Maintenance
Website Maintenance: What It Includes and What It Should Cost
What website maintenance actually covers, the three ways small businesses pay for it, what drives the cost, and how to choose a plan you won't regret.
A website isn't finished on launch day. Software needs updating, content goes out of date, forms break when a connected tool changes, and your business keeps moving. Maintenance is what keeps a site working, safe and accurate. Here's what it should include, how people pay for it, and how to work out what's right for you.
What website maintenance includes
Maintenance is usually a mix of four kinds of work.
1. Keeping it running
- Software updates for the platform, theme and plugins, where your setup has them.
- Backups on a schedule, stored somewhere other than the site itself, and tested so you know they can actually be restored.
- Uptime and error checks, so problems are caught before customers notice.
- Security: watching for suspicious activity, keeping logins protected, renewing certificates.
2. Keeping it working
- Testing forms, checkouts and bookings regularly. These break more often than people expect, usually because a connected tool changed.
- Fixing broken links and pages that show errors.
- Speed checks, especially after new images or features are added.
- Checking it on phones after every change.
3. Keeping it current
- Content updates: prices, services, team members, opening hours, photos, policies.
- Small design changes: a new banner, a seasonal offer, a new section on a page.
- Legal and policy updates when you add a new tool or start collecting new data.
4. Helping it grow
This is where maintenance shades into growth work:
- New pages and landing pages for new services or campaigns.
- Design for ads and email that matches the site.
- SEO improvements: better page titles, new service pages, helpful articles.
- Reviewing analytics and suggesting changes based on what visitors actually do.
Some plans cover only the first two areas. Others cover all four. Knowing which one you're buying is the most important part of comparing prices.
Three ways to pay for maintenance
| Option | How it works | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | You handle updates, backups and changes | Simple sites on easy platforms, owners with time | Things get skipped when you're busy |
| Pay as you go | You pay per task or per hour when something comes up | Sites that rarely change | Slow response; costs are hard to predict |
| Monthly plan | A fixed fee for a defined set of work each month | Businesses that update often or depend on the site for sales | Paying for a plan that doesn't match what you need |
What drives the cost
Maintenance prices vary a lot because the work varies a lot. The main factors:
- How the site is built. A simple site on a hosted platform needs far less technical care than a self-hosted site with dozens of plugins.
- How much it changes. A site that gets new offers, products or pages every week needs more hands-on time than one that changes twice a year.
- What it connects to. Stores, booking systems, CRMs, email tools and funnels all add things that can break.
- How fast you need responses. Same-day replies cost more than "sometime this week".
- Whether growth work is included. New pages, campaign design and SEO are design work, not just upkeep.
For reference, my own plans are public: Essentials is $1,195 a month (content and design updates, speed checks, backups and fixes, monthly summary), Growth is $1,995 (adds new pages, landing pages, design for ads and email, priority replies) and Dedicated is $2,795 (adds GoHighLevel funnels and automation, brand and print design, and monthly planning notes). Plans like these are effectively a part-time design and web team; a basic "updates and backups only" service costs much less and does much less.
Signs you need more than DIY
- You've put off updating prices or photos for months.
- A form stopped working and you only found out from a customer.
- You're not sure when the site was last backed up, or where the backup is.
- You keep wanting new landing pages for campaigns but never get around to them.
- Your site and your marketing materials no longer look like the same brand.
What a good maintenance plan should spell out
Before you sign up for any plan, check that it states clearly:
- What's included each month, in plain words.
- What isn't included, and how extra work is priced.
- How fast you'll get replies, and through which channel.
- How often backups happen and where they're kept.
- What you'll get as a report, for example a monthly summary of what changed.
- How to cancel. Month to month with notice is fairer than a long lock-in. My plans need 30 days notice.
- Ownership. You should own your site, domain, content and all logins, whether or not you keep the plan.
A simple monthly routine if you do it yourself
If you're looking after the site yourself, put 30 to 60 minutes in your calendar once a month and work through this list:
- Check that a recent backup exists and note where it's stored.
- Run any updates your platform shows, then check the site still looks right.
- Send a test message through every form and complete a test booking or purchase if you can.
- Open your home page and key service pages on your phone.
- Update anything that changed this month: prices, offers, photos, team, hours.
- Look at your analytics and Search Console for anything unusual, like a sudden drop in visits or new errors.
- Write down what you did, so next month you know what changed.
If that hour keeps getting pushed to next month, that's usually the sign a plan would pay for itself.
Maintenance vs a redesign
If your maintenance requests keep turning into workarounds, like "we can't change that because of the old theme", it may be time to rebuild rather than keep patching. Read 9 signs your website needs a redesign to see where you stand. And if you're budgeting a new site, include maintenance from day one; my guide to website costs covers the running costs people often forget.
The short version
Maintenance keeps your site safe, working and up to date. Do it yourself if your site is simple and you have the time. Pay as you go if it rarely changes. Choose a monthly plan if your site brings in business and changes often, and make sure the plan lists exactly what you're paying for.
Work with me
Want someone to look after your site every month?
My Essentials plan is $1,195 a month and covers content and design updates, speed checks, backups and fixes, with a monthly summary of what changed. Growth and Dedicated add new pages, ad and email design, and GoHighLevel funnels. Plans run month to month.
Written by Oka Yunior. More than 10 years in design, almost 7 at a US design agency, and since 2020 leading design and marketing for a US gifting company.
