Planning Your Website
The eight questions to ask a website maintenance company before you sign, what a good answer sounds like, and the warning signs that tell you to keep looking.
The right website maintenance company is the one you never have to chase. Your site stays up, updates go on without breaking anything, backups exist when you need them, and when something does look wrong you reach a person the same day. Everything below is about telling that company apart from one that only sends an invoice.
Most small businesses choose on price, because price is the only thing on the list that is easy to compare. It is also the least useful number. Two plans at the same monthly figure can be completely different services. Here is how to see the difference before you sign.
In plain terms, it keeps your website running so you do not have to think about it. A proper plan covers the hosting the site sits on, the security certificate, regular backups, software and security updates, monitoring for downtime, small content changes, and someone to contact when something goes wrong.
That is the whole job. The difference between companies is rarely the list. It is how well each item is actually done. We set out exactly what goes into ours on our website maintenance services page, and our guide to website maintenance costs covers what UK agencies charge.
Ask every company you are considering the same eight questions. The answers tell you far more than a price list does.
This is the question that matters most, and the one people forget. If the maintenance company registers the domain in its own name, or holds the only login to your hosting, leaving becomes slow, awkward or expensive.
A good answer: everything is in your name, you have your own logins, and you can move the site elsewhere whenever you like. When a client asked us whether they could host somewhere else, the honest answer was the only one: it is your website, so of course you can.
A warning sign: vagueness about who holds the domain, or a fee to release your own site.
Almost every company says it takes backups. Fewer have tested one. A backup nobody has ever restored is a hope, not a plan.
A good answer: daily backups, kept somewhere other than the server the site lives on, and a straight answer about the last time they brought a site back from one. Our guide on how to back up a WordPress site explains why the off site part matters.
A warning sign: backups stored on the same server as the site. If that server fails, both go together.
Software updates are the heart of maintenance, and the most common reason a site breaks. Pressing “update all” takes seconds. Checking afterwards that the contact form still sends and the checkout still takes payments is the actual work.
A good answer: updates are applied, the important pages and forms are checked, and anything that broke is rolled back from a backup.
A warning sign: automatic updates with nobody looking afterwards.
Response time is the part of a plan you cannot judge from a price list, and the part you will care about most on the day something goes wrong.
A good answer: a clear promise about working hours, a named person or small team who already knows your site, and real examples. On one site we look after, a broken link reported just before four in the morning was traced, fixed and confirmed live by eleven the same morning.
A warning sign: a ticket system with no person behind it, or a promised response time that turns out to mean an automatic reply.
This is where two plans at the same price stop looking alike. One includes small content changes. The other bills them by the hour, so a five minute price update arrives as a minimum charge.
A good answer: a written list of what is covered, with the common small jobs inside the plan: new prices, a staff change, a swapped photo.
A warning sign: “anything else is charged at our hourly rate”, with no idea what that rate is.
Long minimum terms and exit fees exist to keep you, not to serve you. A company confident in its service rarely needs to lock you in.
A good answer: monthly, cancel any time, no exit fee, and help moving the site if you go.
A warning sign: a twelve month minimum, an exit fee, or a cancellation process that only works by post.
Plenty of businesses go looking for maintenance because the agency that built their site has gone quiet. A good company will take the site on, but only after looking at it properly.
A good answer: a look over the site first, then a plain account of the state it is in, including telling you if it needs work before it can be looked after properly.
A warning sign: signing you up without looking, then finding problems later and charging to fix them.
Sooner or later, one will. What matters is who notices and who pays.
A good answer: the company notices, puts it right from a backup, and does not bill you for a problem its own update caused.
A warning sign: you find out from a customer, then receive an invoice for the repair.
| You hear | What to ask next |
|---|---|
| “We register the domain for you” | Whose name is it in? It should be yours |
| “Backups are included” | Where are they kept, and when was one last restored? |
| “Updates are automatic” | Who checks the site afterwards? |
| “Extra work at our hourly rate” | What is the rate, and what is the minimum charge? |
| “Twelve month minimum term” | What does leaving early cost? |
A plan earns its place when your site runs software that needs updating, when it takes enquiries or payments you cannot afford to lose, or when nobody in the business could say what to do if it went down tomorrow. That describes most small business websites built on WordPress or similar.
A handful of static pages that rarely change, on hosting you already understand, can be looked after in house. If that is you, our website audit checklist is a good hour’s work twice a year. Keep a diary note of the two dates that catch people out: your security certificate and your domain renewal.
Our care plan is one monthly price with hosting inside it. There is no contract and no exit fee, and the site and the domain stay in your name whatever happens. We take on sites we did not build, after an honest look first. Everything that is included is on our website maintenance page, and if you need a new site as well, start with web design for small business.
Got a site that needs looking after? Tell us what you have and we will tell you plainly what state it is in.
It keeps your website running so you do not have to. That means looking after the hosting and security certificate, taking regular off site backups, applying and testing software updates, monitoring for downtime, making small content changes, and giving you a person to contact when something goes wrong.
Ask every company the same questions: who owns the site and domain, where backups are kept and when one was last restored, whether updates are tested, how quickly they respond, what costs extra, and what it costs to leave. The answers separate good companies far better than the price does.
Yes. Many businesses need maintenance because their original agency has gone quiet. A good company looks the site over first, tells you plainly what state it is in, and says so honestly if it needs work before it can be looked after properly.
It does not need one. A monthly plan you can cancel at any time, with no exit fee, is common and fair. Long minimum terms and exit fees mainly make it hard to leave a service you are unhappy with, so treat them as a reason to ask more questions.
Most do. Any site running WordPress or similar software needs updates, backups and someone watching it, especially if it takes enquiries or payments. A few static pages that rarely change, on hosting you understand, can be managed in house with a regular check.
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