What keeps a website standing

A website, like any other software, needs maintenance. Even if nobody touches it, a published website depends on a server, a security certificate, a content management system and dozens of components that keep changing on their own even when you change nothing.

Maintenance is precisely the work that deals with those changes: applying updates in time, keeping copies in case something goes wrong and making sure the website keeps responding. In this article I explain what each of those tasks consists of, what happens on the day something fails, which is when the difference between one plan and another really shows, and how much all of it costs per month. What I describe applies equally to a website on WordPress, on any other content management system or built from scratch.

What changes without you touching it

The content management system (the program used to edit the pages, such as WordPress), its extensions and the rest of the pieces of code receive security fixes all the time. Keeping them up to date is the task that protects a website the most, but also the one that demands the most care, because an update can alter how another piece works. That is why updates are always applied with a recent backup at hand and, once applied, the website is checked to make sure it still works properly.

The tasks are the same whatever the technology; what varies is where the work is concentrated:

• WordPress. The core, the theme and the plugins have to be kept up to date. The more plugins a website has, the more updates it receives and the more it pays to review them one by one.
• PrestaShop and other systems. The work is split between the core and the modules, with particular attention to the payment and shipping ones.
• Bespoke websites. They have no plugins, but they do have a language, a framework and dependencies with their own release calendar.

I also maintain websites I did not build, whatever technology they are made with. In that case I work on your hosting with the access details you give me and, before starting, I review the state of the website so I can tell you clearly what it needs. If it has gone a while without maintenance, bringing it up to date is done as a separate job at €190.

What gets kept

A backup is a complete copy of the website, but not just any copy will do. For it to be useful it has to meet three conditions: it has to run as often as the website changes; it has to be stored away from the server where the website is hosted, so it remains available if that server fails; and it has to have been restored at least once, because until a copy is restored nobody knows whether it really works.

In my plans the backup is always stored off the server; how often it runs depends on the plan and can be weekly, daily or every 12 hours.

What gets watched

There are two things worth watching permanently: that the website is available and that it is secure. For the first, an automatic system checks the website around the clock and raises the alarm the moment it stops responding, so the incident is dealt with when it happens and not when a customer discovers it.

As for security, the basics are the certificate (the padlock that shows in the browser), which must always be active and renewed. From there, the higher plans add a firewall, which filters the traffic before it reaches the website, and a periodic scan for malware, that is, malicious code.

Besides, over time a website tends to get slower as it accumulates images, extensions and content. That is why, from the Corporate plan up, maintenance also includes optimising the loading speed.

The day something fails

Sooner or later something fails: an update breaks a page, the server stops responding or a form no longer sends its messages. On that day there are two figures that really matter, and they are the ones that set one plan apart from another: how much is lost and how long it takes to react.

How much is lost depends on how old the last backup is. With a weekly backup, restoring the website can mean losing several days of changes, which is acceptable on a website that is rarely updated; with a daily one, at most a day is lost. A shop that takes orders every day needs a shorter margin, and that is why its backup runs every 12 hours.

The reaction time is the plan’s other commitment. In mine, the response time is under 48 hours on the Essential plan, under 24 on the Corporate one and 12 hours on the Shop one, which comes down to 4 hours when it is an emergency.

If the problem is a malware infection, the clean-up is included once a year in the Shop plan; in the other plans it is done as a fixed-price job at €190.

What it costs per month

With those two figures in mind, the fees make much more sense. These are my three plans:

	Essential	Corporate	Shop
Monthly fee	€35	€55	€95
Backup	Weekly	Daily	Every 12 hours
Response	Under 48 hours	Under 24 hours	Within 12 hours, and 4 for emergencies
Firewall and malware scanning	No	Yes	Yes
Work included per month	No	30 minutes	One hour
Monthly report	No	Yes	Yes, with the shop’s metrics

All three include the updates, the backup stored off the server, the security certificate and the uptime monitoring. The fees exclude VAT and no plan has a lock-in: they are paid month by month and can be cancelled whenever you like. You have the full comparison, row by row, on the maintenance page.

If I built the website and it is hosted on my servers, hosting is included in any of the plans. If it is hosted elsewhere, the plan covers only the maintenance and your hosting provider stays the same.

The plan covers the day-to-day work. Larger jobs, such as a new section or a redesign, are quoted separately, with a bundle of hours or as a fixed-price job. And in the case of custom software, such as an internal application, the maintenance is sized in a custom plan according to its requirements.

What to ask before signing up

Two plans with the same fee can cover very different things. Before taking one out, it is worth asking these questions:

1. Is there a lock-in? Ask as well what happens to the website and its backups if you cancel.
2. Where are the backups stored? If they are off the server, they remain available even if the server fails.
3. Have they been restored as a test? A test restore is the only way to check that they work.
4. How quickly do they respond? And whether that time is different when the website is down.
5. What work is included? How many minutes a month and how they are counted.
6. In whose name is the domain? It should be in yours. And if the provider supplies the hosting, it is worth knowing how you would take the website with you if you decide to move.
7. What do I receive each month? A monthly report is the proof that the work is being done.

If the answers are clear, your website will most likely be one of those that go years without a single problem. And by now you know it will not be by chance.

Frequently asked questions