What does website maintenance include? A plain checklist

Website maintenance covers the routine work that keeps a live site safe, working and accurate. For a small business that usually means software updates, backups you can restore, uptime and broken-page checks, security basics, small content edits, and renewing the domain and hosting on time. Some plans add speed checks, reports and SEO. This piece lists what belongs in a maintenance plan, how often each job needs doing, and what's usually left out.

What is website maintenance?

A website isn't finished at launch. The software it runs on gets security updates. Plugins change. Hosting plans renew. Your opening hours and prices change, too. Maintenance is everything you do after launch so the site keeps working and keeps telling customers the truth.

How much you need depends on how the site is built. A WordPress site with fifteen plugins needs updates every week or two. A site on a hosted builder like Squarespace gets its software updated for you, so the work is mostly content and checks. A custom-coded site with no plugins sits somewhere in between.

What does a website maintenance plan include?

Here's what a good plan covers, roughly in order of how much trouble it saves.

Software and plugin updates. WordPress core, themes and plugins release security fixes regularly. Someone should apply them, then check the site still works, because an update can occasionally break a layout or a form.

Backups you can restore. A copy of your files and database, taken on a schedule and stored away from your server. If your host is hacked or goes down, a backup kept on the same server goes with it. Ask how often backups run, how long they're kept, and when someone last tested a restore.

Uptime monitoring. A service that checks your site every few minutes and alerts someone when it goes down. Without it, the first person to notice is often a customer.

Broken-page and form checks. Links break, pages get moved, and contact forms stop sending email after a hosting change. A form that silently fails can cost weeks of inquiries before anyone notices.

Security basics. Removing old user accounts, keeping administrator logins to the people who need them, turning on two-factor sign-in, and watching for signs of a hack. On WordPress, this is where most of the risk sits.

Small edits. New photos, updated prices, a team member who's joined or left. Most plans include a set amount of edit time each month.

Analytics and function checks. A regular look at whether traffic dropped suddenly, whether Search Console is reporting errors, and whether bookings and payments still work.

Domain, hosting and SSL renewals. Unglamorous and important. If the domain lapses, your site and your email can go offline at once.

How often should each maintenance task be done?

A rough schedule for a typical small business site.

If you only do one thing on the list, make it backups that are stored offsite and tested. Almost every other problem is fixable when you have a clean copy to go back to.

What isn't usually included in website maintenance?

This is where expectations go wrong. Maintenance keeps the site you have running. It generally doesn't cover building new things.

• New pages and features. A new service page, a booking system or an online shop is project work, quoted separately.
• Redesigns. If the site looks dated, updates won't fix that.
• Ongoing SEO. Maintenance can keep the technical basics healthy. Content and local SEO work is a separate monthly service.
• Copywriting. Edits usually mean changing text you supply.
• Malware cleanup. Good maintenance lowers the risk of a hack. If one happens, cleaning it up is usually a separate job.
• Fixing what someone else changed. If a staff member installs a plugin that breaks the site, most plans treat the repair as extra time.

Read the plan's list of exclusions as carefully as its inclusions. A vague plan that says "full support" without a list makes it hard to know what you're paying for.

How much does website maintenance cost?

Prices vary with the platform, the number of plugins and how much edit time is included. Here are our own, from our pricing page.

Our care plan starts at $79 a month. It covers software and plugin updates, weekly backups, uptime and broken-page checks, up to an hour of edits a month, and regular analytics and site-function checks. Extra time on websites is $60 an hour. It works for sites we built and sites we didn't.

If you're starting fresh, Build & Care plans bundle a new site with hosting, updates and weekly backups in one monthly fee, from $149 a month with a six-month minimum. The domain stays in your name and you own the code and content.

Whoever you use, ask what happens if you stop paying. You should keep the site, the backups and every login.

Can you maintain your own website?

Yes, if you have a little time each month and the site isn't complicated. Many owners on hosted builders do fine on their own, because the platform handles software updates. The jobs left are content, form tests and renewals.

Self-maintenance gets harder on WordPress sites with lots of plugins, sites that take payments, and sites where nobody on the team feels confident clicking "update all." Those are also the sites most likely to end up needing a WordPress malware cleanup, which is a lot more expensive than a year of updates.

If you go it alone, set two calendar reminders. One weekly, for updates and a backup check. One monthly, for forms, links and content.

What happens if you skip website maintenance?

Usually nothing, for a while. That's what makes it easy to put off. Then one of a few things happens.

• The site gets hacked through an old plugin. Spam pages show up in Google under your domain, or visitors get redirected somewhere unpleasant.
• An update finally gets applied after two years, and three plugins break at once.
• The domain expires because the renewal email went to someone who left the business. Under ICANN's expired registration policy, registrars have to send reminders about a month and a week before expiry, so the warning exists. It just has to reach someone who reads it.
• The site slows down as images and plugins pile up. Our post on finding a WordPress plugin conflict shows how to check whether a plugin is part of the cause.

None of these is rare, and each costs more to fix than to prevent.

Questions to ask before you sign a maintenance plan

1. Which platform and plugins are covered?
2. How often are updates applied, and are they tested first?
3. How often are backups taken, where are they stored, and how long are they kept?
4. Has anyone tested restoring one?
5. How much edit time is included, and what does extra time cost?
6. What's excluded?
7. How fast do you respond if the site goes down?
8. Who owns the domain, hosting account and backups if I cancel?

FAQ

What does website maintenance include?

Usually software and plugin updates, offsite backups, uptime and broken-page checks, security basics like account reviews, a set amount of edit time, analytics checks, and renewing the domain, hosting and SSL. Some plans also include speed checks and reports.

How often should a website be maintained?

Uptime should be monitored all the time. On WordPress, updates and backups are worth doing weekly. Forms, links, analytics and content are worth checking monthly, and accounts, speed and a test restore a few times a year.

Is website maintenance necessary for a small business?

For any site that brings in customers, yes. Skipping it rarely causes a problem right away, which is why it gets skipped. Old plugins, expired domains and untested backups are behind many of the emergencies small businesses deal with.

How much does website maintenance cost per month?

It depends on the platform and how much edit time you need. Our care plan starts at $79 a month for updates, weekly backups, uptime and broken-page checks and up to an hour of edits. You can request a fixed quote or book a free 30-minute call.