How to train clients to update their new website

Train clients on their own site, with their own content, just after launch: one hands-on session where they do the edits themselves while you watch, limited to the tasks they'll really repeat — changing text, adding a page or a news post, replacing an image, updating opening hours. Book it before the launch date so it doesn't slip, invite the people who will actually edit the site, and leave a short written guide behind. A second, shorter session a few weeks later catches the questions that only appear once they work alone.

A website that the client can't update goes stale, or turns every small change into an email to you. Neither helps: stale content hurts the site you built, and a stream of tiny requests eats time you can't always bill. A proper handover gives the client independence on routine edits and leaves you the work that needs your skills. It also sets expectations: what they can safely change, and what they should leave to you.

Start with the tasks they'll do weekly: logging in, editing text, adding and resizing images, publishing a post, updating a menu or a price list. Let them do each one while you guide, rather than watching you do it. Explain why image size and alt text matter, and how headings structure a page for readers and search engines.

Show where the risky settings are — theme, plugins, layout templates, domain and email settings — and agree that those stay with you. A clear line avoids a broken layout on a Friday evening and makes it obvious when a request is maintenance work.

End with how to reach you, what counts as a quick question and what needs a quote, and how backups work if something goes wrong.

Two hours is a reasonable ceiling for one sitting: beyond that, attention drops and new steps blur together. Plan a short break halfway, repeat their weekly task at the end without your help, and stop when they can do it alone. If the site has several content types — shop, events, blog — split them across the first session and the follow-up rather than cramming everything into one afternoon.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Create a training service and a follow-up service, and open slots for each at the length it takes. A slot has a capacity: for a client team, you can book the whole group into one slot yourself from your calendar and enter the number of people; first and last name are required, email and phone optional. You can also open a group training slot with several places for clients of different projects, each booking one place.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own, or include the first training in the project price.

If you enter the client's email when booking, they receive a confirmation with a calendar file; write the video link or address in the note when you create the booking: the note is included in that calendar file, and it can't be edited later. Clients can't move bookings online: they contact you, you reschedule or cancel from your bookings list, and you let them know, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Calendar sync (Google, iPhone, Mac) keeps sessions next to your project work. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.