What is a Website Maintenance Plan? Essential Components

Officially launching your website after all these months of development, the work on it doesn’t stop at all. Don’t worry; it doesn’t mean pain, as long as you take care of it regularly. The maintenance of the website is crucial to keep it of the highest quality and inviting visitors. It is often a showcase of the company or even the first customer contact with your brand. So it’s worth spending some time on your site not only to fill in fresh content but also to monitor, update and optimize. Technology constantly moves forward, so your website must react to these changes to deter slow loading or retro design. Of course, it’s not about changing the layout now and then but rather about deliberate steps that will keep users longer. Hence, see what the website maintenance plan looks like and what to care for in the process.

What is website maintenance, and why is it so important?

Website maintenance is the process of regularly checking your website for potential problems and bugs and keeping it updated. To keep your website relevant, up-to-date and engaging for users, this should be done consistently and regularly. It is also an essential element in terms of searchability, strengthening your position in SEO rankings and a continuous increase in traffic. For businesses, keeping the website in perfect condition is crucial to maintaining the importance of the brand and attracting and retaining customers. Regularity is also the prevention of major problems that could arise from neglect and cause substantial losses.

What is a website maintenance plan?

A website maintenance plan is precisely a strategy, planned activities aimed at constantly improving, monitoring and taking care of your website. It often requires the involvement of developers, marketing and network security specialists, or analysts. The scope of activities depends on the complexity of the website and its functionality. The website is very often maintained by development teams that previously developed it. 

Elements of a Website Maintenance Plan

Updating software, plugins and other components

Updates are a primary step in maintaining the website. They help to get rid of problems with inefficient code, malfunctioning plugins and provide increased security. Security issues are of particular importance – many hackers lurk for security gaps to extract the data of customers visiting the website. So make sure regularly that the code is neat, up-to-date, plugins compatible with the rest of the software and that the website is adapted to all requirements. 

Security checks

Safety is a priority, so you should pay special attention to it. Schedule frequent and thorough inspections and follow best practices and standards. Assess potential threats and prevent them in advance by conducting regular audits. Protecting your customer’s private information is also of paramount importance in building trust in your brand.

Updating content 

Your plan should not lack space to update the content on the website. Attracting visitors and attracting new customers is impossible without this. In addition, fresh, engaging content entices users to return to your site, increases its popularity and helps to better index your site in search engines.

Collecting and responding to feedback

Suggestions from visitors to your website are precious. They help build more interest in the website, build the loyalty of customers who feel listened to and improve the website according to their needs. For example, you can add a dedicated form on the website that will be used to send suggestions for your website.

Implementing and observing analytics  

Analytics can effectively drive your marketing and give you tips on how to improve your website. Therefore, tracking visitors’ activity such as time spent on the website, location, bounce rate, keywords they used to find your website – all this information you can use to plan further activities, increasing your effectiveness and attractiveness of the website.

Regular backups

Backups are the cornerstone for the maintenance of any software. This practice is especially needed when introducing changes. In case of a possible failure, you have the tool to recover the site’s previous version. It is also protected in the event of a server breakdown or hacker attack.

Can I do my own website maintenance?

It is viable, of course, and with simple websites, blogs, or websites based on WordPress or other CMS software, it is not that complicated. Hence, if your website does not require advanced development work and you have enough time to pay attention to your website, you can do it yourself or have someone responsible for it in-house. For larger, dedicated platforms, we recommend that you rely on IT companies that will be able to take care of every little detail and ensure the appropriate level of security, up-to-date and quality of your website.  

How much should I pay someone to maintain my website?

First of all, keep in mind that each developer or an IT company has a fixed rate for a specific scope of work. Moreover, this price will depend on a multitude of factors that determine your website. So you will be able to receive the particular amount you should pay for maintenance after agreeing on the terms of cooperation or by looking at the price lists of specific companies (if they have any). A good way is to send an inquiry to the company we are interested in, sending preliminary estimates based on your provided data. Relying on rates found online may be a certain guideline, but it is not always reliable. Therefore, always keep in mind a certain margin of error and carefully study the offer of the companies you are interested in.

How much does it cost to update a website?

The price of updating the website depends on the scope of work to be done. For example, if this is a minor change, adding new, little functionality to the system, which will take about 2-8 hours, the price may vary between $ 200- $ 400. Changes that require a solid website rebuild, and therefore the involvement of a larger team is also more time-consuming. Such changes can take 40-100 hours, translating to an estimated $ 2,200- $ 5,500. However, keep in mind that these are all approximate values. Development professionals can only give you specific numbers after thoroughly calculating the work based on your requirements.

How much does a website cost per month?

Indeed, it will not surprise anyone that the costs depend on the size and complexity of the website and the number of visitors, the type of website or hosting. Therefore, maintenance costs will differ from individual cases, and it is difficult to give universal ones that work for each amount. For example, a personal, small blog hosted on WordPress will require little costs and less work, which do not require the involvement of developers. A dedicated business website will need many issues to be addressed, so the price will also increase. For example, an e-commerce site with a dedicated 40 hours per month maintenance cost will cost around $ 2,500.

What are the benefits of outsourcing website maintenance?

An unmaintained site that becomes outdated or incompatible with newer browsers over time can negatively affect your company’s reputation. So if you do not have the time alone or the staff to be responsible for it, consider hiring outside specialists. See what you can gain from it.

• A dedicated, trusted team at your disposal – by employing a team of specialists for a selected number of hours a month, you gain their exclusivity during this time. So you can be sure that your website will be regularly updated and monitored. You also have room to make any improvements you want the developers to make.
  
• Knowledge and experience – a dedicated team of specialists that know their job, have the appropriate experience and knowledge to care for the quality of your website. You can count on their expertise, ongoing fixing of possible errors, reacting to dangerous events and implementing changes quickly. It has a hugely positive effect on the security of your website, keeping it attractive and generating traffic.
  
• Streamlined processes – you definitely count on timeliness and reliable work, which you gain thanks to outsourcing. The teams that developed and maintained many other websites have developed, tested processes that increase efficiency and ensure the completion of work always on time.
  
• You will gain more time to manage your business – while the team you hire will take care of improving your website, diagnosing errors and any other maintenance work, you have time to develop your business. You don’t have to worry about the condition of your website because a group of specialists does it for you. You can devote yourself to generating company profits, which a polished website will positively influence.

Conclusion

You probably understand how crucial the maintenance of the website is. Regularly checking and improving its quality on an ongoing basis contributes to the development of your business and generating profits. Websites that are not updated are more vulnerable to attacks, data leaks, or failures that prevent their operation. In a time when online presence is critical for businesses in almost every industry, maintaining your company’s website should be an integral part of your development strategy. Users who may be your future customers are very attentive to problems with the operation of the website. It is almost a showcase of your brand. If, in addition, you have an online store or any other type of web platform that you make money on, then maintaining and making it up to date is a must. Many IT agencies offer maintenance plans at a reasonable price that will not strain your company’s budget and even contribute to more incredible benefits and profits. 

Thus, do not hesitate to implement a maintenance plan as soon as possible if you have not done it already. If you are looking for the appropriate specialists, please contact us.