Website maintenance: what’s it for, and do you really need to pay for it?

A website isn’t a printed brochure: it’s software. It runs on a server, relies on components that evolve, and is constantly exposed to malicious bots. Without upkeep, it eventually slows down, shows errors or gets hacked. Maintenance is the guarantee that it keeps working and bringing you customers.

What good maintenance covers

Updates

CMS, theme, plugins, server language, code dependencies: everything must be updated regularly, after checking nothing breaks. On WordPress, it’s the leading cause of hacking: one outdated plugin is enough.

Backups

Automatic backups, stored somewhere other than the website’s server, and tested. A backup that’s never been restored is just an assumption.

Security and monitoring

• Uptime monitoring, with an alert in case of an outage.
• Renewal of the SSL certificate and the domain name.
• Monitoring of intrusion attempts and modified files.
• Checking that forms work and that emails arrive.

Technical and SEO monitoring

Checking performance and Core Web Vitals, indexing errors in Search Console, broken links and error pages.

Small changes

Adding a page, changing a form, updating prices, integrating a new tool: an included bank of hours avoids asking for a quote for every small request.

What happens without maintenance?

• Hacking: redirects to fraudulent websites, injected spam pages, website flagged as dangerous by Google.
• Outage: an automatic update by the host makes the website incompatible, and nobody notices for days.
• Data loss: no recent backup the day the server goes down.
• Slow degradation: the website slows down, features stop working, SEO erodes.

Maintenance depends on the technology

• WordPress and WooCommerce: essential, regular maintenance, because of the number of plugins and their exposure.
• Shopify: the platform handles hosting and security. Maintenance covers the theme, apps and content.
• Static or headless website: far fewer security risks, but the code dependencies and the CMS must be maintained. See our article headless CMS or WordPress.
• Custom application: corrective and evolutive maintenance to plan from the outset, with a clear contract.

How much does it cost?

For a showcase website, allow a few tens of euros a month for basic maintenance, more if hours for changes are included. For an online store or an application, the budget depends on the level of monitoring and the expected response time. Our article on the price of a website in Marseille gives the orders of magnitude for building one.

The questions to ask before signing

1. What exactly is included, and how often?
2. What’s the response time in case of an outage?
3. Where are backups stored, and for how long?
4. Are small changes included, and up to what limit?
5. Will I receive a regular report?
6. Can I cancel easily, and get my website and access back?

This last point is essential: you must remain the owner of your website, your domain name and your access. It’s one of the 10 questions to ask your web agency.

Maintenance or redesign?

If your website is more than five or six years old, runs on obsolete versions or every update has become risky, maintenance costs more and more for an increasingly poor result. A redesign on a sound foundation is then more cost-effective. We help you decide during our free audit.