What does website maintenance cover?

A site isn't finished the day it goes live. The components it uses age, security holes come to light, the domain and the certificate expire, and your prices and products change. Website maintenance is the regular work that keeps a site up, secure and up to date despite these changes.

What does maintenance cover?

Updates. The site's platform and the components it uses are updated regularly, and known security holes are closed. This matters even more on plugin-based systems such as WordPress, because attacks often come through plugins that haven't been updated.

Backups. The site and its data are backed up regularly. If an update causes a problem or something goes wrong, you can go back to the previous version.

Domain and certificate tracking. The domain and the SSL certificate are renewed before they expire. A site with an expired certificate opens in the browser with a "not secure" warning, and visitors usually turn back.

Content changes. Updates to prices, products, photos and text. The site doesn't sit there with outdated information.

Speed and uptime checks. The site is checked regularly to make sure it is up and fast.

Search and form checks. Warnings in Google Search Console are monitored, and the quote and contact forms are tested to make sure they really work. A form that doesn't work can lose you customers for weeks without anyone noticing.

What happens if it isn't done?

Problems usually don't appear all at once; they build up quietly:

• Malicious code can be planted on the site through a hole in a component that wasn't updated.
• The certificate expires and the browser shows a warning.
• A form breaks after an update and nobody notices.
• Prices and products go out of date; customers notice that what they saw on the site differs from what they hear on the phone.

Who should do it?

If someone on your side has the technical knowledge, you can do the maintenance yourself. If not, the soundest option is to have a team you trust, or your hosting provider's maintenance service, take it on. What matters is that who does what, and how often, is written down.

WyvUP doesn't sell maintenance and hosting as a separate service. The domain of a site we build stays in your name and we hand over the login details to you, so you or a team you choose can easily take on the maintenance.

Frequently asked questions

If maintenance isn't done, will the site break straight away?

Usually not straight away. Problems build up: a security hole appears in a component that wasn't updated, the certificate expires and the browser shows a 'not secure' warning, and one day a form stops working but nobody notices.

Are content changes part of maintenance?

Most maintenance agreements include updates to prices, products, photos and text; how many changes are made each month should be written in the agreement. Designing a new section or page is separate work.

Cover photo: Lukas Blazek / Pexels