’m looking forward to this year is seeing AI tools that enable better cross collaboration across marketing teams. It’s important to approach AI as a tool that can help, and not use it to replace the human touch and creativity. The key is to strike a balance—use AI to enhance your processes while maintaining critical human judgment.

As a marketer we’re still the ones in the driver’s seat and we have the responsibility to ensure that AI is being used correctly – and delivering quality.”

I had recently listened to a podcast she participated in where she talked about AI silos, so I asked her to elaborate on how that affects marketing and for her advice on improving collaboration with teams that are using AI.

She answered:

“AI silos occur when individual teams or employees adopt AI tools independently without collaboration or integration. This leads to fragmented processes, duplicated efforts, and inconsistent outputs, all of which undermine marketing efficiency. The impact can prevent teams from leveraging shared insights and can create disjointed campaigns.

To address this, organizations can centralize their AI strategy by appointing a project owner to oversee its implementation. Standardizing tools and processes ensures consistency, while cross-team training helps employees understand how to use AI collaboratively.

Establishing regular check-ins to share insights and results can further strengthen teamwork and ensure that AI is driving value across the organization.”

Advice For Building A High-Functioning Marketing Team

Misaligned goals happen when teams prioritize trends or their own narrow objectives that may not align with the overall priorities of the project.

Engaging stakeholders at the start of a project to establish shared objectives is key to keeping the entire team working together toward the same goal. Analytics can help track performance, help identify marketing gaps and identify where to refine a strategy to make it work better.

Tech audits is a brilliant suggestion because it can improve the ability to reach objectives and milestones. Careful implementation of AI is important to ensure that the team is using it collaboratively instead of in silos.

There’s a lot more to unpack in that interview, it may be useful to read it twice.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Golden Sikorka

18 Essential Accessibility Changes To Drive Increased Website Growth via @sejournal, @skynet_lv

This post was sponsored by “Skynet Technologies USA LLC”.

Did you know that 1 billion people have not reached you or your customers’ websites yet.

1 billion potential customers are waiting for businesses to step up and do what’s right.

Find out if your website is accessible to 1 billion people >>>

Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox anymore – it’s a growth strategy.

The demand for scalable, innovative accessibility solutions has skyrocketed.

And your competition is already making these improvements.

For agencies, this means an unprecedented opportunity to meet clients’ needs while driving revenue.

Learn how you can generate additional revenue and boost your clients’ SERP ranking by gaining access to:

Ready to get started?

How Accessibility Improvements Can Increase Growth

The digital economy thrives on inclusion.

There is a large market of individuals who are not included in modern website usability.

With over a billion people globally living with disabilities, accessible digital experiences open doors to untapped markets.

Do Websites Need To Be Accessible?

The short answer is yes.

How Does An Accessible Website Drive Traffic?

Traffic comes from people who have needs. Of course, everyone has needs, including people with disabilities.

Accessible websites and tools cater to all users, expanding reach to a diverse and often overlooked customer base.

Global Potential & Unlocking New Audiences

From a global perspective, the global community of people with disabilities is a market estimated to hold a staggering $13 trillion in spending power.

By removing barriers and ensuring inclusive digital experiences, you can tap into this 1 billion-person market and drive substantial economic growth.

Digital accessibility helps to increase employment opportunities, education options, and simple access to various banking and financial services for everybody.

Boosts User Experience & Engagement 

Accessibility improvements run parallel with SEO improvements.

In fact, they often enhance overall website performance, which leads to:

  • Better user experience.
  • Higher rankings.
  • Increased traffic.
  • Higher conversion rates.

Ensures Your Websites Are Compliant

Increasing lawsuits against businesses that fail to comply with accessibility regulations have imposed pressure on them to implement accessibility in their digital assets.

Compliance with ADA, WCAG 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, Section 508, Australian DDA, European EAA EN 301 549, UK Equality Act (EA), Indian RPD Act, Israeli Standard 5568, California Unruh, Ontario AODA, Canada ACA, German BITV, Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI 13.146/2015), Spain UNE 139803:2012, France RGAA standards, JIS X 8341 (Japan), Italian Stanca Act, Switzerland DDA, Austrian Web Accessibility Act (WZG) guidelines aren’t optional. Accessibility solution partnerships ensure to stay ahead of potential lawsuits while fostering goodwill.

