Smaller websites are typically done on the fly by the owner, meaning that they do whatever they feel like doing in any way that they want. They may have an Asana board for categorizing content ideas, but that’s about it. The great thing is, there’s nothing wrong with that!
However, larger websites have a higher chance of having some Standard Operating Procedures in place for some of its functions, and there’s really no limit to them! There can be SOPs in place for content creation, publishing, marketing, maintenance, hiring, fulfillment, and some other stuff I can’t think of right now. The more SOPs, the better.
When a website has a lot of moving parts, you need to make sure that you can keep it running like a well-oiled machine after the handoff. This is what SOPs are good for.
Say you’re purchasing a blog that has direct affiliate offers, sponsored content, hired writers, and a social media strategy. Trying to keep all of those aspects working after the sale would be almost impossible. Detailed SOPs should be created that you’ll be able to follow step-by-step to keep everything working well.
If you see a website with a lot of moving parts, ask the website owner for these SOPs. A good website will have these in place.
If the owner has SOPs, take a look over some of them and make sure that they’re detailed and easy to follow. If they’re unclear or irrelevant, you may as well not have any!
If the owner DOESN’T have any standard operating procedures, you can do one of two things. You can either ask that they be created, or that the website owner can provide special help during the hand-off period to get you up and working.
Put extra focus on this part. Nothing’s worse than buying a website and seeing it deteriorate in front of you because you’re not sure how to keep running it properly.