A website isn’t a one-off purchase. The software it runs on needs regular updates, the server needs looking after, and small changes keep coming up. A care plan, sometimes called a maintenance plan, is how most small businesses handle that without hiring someone in-house.
Plans vary a lot in what they actually include. Here is a checklist to compare them, whoever you choose.
The essentials
Secure, managed hosting
Your site should be served over HTTPS with a certificate that renews automatically, on a server that is patched and protected by a firewall. Ask where the site is hosted and who is responsible for the server itself.
Software and security updates
Out-of-date software is one of the most common ways small business websites are compromised, often leading to spam pages, malicious redirects or damage to your search rankings. A good plan applies updates regularly, tests that the site still works afterwards, and patches urgent security issues quickly.
Backups you can actually restore
Backups should run automatically, be stored somewhere separate from the website itself and be kept for a sensible period. Crucially, the provider should test restoring them. A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan.
Monitoring
Someone should know the site is down before your customers tell you. Uptime monitoring with alerts is standard; performance and security monitoring are a bonus.
Time for changes
Most plans include a monthly allowance for content updates and small improvements. Check how requests are made, how quickly they are handled and what happens to unused time.
Questions to ask any provider
- Who owns the website, the domain name and the hosting account?
- If I leave, how do I get a full copy of my site and data, and how quickly?
- How often are updates applied, and how are they tested?
- How often are backups taken, where are they stored, and when were they last tested?
- What happens if the site is hacked? Is clean-up included?
- How do I raise a request, and how quickly will you respond?
- What is the notice period, and are there any exit fees?
Signs your current site needs attention
- Pages are slow to load, especially on mobile.
- You see warnings in your hosting control panel or website dashboard that nobody acts on.
- Strange pages or links appear in search results for your domain.
- Nobody is sure who has the passwords for the hosting, domain or website.
If any of those sound familiar, it is worth a review sooner rather than later, especially the third one, which can be a sign the site has been compromised.
How we approach it
Our website hosting and care plans are built around this checklist, and you always keep ownership of your site and data. If your current site is old and hard to maintain, we can also rebuild it to be faster and lower-maintenance. Get in touch for a no-obligation review.