6 Steps To Boost Your Growth With Accessibility

  1. To drive growth, your agency should prioritize digital accessibility by following WCAG standards, regularly testing with tools like AXE, WAVE, or Skynet Technologies Website Accessibility Checker, and addressing accessibility gaps. Build accessible design frameworks with high-contrast colors, scalable text, and clear navigation.
  2. Integrate assistive technologies such as keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and video accessibility. Focus on responsive design, accessible forms, and inclusive content strategies like descriptive link text, simplified language, and alternative formats.
  3. Providing accessibility training and creating inclusive marketing materials will further support compliance and growth.
  4. To ensure the website thrives, prioritize mobile-first design for responsiveness across all devices, adhere to WCAG accessibility standards, and incorporate keyboard-friendly navigation and alt text for media.
  5. Optimize page speed and core web vitals while using an intuitive interface with clear navigation and effective call-to-action buttons, and use SEO-friendly content with proper keyword optimization and schema markups to boost visibility.
  6. Ensure security with SSL certificates, clear cookie consent banners, and compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Finally, implement analytics and conversion tracking tools to gather insights and drive long-term growth.

We know this is a lot.

If this sounds good to you, let us help you get set up.

How Can Digital Accessibility Partnerships Supercharge Your Clients’ SEO?

Partnering for digital accessibility isn’t just about inclusivity — it’s a game-changer for SEO, too!

Accessible websites are built with cleaner code, smarter structures, and user-friendly features like alt text and clear headings that search engines love.

Plus, faster load times, mobile-friendly designs, and seamless navigation keep users engaged, reducing bounce rates and boosting rankings. When you focus on making a site accessible to everyone, you’re not just widening your audience—you’re signaling to search engines that the website is high-quality and relevant. It’s a win-win for accessibility and SEO!

12 Essential Factors To Consider For Successful Accessibility Partnerships

  1. Expertise: Look for a provider with a proven track record in digital accessibility, including knowledge of relevant global website accessibility standards and best practices.
  2. Experience: Consider their experience working with similar industries or organizations.
  3. Tools and technologies: Evaluate their use of automated and manual testing tools to identify and remediate accessibility issues.
  4. Price Flexibility: Explore pricing models that align with both the budget and project requirements. Whether for a single site or multiple sites, the service should be compatible and scalable to meet the needs.
  5. Platform Compatibility: Ensure seamless accessibility integration across various platforms, providing a consistent and accessible experience for all users, regardless of the website environment.
  6. Multi-language support: Enhance user experience with global language support, making websites more inclusive and accessible to a global audience.
  7. Regular check-ins: Schedule regular meetings to discuss project progress, address any issues, and make necessary adjustments.
  8. Clear communication channels: Establish clear communication channels (for example: email, and project management tools) to facilitate efficient collaboration.
  9. Transparent reporting: Request detailed reports on the progress of accessibility testing, remediation efforts, and overall project status.
  10. KPIs to measure success: Review the partner’s historical data, especially those similar projects in terms of scale, complexity, and industry.
  11. Evaluate technical expertise: Assess their proficiency in using various accessibility testing tools and ability to integrate different APIs.
  12. Long-term partnership strategy: Compare previous data with the current one for improvement and optimization process. It is crucial for a long-term partnership that there is a specific interval of review and improvements.

    Scaling Accessibility With Smart Partnerships

    All in One Accessibility®: Simplicity meets efficiency!

    The All in One Accessibility® is an AI-powered accessibility tool that helps organizations to enhance their website accessibility level for ADA, WCAG 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, Section 508, Australian DDA, European EAA EN 301 549, UK Equality Act (EA), Indian RPD Act, Israeli Standard 5568, California Unruh, Ontario AODA, Canada ACA, German BITV, Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI 13.146/2015), Spain UNE 139803:2012, France RGAA standards, JIS X 8341 (Japan), Italian Stanca Act, Switzerland DDA, Austrian Web Accessibility Act (WZG), and more.

    It is available with features like sign language LIBRAS (Brazilian Portuguese Only) integration, 140+ multilingual support, screen reader, voice navigation, smart language auto-detection and voice customization, talk & type, Google and Adobe Analytics tracking, along with premium add-ons including white label and custom branding, VPAT/ACR reports, manual accessibility audit and remediation, PDF remediation, and many more.

    • Quick Setup: Install the widget to any site with ease—no advanced coding required.
    • Feature-Rich Design: From text resizing and color contrast adjustments to screen reader support, it’s packed with tools that elevate the user experience.
    • Revenue Opportunities: Agencies can resell the solution to clients, adding a high-value service to their offerings while earning attractive commissions through the affiliate program.
    • Reduced development costs: Minimizes the financial impact of accessibility remediation by implementing best practices and quick tools.

