Website maintenance services after launch

Website maintenance services are an agreement about who looks after a site once the build is finished, and how. A WordPress or OpenCart site is made of many components written by other people: the CMS core, the theme, plugins or modules, the PHP version on the server, the SSL certificate, the domain. Each one updates on its own schedule, and sooner or later one update breaks something else. Below we explain how our website support services run, what drives the cost and when you probably do not need it.

What a monthly website care plan covers

The regular part happens every month without you having to ask:

• updates to the core, plugins or modules after a compatibility check, not the minute a new version appears;
• backups of files and the database, stored away from the site’s own hosting;
• checking that the site is up, the SSL certificate is valid and the domain renewal date is not creeping up;
• reviewing admin accounts: who has access and whether they still need it;

Requests sit outside the regular part: page edits, a new form, connecting another service. We keep them in a prioritised queue so urgent items do not get lost among the small ones.

Maintenance does not replace development. New sections, a new structure or a redesign are estimated as a separate project, the kind of work described on websites and ecommerce.

How the work runs, from review to routine

The first month looks different from the rest. We collect access to hosting, the admin panel, the domain and analytics, record the version of every component and look for what has not been updated in a long time. The riskiest items go first, with a backup before every change.

If your hosting allows it, updates are tried on a staging copy before they reach the live site. That way we see the error, not your customers. After that the work settles into a routine: scheduled tasks, requests from the queue and a short written summary each month.

Sometimes the review shows that access has been lost and the site runs on decisions nobody can explain anymore. What to establish first in that situation is covered in Your contractor disappeared. What’s left of your website?

What drives the cost

There is no single price that fits every site, because two sites that look alike can need very different amounts of care. The cost depends on:

• how long the site has gone without updates; the first month after years of neglect is always the heaviest;
• the number of plugins or modules and how well they get along;
• custom code that standard CMS updates do not cover and that has to be checked by hand;
• integrations such as payments, shipping, a CRM or product feeds to marketplaces;
• whether a staging copy exists or your hosting allows one;
• how many change requests you expect each month.

We give an estimate after the review and put the scope and the way we charge in writing before we start.

Who a website maintenance agency suits, and who it doesn’t

It makes sense if the site brings in enquiries or sales and downtime costs you money. If it takes payments, has a cart or relies on integrations that can break after an update. If nobody on your team is technical and you would rather not find a new contractor for every problem. An online store usually needs more attention than a brochure site, simply because it has more modules and more data.

It is not worth it if the site will be shut down or fully rebuilt soon; the money is better spent on the new project. It is also the wrong format if what you need is a person on staff who sits in your team chats all day.

Common mistakes after launch

• Updating the live site without a backup. If an update clashes with another plugin, the cart or the contact form can stop working, and there is nothing to roll back to.
• Keeping backups only on the same hosting. If something happens to the hosting, the site and its backups disappear together.
• Leaving every login with one developer. The domain and hosting should be registered to your company.
• Deactivating plugins without deleting them. Inactive code can still carry vulnerabilities.
• Leaving the PHP version on the server untouched for years. Old versions stop receiving security fixes, and newer plugins eventually refuse to run on them.
• Measuring speed only on your own laptop. How to look at the real numbers yourself is explained in Core Web Vitals fixes without a developer.

Next step

Write to us through the contact page. Include the site address, the platform, who built it and when, whether you have access to the hosting and domain, and what worries you most right now. After the review we will reply in writing with what to do first and how we would charge for it.