A maintenance plan is preventive work on a schedule. Most trades website emergencies, from expired domains to hacked plugins, are preventable with routine checks that take little time when done regularly and a lot of time when skipped. A plan makes us responsible for those checks every month and gives you a short note saying what was done and what needs your attention.
What a plan covers
The core of every plan is the same set of jobs, adjusted to how your site is built.
- Software updates. Site software, themes and plugins updated on a schedule, with a backup taken first and the key pages tested afterwards.
- Backups you can restore. Regular copies of the site stored away from the hosting account, plus a test restore from time to time. A backup nobody has tested is a hope, not a backup.
- Renewal calendar. Domain, hosting and certificate renewal dates tracked, with the billing card and contact email checked before each one.
- Monthly page check. Your home page, top service pages and contact page looked at on a phone: does the call button work, is the number right, are the hours and prices current?
- Security basics. Admin users reviewed, old accounts removed, logins protected with two-step verification where the platform allows it.
- A change log. A plain record of every change, so anyone can see what happened and when.
Who this suits
A plan is worth it when your website brings in real work and nobody on your team owns its upkeep. That describes most trades businesses with more than a couple of trucks.
It is less useful if your site is a single page that rarely changes and produces few calls. In that case, a renewal reminder in your own calendar may be enough, and we'll tell you so on the free consultation.
Plans are particularly helpful for trades with a sharp peak season. Roofers, landscapers, pool and deck builders, and snow-clearing companies get much of their year's enquiries in a few weeks. Doing updates and tests in the quiet months, and freezing risky changes during the rush, protects those weeks.
How the first month works
- Inventory. We list every part of your web presence: registrar, DNS host, hosting, site platform, plugins, certificates, analytics and connected accounts.
- Baseline backup. A full copy of the site before we change anything.
- Catch-up updates. If the site is behind, we update in stages and test after each one.
- Fix the quick risks. Remove former employees' admin accounts, turn on two-step verification, set renewals to a card and email that won't disappear.
- Set the routine. Agree the update day, the backup schedule and when you'll receive the monthly note.
After that, the routine runs and you hear from us monthly, or sooner if something needs a decision.
How we measure whether it's working
Maintenance is measured by what doesn't happen. We track:
- renewals completed before their due dates
- updates applied, and any that we held back because they broke something in testing
- backups taken and test restores passed
- issues found in the monthly check and how quickly they were closed
Over a year, the useful number is how many urgent incidents you had compared with the year before. For most owners the answer we're aiming for is zero or close to it.
Mistakes to avoid with maintenance
- Turning on every automatic update and walking away. Automatic updates are useful, but untested ones can break a quote page without anyone noticing for weeks.
- Keeping backups only on the same hosting account. If the account is lost or compromised, so are the backups.
- Letting renewals run on a personal card. When that card expires or the person leaves, the renewal fails.
- Treating maintenance as marketing. A well-maintained site still needs content and local SEO to win new work; see marketing upkeep.
For the questions to ask any provider before you sign, read how to choose a support plan. Plan prices are on the pricing page, and one-off problems are handled under fixes and changes.
Frequently asked questions
My site was built three years ago and has never been updated. Is it too late?
Usually not, but the first round of updates needs care. We take a full backup, update in stages and test after each stage, because jumping three years of updates at once is a common way to break a site.
Do I need maintenance if my site is on a website builder platform?
Less of the technical work, because the platform handles the software. You still need someone tracking the domain renewal, checking the pages on phones, keeping prices and services current and watching your Google listing.
Will maintenance make my site rank higher?
Not by itself. Maintenance protects what you have: it keeps pages loading, secure and accurate. Rankings come from content, local SEO and reviews, which is what our marketing upkeep covers.
What do I receive each month?
A short plain-language note: what was updated, whether backups ran and were tested, any renewals coming up, anything we spotted that needs a decision from you, and the changes you asked for.