    Agency Partnership: Scaling accessibility with ease!

    • Extended Service Offerings: The All in One Accessibility® Agency Partnership allows agencies to offer a powerful accessibility widget – quick accessibility solution into their services, enabling them that are in high demand.
    • White Label: As an agency partner, you can offer All in One Accessibility® under their own brand name.
    • Centralized Management: It simplifies oversight by consolidating accessibility data and reporting, allowing enterprises to manage multiple websites seamlessly.
    • Attractive Revenue Streams: Agencies can resell the widget to clients, earning significant revenue through competitive pricing structures and repeat business opportunities.
    • Boost Client Retention: By addressing accessibility needs proactively, agencies build stronger relationships with clients, fostering long-term loyalty and recurring contracts.
    • Increase Market Reach: Partnering with All in One Accessibility® positions agencies as leaders in inclusivity, attracting businesses looking for reliable accessibility solutions.
    • NO Investment, High Return: With no setup costs, scalable features, and up to 30% commission, the partnership enables agencies to maximize profitability with their clients.

    Affiliate Partnership: A revenue opportunity for everyone!

    The All in One Accessibility® Affiliate Partnership program is for content creators, marketers, accessibility advocates, web professionals, 501 (c) organizations (non-profit), and law firms.

    • Revenue Growth through Referrals: The All in One Accessibility® affiliate partnership allows affiliates to earn competitive commissions by promoting a high-demand accessibility solution, turning referrals into consistent revenue.
    • Expanding Market Reach: Affiliates can tap into a diverse audience of businesses seeking ADA and WCAG compliance, scaling both revenue and the adoption of accessibility solutions.
    • Fostering Accessibility Awareness: By promoting the All in One Accessibility® widget, affiliates play a pivotal role in driving inclusivity, helping more websites become accessible to users with disabilities.
    • Leveraging Trusted Branding: Affiliates benefit from partnering with a reliable and recognized quick accessibility improvement tool, boosting their credibility and marketing impact.
    • Scaling with Zero Investment: With user-friendly promotional resources and a seamless onboarding process, affiliates can maximize returns without any costs.

    Use Accessibility As A Growth Engine

    Endeavoring for strategic partnerships with accessibility solution providers is a win-win for agencies aiming to meet the diverse needs of their clients. These partnerships not only enhance the accessibility of digital assets but also create opportunities for growth, and loyalty, top search engine rankings, boost revenue, improve compliance with legal standards, and make you to contribute into digital accessibility world.

    With Skynet Technologies USA LLC, Transform accessibility from a challenge into a revenue-driving partnership. Let inclusivity power the success.

    Ready to get started? Embarking on a digital accessibility journey is simpler than you think! Take the first step by evaluating the website’s current WCAG compliance with a manual accessibility audit.

    For more information, Reach out hello@skynettechnologies.com.


    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Skynet Technologies. Used with permission.

    10 Hosting Trends Agencies Should Watch In 2025

    This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

    Which hosting service is best for agencies?

    How do I uncover what will be best for my clients in 2025?

    What features should my hosting service have in 2025?

    Hosting has evolved well beyond keeping websites online.

    Hosting providers must align their services to meet clients’ technological needs and keep up with constantly changing technological advances.

    Today, quality hosting companies must focus on speed, security, and scalability. Staying ahead of hosting trends is critical to maintaining competitive offerings, optimizing workflows, and meeting client demands.

    So, what should you watch for in 2025?

    The next 12 months promise significant shifts in hosting technologies, with advancements in AI, automation, security, and sustainability leading the way.

    Understanding and leveraging these trends enables agencies and professionals to provide better client experiences, streamline operations, and reduce the negative effects of future industry changes.

    Trend 1: Enhanced AI & Automation Implemented In Hosting

    AI and automation are already transforming hosting, making it smarter and more efficient for service providers, agencies, brands, and end-point customers alike.

    Hosting providers now leverage AI to optimize server performance, predict maintenance needs, and even supplement customer support with AI-driven features like chatbots.

    As a result, automating routine tasks such as backups, updates, and resource scaling reduces downtime and the need for manual intervention. These innovations are game-changing for those managing multiple client sites and will become increasingly important in 2025.

    It only makes sense.

    Automated systems free up valuable time, allowing you more time to focus on strategic growth instead of tedious maintenance tasks. AI-powered insights can also identify performance bottlenecks, enabling you to address issues before they impact your website or those of your clients.

