How much does website management cost for a small business?

Professional website management typically runs $200 to $1,000 a month depending on the size of the site and the work involved. Guidepost management plans start at $199 a month and scale with your site. Every plan covers hosting, monitoring, performance, reporting, and a set amount of hands-on work each month.

Why do I need a management plan and not just a website?

Because a website that is not managed falls behind. Services change, search shifts, and small issues go unnoticed until they cost you. Every Guidepost site includes a management plan because that is what keeps the site working after launch. The build creates the foundation. The plan keeps it performing.

Will moving from WordPress to Webflow hurt my SEO?

No. Search rankings are tied to your domain and your content, not your platform. A properly executed migration preserves your rankings and your traffic by carrying over your URLs, redirects, metadata, and content structure. A neglected WordPress site does more damage to search performance than a careful migration ever would.

How do I get my business to show up in AI search like ChatGPT?

AI search tools pull from clear content, structured data, and consistent business information across the web. Guidepost builds every site with schema markup, FAQ structure, and AEO foundations that help AI tools find and cite your business. It is the same work that supports traditional search, applied to how people search now.

Do I have to start with a new website?

Not necessarily. Guidepost builds and manages on Webflow. If your current site is on WordPress or another platform, a rebuild is included at the same price. If you already have a Webflow site, we assess whether it can be managed as-is. In either case, the engagement requires a clean, consistent Webflow foundation.

What happens if I need more work than my plan includes?

Work beyond your plan hours is available at $129 per hour, billed in 15-minute increments. Larger projects are scoped and quoted separately. Nothing starts without your approval, and the cost is confirmed before any work begins.

Is there a long-term contract?

Management plans run month to month. There is no long-term lock-in. The work continues because it is producing results, not because a contract requires it.

[ MANAGED WEBSITES ]

If your website was an employee, would you keep them?

Your website works every hour, across every channel, for every prospect who needs your services. Yet too many service businesses set theirs up once, manage it like a hobby, and wonder why it doesn't perform.

Guidepost builds and manages websites that show up, sell your service, and grow with your business.

Start a Project

No pressure, no pitch. We'll respond within one business day.

[ Problem Defined ]

Most service business websites underperform. Their owners only suspect it.

These sites were hired years ago, set up once, and have been on the payroll ever since.

They show up.

They don't produce.

They don't get reviewed.

They drift.

A working website pays for itself in a few new clients a year. A drifting one is dead weight. The hard part is knowing which one you have.

[ What's Included ]

Everything you need to perform. Nothing more to pay.

Every Guidepost engagement comes with what a website actually needs to perform. No starter package. No paid extras to make it work.

Here's what comes with every website we build:

A website that performs, not just at launch.

Ongoing care, monitoring, and adjustments are part of how we work, not a separate sale.

One person who knows your business from day one.

The same person who scopes your project stays involved through every stage. No handoffs.

Pricing you can actually plan around.

Fixed prices for builds. Predictable monthly care. No surprise invoices.

The technical work handled, not pitched.

SEO, AI search readiness, and performance are built into every page. Not a paid add-on.

[ Transparent Pricing ]

One price to build. One price to manage.

Our pricing is published, productized, and the same for every client. No discovery-call quotes. No surprise invoices. Every Guidepost engagement includes both a build and a management plan. We don't do one without the other, because a website that isn't managed becomes one that's forgotten.

Foundation Website

The Build

$899

/one-time

A complete five-page website on Webflow. New build or migration from WordPress.

What's included

Five-page Webflow site, copy and design included
Schema markup, critical for SEO and AEO discovery
AI search optimization for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity
Core Web Vitals optimization for page speed and SEO
Mobile first responsive design and accessibility built-in
Google Analytics and Search Console setup
Title tags, meta descriptions, and alt text on every page

Start a Project

Management Plans

The Relationship

$199

/month

Every Guidepost site is supported by a monthly management plan, scaled to your site's size.

What's included

Hosting, security, and performance monitoring
Active tracking of traffic, search rankings, and conversions
Monthly performance report with findings and plan
Ongoing copy, structure, and SEO and AEO improvements
Proactive content recommendations driven by analytics
Monthly or quarterly strategy call on progress and priorities
Priority response within one business day

See management plan tiers

[ Structured Process ]

Four phases.
One throughline.

Every Guidepost engagement moves through the same four phases. Each builds on the last, and the engagement continues well past launch.

Most builds run six to twelve weeks from kickoff to launch. The sequence is consistent because it works.

Orientation

Your business, your market, your audience, your ambition. We learn the territory before we draw the map. The clearer the picture here, the stronger everything that follows.

Definition

The message, the positioning, the value the buyer actually receives. This is where the strategy gets locked in, so every choice downstream has a reason behind it.

Production

Copy and design develop together. Sometimes copy leads. Sometimes design does. The work doesn't get built until both are aligned.

Refinement

The site goes live, and the partnership continues. Monthly review, ongoing improvement, and active management. This is where other agencies end. Ours starts.

[ Who Leads the Work ]

The strategic depth you need. None of the agency overhead.

Jesse Douma

Founder & Strategic Lead

Most agencies serving small businesses are staffed by people who have never run one. I have.

I'm Jesse. I lead every client relationship personally. Before starting Guidepost, I was a business owner, then spent over twenty years in digital product work. That work spanned content strategy, copywriting, and website development across multiple companies, including a national media brand that reached tens of millions of users annually.

There is no handoff. The strategy, the judgment, and the relationship stay with one person. The person who took your first call.

[ Modern Platform ]

Built on Webflow. Migrated from WordPress.

Every Guidepost website is built on Webflow. The platform is fast, secure, and built for the technical SEO and AI search work that matters in 2026. The CMS is usable without a developer. The hosting is included. The performance is consistent across every site we build.

If you're on WordPress, we migrate you. The plugin updates that break the site, the security patches that arrive late, the monthly bills that grow every time something on the back end has to be fixed. None of that follows you to Webflow. We've moved enough sites over to know the path.

Single platform. Deeper expertise. Stronger outcomes.

[ Studio Notes ]

Notes from the work.

Practical writing about websites and search, drawn from active client work.

The questions service businesses ask first.

[ Start here ]

Tell us about your business. We'll take it from there.

Share a few details about your business and where your website stands today, even if that's nowhere yet. We'll reach out to schedule a conversation. The first conversation is about what matters to your business and how Guidepost can help. Not a pitch.

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