What does website maintenance include?

A website is not finished on launch day. Software ages, certificates expire, a form stops sending, a plugin breaks after an update, and a page that worked last month returns an error. Maintenance is the work that keeps a live site safe, fast and working. This guide lists what it covers, what to ask for and how to tell a real maintenance plan from a vague promise.

What maintenance usually covers

• Updates. The framework, the libraries and any plugins get security and bug-fix updates. An old version is a common way for a site to get hacked.
• Backups you can restore. A backup that nobody has tested is a hope, not a backup. Ask when the last restore test was done.
• Monitoring. Someone, or something, checks that the site is up and that key pages and forms work, and tells a person when they do not.
• Domain, certificate and hosting renewals. An expired domain or certificate takes the whole site offline. Ask who holds the account and who is told before the date.
• Search health. Errors in Search Console, broken links and pages that drop out of the index are caught early. See the technical SEO checklist.
• Speed. New images, scripts and tools slow a site over time. See website speed.
• Small content changes. Text, images and new pages, within an agreed scope.

What maintenance does not cover by default

A new feature, a redesign or a new integration is a project, not maintenance. Agree where that line is, so that a small request is not a surprise bill and a large request is not a surprise refusal.

Who owns what

• You own the domain, hosting account and code repository, or you hold full access to them. If only the agency holds them, you cannot leave without their help.
• Access is personal and removable. Each person has their own login, and access is removed when someone leaves.
• Passwords sit in a password manager, not in an email or a shared file.

Support: what a promise of constant availability can and cannot mean

A promise of constant support is only useful if it says what happens and how a request reaches a person. Ask how to report a problem out of hours, what counts as urgent and what a reply means: an acknowledgement, a first answer or a fix. Do not treat a general promise as a service-level agreement unless a contract says so.

Questions to ask before you agree a plan

• What exactly is included, and what is a separate project?
• Who holds the domain, hosting and code, and what do I get if we part ways?
• How are backups made, where are they kept and when were they last restored?
• How will I know the site is down, and who is told?
• How do I report a problem out of hours, and what happens next?
• What do I get to see: a monthly note, a report or nothing?

Security habits are part of upkeep: see website security basics.

Sources and further reading

• NCSC: small organisations' guide to cyber security

How DMC Kreatif handles it

We describe the support terms in writing with the client before launch. Direct support means you reach the person who built the site. We do not promise a response time or uptime in this guide: those go in the quote or the contract, if the project needs them.

For the build side, read our websites service and the guide on website hosting. To start, ask for a quote. Within 48 h you get a concrete approach, a realistic timeline and a clear quote.