Website maintenance
Regular technical maintenance is important.
Once a website is live, maintenance isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind.
Yet, maintenance is the only way to ensure the website continues to function properly. What does maintenance entail?
Yet, maintenance is the only way to ensure the website continues to function properly. What does maintenance entail?
- Create a backup
- Quickly apply security updates
- Update WordPress
- Update the theme
- Update the plugins
- Check regularly that everything works correctly
Some clients think this can be done automatically. Unfortunately not.
Back-up
Backups can be created regularly if the web host or web developer has configured this correctly. However, the dilemma is that, after a week, the backups usually start overwriting one another—with the backup from day 8 replacing the one from day 1. This means there is no longer a clean backup available to restore, as they have all become infected.
With regular maintenance, you can typically catch the issue in time: if something goes wrong with the website, you can still restore a clean copy.
With regular maintenance, you can typically catch the issue in time: if something goes wrong with the website, you can still restore a clean copy.
Update WordPress
WordPress itself is updated regularly. Every update contains changes. Sometimes it’s just a security update, sometimes a functionality actually changes or a feature is added. WordPress updates are critical.
Update theme
To be perfectly honest, I know people who simply click ‘update’ when updating their theme. That isn’t exactly wise. After all, things change with every update. Every so often it’s just a matter of fixing a few bugs, but at other times, a web developer really needs to step in and make adjustments to ensure the website functions correctly.
Update plug-ins
With the plugin, too, the intention is not simply to click the update button. That is even more unwise than with the theme. Plugins not only undergo changes with every update, but all plugins are also interconnected; due to the update of plugin A, plugin B might well stop working… Because we know most plugins inside out, we know what to look out for.
Check
Once everything has been updated during the maintenance session, we check whether the website is still functioning correctly. Naturally, we cannot check absolutely everything, but we do review specific functions of each plugin and the site’s overall appearance.
How often is maintenance required?
That depends. A few times a month is the minimum. A sophisticated website—for example, one using WooCommerce, a directory, or an e-learning system—really ought to be updated and checked on a weekly basis.
What kind of sites do I maintain?
In principle, I only maintain websites that I have built or modified myself. This is because I am familiar with the underlying technology, allowing me to perform maintenance very efficiently—meaning quickly and affordably. I sometimes make an exception to this rule if the site is well-built, using tools that we use ourselves.
Basic maintenance plan
Based on a normal website, without WooCommerce, a maximum of 15 pages and 3 forms in one language.
The plan consists of:
The plan consists of:
- Update the website 3-4 times a month.
- Regular backups
- If WordPress, a theme, a builder, or a plugin requires adjustments, I modify the website.
- If we receive a report that a plugin or theme has an issue, we fix it as soon as possible.
- All this is covered up to 10 hours of maintenance.
The maintenance plan includes
- Theme (on of our default Pro themes).
- Builder (on of our default Pro builders).
- Analytics Pro plugin.
Not included
- Extra hours for extra pages, design changes, problems. etc.
- Hosting, domains, and backup software.
- SMTP costs (usually 20-180,- a year).
Note
- The plan covers technical maintenance. Content management like new pages, adjusting design, etc. falls outside that scope.
- If the website experiences a serious issue—such as a virus, a web server crash, or the like—we will attempt to resolve it within the scope of your plan. If the issue is major, additional costs will apply. The maintenance plan is designed to prevent issues.
Content and design changes
- We can certainly assist you with that.
- This can be done on an hourly basis or by purchasing a credit plan (which saves you money).
- See our maintenance plans!
Maintenance expenses
Maintenance isn’t free, but the costs are quite reasonable. Naturally, the price goes up if the website administrator (the client…) has made a mess of things, or if an issue arises despite all preventive measures; however, routine maintenance is actually very affordable. Especially considering that not having a maintenance agreement comes at a cost, too. That might sound strange, but it is often genuinely the case.
A web developer typically holds an agency license for the theme, the page builder, and a forms plugin.
This typically means that, as long as the client has an active maintenance contract, the website can utilize the web developer’s licenses either free of charge or at a reduced rate.
Once the partnership ends—meaning the client is no longer a regular customer—the website owner must purchase and annually renew all those licenses if they want the website to keep functioning. It is not a case of a client being ‘punished’ for deciding to handle everything themselves and thus having to make those purchases independently.
The license terms allow the software to be used on a client’s site; however, the license code cannot be used for websites that no longer have a commercial connection to the license holder. Technically, this wouldn’t work anyway, as the web developer’s software key would be embedded in a site that the developer could no longer access. That is not a good idea.
This typically means that, as long as the client has an active maintenance contract, the website can utilize the web developer’s licenses either free of charge or at a reduced rate.
Once the partnership ends—meaning the client is no longer a regular customer—the website owner must purchase and annually renew all those licenses if they want the website to keep functioning. It is not a case of a client being ‘punished’ for deciding to handle everything themselves and thus having to make those purchases independently.
The license terms allow the software to be used on a client’s site; however, the license code cannot be used for websites that no longer have a commercial connection to the license holder. Technically, this wouldn’t work anyway, as the web developer’s software key would be embedded in a site that the developer could no longer access. That is not a good idea.
Maintenance saves you money.
These (basic) licenses cost between €250 and €600 per year—at a minimum—with an average of €300 annually.
This also means that a maintenance contract is always a win-win situation: not only does the web developer generate revenue, but the client can continue using the agency licenses. In other words, as a website owner, you have already recouped the initial €300 annual maintenance cost.
Example: Kadence only (purchased directly) costs between 99,- and 499,- per year, for 1 website.
This also means that a maintenance contract is always a win-win situation: not only does the web developer generate revenue, but the client can continue using the agency licenses. In other words, as a website owner, you have already recouped the initial €300 annual maintenance cost.
Example: Kadence only (purchased directly) costs between 99,- and 499,- per year, for 1 website.