    Agencies that adopt these technologies this year will not only deliver exceptional service but also be able to position themselves as forward-thinking.

    Bluehost embraces automation with features like automated backups, one-click updates, and a centralized dashboard for easy site management. These tools streamline workflows, enabling agencies and professionals to manage multiple sites with minimal effort while ensuring optimal performance.

    Trend 2: Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Solutions Are Now Essential

    In 2025, as businesses demand more flexibility and reliability from their online infrastructure, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions will become essential in the hosting world.

    These approaches offer the best of both worlds:

    • The ability to leverage multiple cloud providers for redundancy and performance.
    • The option to combine public and private cloud environments for greater control and customization.

    For agencies managing diverse client needs, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies provide the scalability and adaptability required to meet modern demands. Multi-cloud solutions allow agencies to distribute their clients’ workloads across multiple cloud providers, ensuring that no single point of failure disrupts their operations.

    This feature is particularly valuable for agencies with high-traffic websites, where downtime or slow performance can have a significant impact on revenue and user experience. Hybrid cloud solutions, on the other hand, let agencies blend the scalability of public clouds with the security and control of private cloud environments.

    This service is ideal for clients with sensitive data or compliance requirements, such as ecommerce or healthcare businesses.

    Bluehost Cloud provides scalable infrastructure and tools that enable agencies to customize hosting solutions to fit their clients’ unique requirements. Our cloud hosting solution’s elastic architecture ensures that websites can handle sudden traffic spikes without compromising speed or reliability.

    Additionally, our intuitive management dashboard allows agencies to easily monitor and allocate resources across their client portfolio, making it simple to implement tailored solutions for varying workloads.

    By adopting multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies, agencies can offer their clients enhanced performance, improved redundancy, and greater control over their hosting environments.

    With our scalable solutions and robust toolset, agencies can confidently deliver hosting that grows with their clients’ businesses while maintaining consistent quality and reliability. This flexibility not only meets today’s hosting demands but also helps position your agency for long-term success in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

    Trend 3: Edge Computing & CDNs Replace AMP For Improving Website Speed

    As online audiences grow, the demand for faster, more responsive websites has never been higher. Edge computing and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are at the forefront of this evolution, enabling websites to reduce latency significantly. For agencies managing clients with diverse and international audiences, these technologies are crucial for improving user experience and ensuring website performance remains competitive.

    Edge computing brings data processing closer to the end user by leveraging servers located at the “edge” of a network, reducing the time it takes for information to travel.

    Combined with CDNs that cache website content on servers worldwide, these technologies ensure faster load times, smoother navigation, and better performance metrics.

    These features are especially beneficial for media-heavy or high-traffic websites, where even a slight delay can impact engagement and conversions.

    Bluehost integrates with leading CDN solutions to deliver content quickly and efficiently to users across the globe. By leveraging a CDN, Bluehost ensures that websites load faster regardless of a visitor’s location, enhancing user experience and SEO performance.

    This integration simplifies the optimization of site speed for agencies with multiple clients. By adopting edge computing and CDN technology, you can help your clients achieve faster load times, improved site stability, and higher customer satisfaction.

    Bluehost’s seamless CDN integration enables you to deliver a hosting solution that meets the expectations of a modern, global audience while building trust and loyalty with your clients.

    Trend 4: Core Web Vitals & SEO Hosting Features Make Or Break Websites

    Core Web Vitals play an important role in today’s SEO, as Google is increasingly emphasizing website performance and user experience in its ranking algorithms. Today, loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability impact a site’s ability to rank well in search results and keep visitors engaged.

    That means optimizing Core Web Vitals isn’t just an SEO task for agencies managing client websites. Fast load times and responsive design are critical parts of delivering a high-quality digital experience. For example, metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures how quickly a page’s main content loads, depend heavily on hosting infrastructure.

    Agencies need hosting solutions optimized for these metrics to ensure their clients’ sites stay competitive in the SERPs.

    Bluehost offers a WordPress-optimized hosting environment with features specifically designed to improve load times and server response speeds. From advanced caching technology to robust server architecture, Bluehost ensures that sites meet Core Web Vitals standards with ease.

    Additionally, our hosting solutions include tools for monitoring site performance, allowing agencies to proactively address any issues that could impact rankings or user experience.

    By prioritizing Core Web Vitals and leveraging SEO-focused hosting features, agencies can enhance their clients’ visibility, engagement, and overall online success. With Bluehost’s optimized hosting solutions, you’ll have the tools and infrastructure needed to deliver fast, stable, and high-performing websites that delight users and search engines.

