A website maintenance plan so nothing breaks quietly
Updates, backups, security monitoring and a monthly allowance for small edits. The unglamorous work that decides whether a site still works in two years.
What actually goes wrong after launch
Very few sites fail dramatically. They degrade, and usually nobody notices until a customer mentions it.
WordPress, the theme and every plugin release updates constantly. Skip them for a year and two things happen: known security holes stay open, and the eventual update becomes risky because so much changed at once. Meanwhile a plugin gets abandoned by its developer and silently stops working. A form stops sending emails and nobody finds out until a month of enquiries has gone missing. Prices on the site drift out of date because changing them was never anyone job.
A website maintenance plan exists because these are ongoing responsibilities, not one-time tasks, and because most businesses have nobody whose job it is to check.
What a plan covers
Core, theme and plugin updates applied on a schedule, tested rather than clicked blindly, with a restore point taken first.
Off-site backups stored away from the hosting account, because a backup living on the same server as the site is not really a backup.
Uptime monitoring so an outage is noticed here rather than reported by a customer.
Security monitoring for file changes, malware and login attacks, with SSL and expiry dates watched.
Form testing on a schedule, because silently broken forms are the most expensive failure on any small business site.
A monthly allowance for small edits. Text changes, image swaps, new prices, a staff update. No quote needed for anything inside the allowance.
Speed checks so gradual slowdown gets caught before it affects rankings.
Who needs one, and who does not
Worth it when
Nobody in the business is technical, the site generates real enquiries or revenue, or the last time anything was updated is genuinely unknown.
Also worth it when
The site is doing quiet, important work: taking bookings, collecting leads, or being the first thing a buyer checks before a decision.
Not worth it when
Someone in-house already handles updates competently and enjoys it. Paying for a plan on top of that is a waste.
Be honest about
A brochure site with no traffic and no forms needs security updates, but probably not a full plan. Say so and pay for updates only.
What a plan is not
Not unlimited work. The monthly allowance covers small edits. A new page, a redesigned section or a new feature is a separate quote, and that gets said clearly rather than argued about later.
Not hosting. Hosting stays in the client name with whichever provider suits. Nothing is resold at a markup, and the account is never held hostage.
Not marketing. A plan keeps the site healthy. It does not write blog posts or build links. That is content and SEO work.
Not a lock-in. Plans are monthly and can be stopped, which is consistent with how the studio works generally. Backups and access are handed over on request, not held as leverage.
Plans are billed monthly in US dollars, with tiers depending on site size and how much edit time is included.
Common questions
Do you maintain sites you did not build?
Yes, after an initial audit. Occasionally that audit finds a site in bad enough shape that a redesign is the more sensible spend, and that gets said plainly.
What if the site breaks after an update?
A restore point is taken before every update, so rolling back takes minutes. Fixing update-related breakage is part of the plan.
How quickly do edits happen?
Small edits are handled within a few working days. Anything genuinely urgent, like a broken form or a site down, is treated as urgent.
Can I cancel?
Monthly, no notice period. Backups and access are handed over.
What happens in the first month
A website maintenance plan does not start with routine updates. It starts with finding out what state the site is actually in, which on a neglected site takes some work.
A full audit. Versions, abandoned plugins, existing vulnerabilities, broken links, missing backups. Most sites that have gone a year or two without attention have several problems nobody knew about.
Backups first. Before touching anything, a complete off-site copy, so there is always a way back.
Catch-up updates. Applied carefully in stages rather than all at once, because a backlog of updates is where things break.
A written report. What was found, what was fixed, and what needs a decision. Anything outside the plan gets quoted rather than done quietly and invoiced.
After that first month the work settles into a routine, which is the point. Maintenance that gets noticed is maintenance that is going wrong.
Send the site address
An audit of the current state comes first, then a recommendation on which tier fits, or whether a plan is needed at all. No lock-in and no resold hosting. More on how the studio works.