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At some point every small business owner is going to need website maintenance. You could always maintain your own website, but it can be time consuming, and some maintenance tasks can run the risk of damaging your  SEO if done improperly. While there are many reasons to work with a trusted developer on your website, this is just one.

Ideally, the team that built your website is available for ongoing website maintenance services, but if you are working with a new team, you may be wondering how to provide your website credentials without compromising security. That's where a mutually trusted login exchange protocol comes in!

Step 1: Establish a Relationship

Before any login exchange can take place, establish a relationship with your website maintenance team. If you just need a quick update of some images and text, we include an initial phone consultation in your website maintenance package. This call will discuss your website's current status and any maintenance issues you've been experiencing. During this initial call, we will discuss the login exchange process and what steps will be taken to ensure that your website credentials are secure.

If you are considering broader marketing services in the near future, we recommend our initial consultation, or our initial consultation with analytics, as these services will ensure that your website maintenance integrates seamlessly with your other marketing campaigns.

Step 2: Use a Secure Platform

To maintain the security of your website credentials, it's essential to use a secure platform to exchange login information with your website maintenance team. This can involve using a password manager, a secure file-sharing platform, or another secure exchange method.

Given the heavy reliance of all small business owners on cell phones, our team is ready to assist you with password sharing for both Google, Android and iPhone.

Step 3: Provide Limited Access

To maintain the security of your website, it's important to provide limited access to your maintenance team. This means providing access only to the areas of your website that require maintenance or updates. Your maintenance team can work with you to determine what areas of your website require access and what permissions are needed. There are two circumstances in which this is most important. The first circumstance is if you have an e-commerce site and your Social Security number, or employee identification number might be visible to the web maintenance team, if full access is given. The other circumstances, if the team you're working with is subcontracting to people, you have no relationship with. Be sure to consider these issues while discussing your website maintenance needs with your new team.

Step 4: Change Passwords Regularly

As a security best practice, it's essential to change passwords regularly. This is especially important when it comes to website maintenance. To ensure that your website credentials remain secure, you should change your website passwords regularly and provide the new password to your maintenance team through a secure platform. If you both change your password regularly and avoid using public facing email addresses for critical accounts, then you will minimize your websites security risk.

Conclusion

A trusted login exchange process is essential for new clients looking to maintain their website. At the end of the day, the most important ingredient is trust. With the help of our website maintenance team, you can focus on running your business while leaving the maintenance to the experts.