    Trend 5: Sustainable Hosting Practices Help Reduce Energy Consumption

    Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword. It’s a key consideration for businesses and agencies alike. As 2025 progresses, more clients will prioritize environmentally conscious practices, and hosting providers will step up to offer greener solutions, such as energy-efficient data centers and carbon offset programs.

    Migrating to a sustainable hosting provider not only supports client values but also demonstrates a commitment to responsible business practices, which will resonate more with consumers in 2025 than ever before.

    Efficient hosting practices reduce energy consumption and create a more sustainable digital ecosystem. It will also allow you to help clients meet their environmental goals without compromising on performance.

    These benefits are especially valuable for clients with higher energy and performance demands, such as those in ecommerce, media-heavy, or high-traffic industries.

    Bluehost has long been recognized as a trusted hosting provider that operates with efficiency in mind.

    Our robust, energy-efficient infrastructure already aligns with the sustainability goals of environmentally conscious clients.

    In addition, our long-standing reputation, proven history with WordPress, and demonstrable reliability enhance your clients’ sustainability objectives, ensuring they can operate responsibly and confidently.

    By choosing sustainable hosting practices and partners like Bluehost, you can contribute to a greener digital future while reinforcing your clients’ environmental commitments and strengthening client relationships by aligning with their values.

    Trend 6: Security Must Be A Core Offering

    Security is a non-negotiable priority for any website. Cyber threats like data breaches, malware, and DDoS attacks are on the rise, and the consequences of a breach, including lost revenue, damaged reputations, and potential legal issues, can devastate clients. As a result, offering secure hosting solutions with proactive security measures is essential to safeguarding clients’ businesses and building trust.

    These key features include SSL certificates, which protect sensitive data while boosting SEO rankings and user trust, and regular malware scans to prevent vulnerabilities.

    They should also include automated backups that enable quick restoration in the event of a crash or attack and provide comprehensive protection and peace of mind. Essential security features are standard in Bluehost hosting plans, including SSL certificates, daily automated backups, and proactive malware scanning.

    These built-in tools eliminate the need for additional solutions, added complexity, or costs. For agencies, our security features reduce risks for your clients and provide peace of mind.

    By choosing a hosting provider like Bluehost, you can prioritize client security, reinforce client trust, and minimize emergencies, allowing you to avoid spending time and resources addressing threats or repairing damage.

    In short, by partnering with Bluehost, security becomes a core part of your agency’s value proposition.

    Trend 7: Hosting Optimized For AI & Machine Learning Is Key To High Visibility On SERPs

    As artificial intelligence and machine learning become increasingly integrated with websites and applications in 2025, hosting providers must keep pace with the increasing demands these technologies place on infrastructure.

    AI-driven tools like chatbots, recommendation engines, and predictive analytics require significant computational power and seamless data processing.

    AI and machine learning applications often involve handling large datasets, running resource-intensive algorithms, and maintaining real-time responsiveness. Hosting optimized for these needs ensures that websites can perform reliably under heavy workloads, reducing latency and downtime and delivering consistent performance.

    If you plan to be successful, you’ll also require scalable scalable hosting solutions. These solutions allow resources to expand dynamically with demand, accommodate growth, and handle traffic surges.

    Bluehost’s scalable hosting is built to support advanced tools and applications, making it an ideal choice for agencies working on AI-driven projects. Our robust infrastructure delivers consistent performance, and flexibility allows you to scale easily as your client’s needs evolve. By leveraging Bluehost, agencies can confidently deliver AI-integrated websites that meet modern performance demands.

    Trend 8: Managed Hosting Helps You Focus More On Profits

    In 2025, websites will become increasingly complex. Businesses will require higher performance and reliability, and everyone will be looking to operate as lean and efficiently as possible. These trends mean managed hosting will become the go-to solution for agencies and their clients.

    Managed hosting shifts time-intensive technical maintenance away from agencies and business owners by including features such as automatic updates, performance monitoring, and enhanced security. In short, managed hosting enables you to simplify workflows, save time, and deliver consistent quality to your clients.

    These hosting services are particularly valuable for WordPress websites, where regular updates, plugin compatibility checks, and security enhancements occur frequently but are essential to maintaining optimal performance.

    Managed hosting also typically includes tools like staging environments, which allow agencies to test changes and updates without risking disruptions to live sites and ensure you can deliver a seamless experience to clients.

