Website maintenance: what actually needs doing
Real website maintenance is: software and security updates applied promptly, working backups tested occasionally, SSL and domain renewals never missed, content kept current, and speed checked a few times a year. On WordPress this is genuinely ongoing work; on managed platforms most of it is handled for you. Budget £30 to £120 a month for a care plan, or choose a service where maintenance is built into the price.
The maintenance that is real
- Updates and security. WordPress sites especially: core, theme and plugin updates arrive constantly, and unpatched plugins are how small business sites get hacked. Hacked sites get blacklisted by Google and email providers, which is the expensive part.
- Backups. Daily, stored away from the site itself, and restored as a test at least once. An untested backup is a hope, not a backup.
- Renewals. Domain and SSL lapses take sites and email offline instantly and are embarrassingly common. Auto-renew, with a payment card that does not expire quietly.
- Content freshness. Prices, hours, team, services and photos. Stale content quietly costs trust and rankings; "last updated 2023" is read by customers as "maybe closed".
- Speed and uptime. Sites slow down as things accumulate. A quarterly check on mobile speed catches the drift.
A schedule that fits real life
Weekly: glance that the site is up and the contact form works (send yourself one). Monthly: apply updates, check backups ran, update any changed prices or hours. Quarterly: test the backup restore, run a mobile speed check, read the site once as a stranger would. Yearly: confirm renewals, review every page for accuracy, refresh the photos. Written down like that it is modest; the failures come from nobody owning it.
What it costs, and the honest alternative
UK care plans run £30 to £120 a month depending on what is included, and ad hoc fixes bill at £60 to £120 an hour, usually urgently, after something has already broken. The alternative model, which we use, folds all of it into the platform: updates, security, backups, renewals and content changes included in one monthly fee. Whichever way you go, the wrong answer is nobody doing it; that one is free until it is very expensive.
Frequently asked questions
Do all websites need maintenance?
All of them need renewals, backups and current content. Self-hosted WordPress adds genuine ongoing security work. Managed platforms and services shift most of the burden to the provider, which is a large part of what you are paying for.
What happens if I just do nothing?
The site keeps working, for a while. The common failure modes: a lapsed renewal takes it offline, an unpatched plugin gets exploited, or content drifts out of date until customers stop trusting it. All three arrive without warning and cost more than the maintenance would have.
How do I know if my site has been hacked?
Signs include browser warnings, strange redirects, spam pages appearing in Google under your domain, or hosting emails about malware. If any appear: change passwords, contact your host, restore from a clean backup, and get the vulnerability patched before going live again.
Is £50 a month reasonable for website maintenance alone?
It is within the normal £30 to £120 care plan range. Our take is that at that price maintenance alone is thin value, which is why our £50 includes the site itself, hosting, domain and unlimited content changes alongside the maintenance.
The short version
- Real maintenance: updates, tested backups, renewals, fresh content, speed.
- Weekly glance, monthly update, quarterly test, yearly review.
- Care plans cost £30 to £120 a month; emergencies cost more.
- The fatal option is nobody owning it.
Rather skip all this?
With us the maintenance question disappears: updates, security, daily backups, renewals and every content change are part of the £50 a month. You run the business; the website is our problem.
Claim your spot →