    Bluehost offers managed WordPress hosting that includes automatic updates, staging environments, and 24/7 expert support. These features allow you to handle technical details efficiently while focusing on delivering results for your clients without added stress or time.

    Trend 9: The Shift Toward Decentralized Hosting Boosts Your Brand’s Longevity

    In 2025, expect to see decentralized hosting gain attention as a futuristic approach to web hosting. Like Bitcoin and similar advancements, the technology leverages blockchain technology and peer-to-peer networks to create hosting environments that prioritize privacy, resilience, and independence from centralized control.

    While this model appears to provide exciting new opportunities, it’s still in the early stages. It faces challenges in scalability, user-friendliness, and widespread adoption, which agencies can’t typically rely on for client sites.

    Decentralized hosting may become a viable option for specific use cases, such as privacy-focused projects or highly distributed systems. However, centralized hosting providers still offer the best balance of reliability, scalability, and accessibility for most businesses and agencies today.

    For these reasons, agencies managing client websites will continue to focus on proven, reliable hosting solutions that deliver consistent performance and robust support.

    So, while decentralized hosting may gain traction this year, Bluehost will continue to provide a trustworthy hosting environment designed to meet the needs of modern websites. With a strong emphasis on reliability, scalability, and user-friendly management tools, we offer a proven solution agencies can depend on to deliver exceptional client results.

    Trend 10: Scalable Hosting For High-Growth Websites Is Key For Growth

    As businesses grow, their websites will experience increasing traffic and resource demands. High-growth websites, such as e-commerce platforms, content-heavy blogs, or viral marketing campaigns, require hosting solutions that can scale instantly. And scalable hosting is critical to delivering consistent user experiences and avoiding downtime during peak periods.

    Scalable hosting like Bluehost ensures your clients’ websites can easily adjust resources like bandwidth, storage, and processing power to meet fluctuating demands. Our scalable hosting solutions are designed for high-growth websites. Our unmetered bandwidth and infrastructure were built to handle traffic surges, ensuring websites remain fast and accessible.

    These features make us the ideal choice for agencies looking to future-proof their clients’ hosting needs.

    As the digital landscape continues to evolve in 2025, keeping up with the latest trends in hosting is essential for agencies to provide top-tier service, drive client satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge. From AI and automation to scalability and security, the future of hosting demands flexible, efficient solutions tailored to modern needs.

    By understanding and leveraging these trends, you can position your agency as a trusted partner and deliver exceptional results to your clients, whether by adopting managed hosting or integrating CDNs.

    Bluehost hosting will meet today’s demands while helping to prepare agencies like yours for tomorrow. With features like 100% uptime guaranteed through our Service Level Agreement (SLA), 24/7 priority support, and built-in tools like SSL certificates, automated backups, and advanced caching, Bluehost offers a robust and reliable hosting environment.

    Additionally, Bluehost Cloud makes switching easy and cost-effective with $0 migration costs and credit for remaining contracts, giving you the flexibility to transition seamlessly without the high cost.

    Take your agency’s hosting strategy to the next level with Bluehost. Discover how our comprehensive hosting solutions can support your growth, enhance client satisfaction, and keep your business ahead of the curve.


    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Bluehost. Used with permission.

    Wix Rolling Out AI-Powered Site Planning & Visualization Tool via @sejournal, @martinibuster

    Wix announced it is rolling out an AI-based tool that simplifies the site planning and visualization step, dramatically compressing the time from planning to site rollout.  The  new tool enables agencies and enterprise users to create a visual map and wireframe website representation for planning new websites, simplifying one of the most fundamental tasks of creating a high performing website.

    Wix

    Wix is a cloud-based website builder for small to medium size businesses to enterprise level companies that handles all of the back-end technology necessary for creating a professional online web presence with a state of the art website performance and search optimization features. It offers complete customization, marketing and integrations with Google business features that small businesses, agencies and advanced users require.

    Site Planning And Visualization

    One of the first steps for creating a high performance website that is user friendly, easy to navigate and search optimized is planning the site structure. This is important for every website but especially important for large websites with thousands of products or topics. A taxonomical topic structure that makes it easy for users to locate what they’re looking for begins with creating a visual representation of major category sections with hierarchical nodes that represent subcategories and all of the associated web pages.

    Wix’s new tool is an AI-powered tool that can create the visualization after users input the project details. The visual representation allows agencies and designers to view what the site structure will look like and make decisions ahead of time. The visual representation can then be exported to share with clients and stakeholders. The AI can even pre-insert content suggestions. The resulting visual representation can be fully customized and edited. A task that ordinarily can take weeks to months is compressed to days.

    Wix explains how it works:

    “Agencies and web professionals can input project details, including business type, site description, goals, target audience, and tone of voice. After filling in the information, a tailored sitemap structure is created detailing pages and sections.

    If preferred, bespoke wireframes can be generated to kick off the creation process. Both the tailor-made visual sitemap and wireframes are created with pages, sections and relevant business applications.”

    The tool’s built-in collaboration functions can reflect changes made to the sitemap in real-time, speeding up the process of getting project buy-in and moving forward.

    Read Wix’s announcement:

    Visual Sitemap And Wireframe Generator: Site planning, accelerated

    Featured Image by Shutterstock/Graphic farm

    AI & Automation for SEO: Scale Efforts and Drive Revenue [Live Webinar] via @sejournal, @lorenbaker

    Are you ready to leverage AI to transform your digital marketing approach and drive unparalleled results?

    AI is no longer an option. It’s essential to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital world.

    The question isn’t if, but how quickly and efficiently you can integrate AI into your SEO strategy and marketing operations.

    Join us for an insightful webinar, AI & Automation for SEO: Scale Efforts and Drive Revenue, where Manick Bhan will guide you through how to automate your SEO strategies and implementation, saving you time, resources, and money while maximizing results for your clients or business.

    Why You Should Attend

    AI is reshaping how digital marketers approach SEO. In this webinar, you’ll learn practical strategies for integrating automation into your workflows and discover real-world examples of agencies leveraging AI to produce massive results for their clients.

    In This Webinar, We’ll Show You

    • How to automate your SEO process: Learn the steps to turn your business or agency into an AI-powered marketing machine.
    • Real-world case studies: Explore success stories from agencies that have harnessed AI-driven SEO strategies to achieve impressive outcomes.
    • Scaling your operations: Get insights into how automation helps you scale your business and drive more revenue.

    Meet Manick Bhan

    Leading this session is Manick Bhan, Founder of Search Atlas and SEO automation expert, who will equip you with the tools and knowledge to enhance your services, improve campaign performance, and scale your marketing efforts.

    Exclusive Live Demo of Search Atlas!

    Don’t miss our exclusive breakout session after the main presentation!

    We’ll offer a live-only demonstration on how to harness the power of Search Atlas, giving you a real-time walkthrough on AI-driven SEO automation.

    Who Should Attend?

    This webinar is ideal for:

    • Digital marketers aiming to integrate AI into their SEO strategies
    • SEO professionals looking to streamline operations and improve performance
    • Agency owners interested in scaling operations and delivering high-value results

    Live Q&A Session

    Following the presentation, there will be a live Q&A session where you can ask your questions and get expert advice on implementing SEO automation in your workflows.

    Don’t Miss Out!

    AI-powered SEO is the future, and the future is now. Reserve your spot today to learn how to supercharge your business using the latest in AI and automation.

    Can’t attend the live session? No worries—sign up anyway and we’ll send you a recording of the main presentation.

    Get ready to elevate your SEO with AI. Register today!

    Preparing For The Feedless Future With Google Merchant Center Next via @sejournal, @gilgildner

    For some years now (ever since Google Merchant Center was introduced in 2010), ecommerce advertisers have been working with product feeds.

    It’s historically been a complex and often fragile process, but thanks to the introduction of Google Merchant Center Next, we have some new tools at our fingertips.

    Here’s a look at how things are changing with Next.

    The History Of Google Merchant Center

    Back in the very beginning, we remember having to download CSV files from the website with all product information, and embarking on a long process of cleaning up and formatting the data so that it could be manually uploaded into Google Merchant Center (GMC).

    In the early days, before policies became more strict, you could even use Merchant Center to advertise anything from repair services to round-the-world gap year vacations!

    But in time, GMC became far more sophisticated (and also more restricted). Along with increased restrictions came the ease of use. Uploading data became much easier and more stable.

    Eventually, plugins and connectors began doing most of the job for you, then platforms like Shopify got native integrations, and now with the advent of Google Merchant Center Next, you almost don’t need feeds at all!

    Common Complaints About GMC

    For most of the past 14 years of Merchant Center history, you’ve likely heard a few bits of common wisdom repeated ad nauseam:

    Optimize your shopping feeds inside of GMC! Keep your Google categories accurately assigned inside of GMC! Add your metadata inside of GMC! Fill out all the boxes in GMC!

    The world is slowly changing, and now, with GMC Next, you don’t have to make these changes within the GMC interface.

    The changes need to happen on the website. While feeds won’t totally go away overnight (and neither will the need to optimize products), Google Merchant Center Next is ushering in a new feed-less era.

    Announced at Google Marketing Live 2023, Merchant Center Next actually hasn’t taken hold as rapidly as expected. Even over a year after its announcement, most but not all of our client accounts have shifted over.

    GMC Next started rolling out for new users first, but Google has stated the full rollout should be completed sometime in 2024. Whether this is the actual date is yet to be seen.

    What Is Google Merchant Center Next?

    The core differentiator with Merchant Center Next is the simplification of website verification and the automatic population of product feeds from your website. This means that Google will scrape product information, pricing, imagery, and more directly from your site.

    Additionally, it has integrated a new feature called Product Studio that allows you to use AI to update or change your product images and offers more comprehensive performance insights.

    Screenshot from Google Merchant Center NextScreenshot from Google Merchant Center Next, August 2024

    Many marketers had a negative gut reaction to the announcement of Next, but our entire team at Discosloth was actually pretty excited about this development.

    Feed management (and especially the involvement of any third-party integrations, connectors, and tools) has always been a bit clunky, so the removal of any friction is a welcome feature.

    While you can still use Shopify to upload your product data, many people have found it to be more difficult with some products not being uploaded properly. As it turns out, feeds have technically gone away, but in a way, they have actually just been renamed to Data Sources.

    Screenshot from Google Merchant Center NextScreenshot from Google Merchant Center Next, August 2024

    It appears that product feeds, as we know them, might be going away.

    This doesn’t mean that product data management will become obsolete; rather, it indicates a shift in how this data is handled within the Merchant Center Next ecosystem.

    The Mindset Change

    I ultimately think that removing feeds is a fantastic approach because it shifts the mindset of marketers. Rather than focusing on incremental metadata optimization on hidden feeds, it will instead encourage advertisers to update & improve the actual listings on the actual site.

    Rather than just making sure endless attributes are filled out in the backend, it means that the actual website and associated metadata will need to be correctly optimized. This eliminates double work and conflicting data.

    When the website itself is the primary focus, it has positive effects on performance for all channels, like organic or social – not just paid.

    While many paid marketers have been focused only on optimizing products and images within the Merchant Center, without paying any attention to the website listings, now may be the time to change that approach.

    Thanks to this, the website owners may start seeing a better overall conversion rate for the entire website, across all channels.

    This is a great step in the right direction. Contrary to what many naysayers think about the onset of AI and generative automation, I’m a fan of taking away the grunt work from marketing and handing it all to the robots.

    A more automated approach to feed management will undoubtedly grant us a lot more bandwidth to make actual strategy and content decisions on the products themselves.

    While we’ve been seeing more comprehensive data on product performance appearing in Google Merchant Center over the last few years, now may be the time to dig a little bit deeper.

    While GA4 has widely become useless for advanced data analysis, the new GMC Next allows us to see website traffic for both paid and organic traffic from product listings, review competition and visibility, and get better data on the best-selling products and new trends.

    Perhaps the feature I like the most: comparing the prices of your stock-keeping units (SKUs) vs. competitors. This is the kind of data that has been classically underused.

    Instead of a misguided focus on inserting our favorite keywords into descriptions, we can finally focus on the quality and competitiveness of your products.

    Screenshot from Google Merchant Center Next, August 2024

    Taking Merchant Center Beyond Optimization

    Performance Max and Demand Gen campaign types have given us some new tools and strategies to use in ecommerce advertising, but it’s become harder to see granular data on where your ads are appearing, detailed performance metrics, and perhaps most notably, which keyword terms & specific audiences these campaigns are appearing for.

    Many advertisers are afraid that Google Merchant Center Next may be on a similar path of removing even more granular data and making it even harder for advertisers to be specific in our ad targeting.

    But so far, most of the early complaints people had when Next was introduced have already been fixed. We got access back to supplemental feeds, we can now make bulk changes (even though it’s not as easy as it used to be) and we can once again appeal any incorrectly disapproved products.

    Of course SKUs and product feeds need to be optimized, but this shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary.

    Optimizing this should be an assumed baseline for any ecommerce storefront.

    Merchant Center Next, as we’ve found, is most effectively used for tactics far beyond what the old Merchant Center offered. Some of the most important tactics we now use include things like getting insights on specific SKUs to make sure you always hold in inventory, and diving deep into competitive visibility and pricing in order to massively increase sales.

    More resources: 


    Featured Image: N Universe/Shutterstock