What does website maintenance include?
Website maintenance includes the regular checks and work needed to keep your website functioning, its software updated and its information accurate. Depending on your website and support agreement, it can cover backups, software updates, security monitoring, performance checks and small content changes.
For a business owner, the practical question is whether customers can still do what they came to do. Can they find your current services, send an enquiry or complete an order? A website can look fine on the homepage while something important has stopped working elsewhere.
Is website maintenance the same as hosting?
Website maintenance and hosting are different services, although a provider may include both in one package. Hosting provides the infrastructure that makes your website available online; maintenance covers agreed work on the website itself.
Paying for hosting does not automatically mean someone is updating your website software, checking your enquiry form or changing your opening hours. Equally, a maintenance package may exclude hosting and domain renewals.
Ask for a clear breakdown of what is included and who handles each part. This is especially useful if your domain, hosting and website support are managed by different companies.
The checks that matter for a business website
A useful maintenance plan should reflect how your website works. A small service website needs different checks from an online shop with payments, stock information and customer accounts.
| Area | What to check |
|---|---|
| Software | Relevant website software, themes and extensions are maintained and compatible. |
| Backups | Copies of the website are available, and there is a clear process for restoring them. |
| Enquiries | Forms submit successfully and messages reach the intended recipient. |
| Customer information | Services, opening hours, prices and contact details are accurate. |
| Links | Important navigation, buttons and downloads lead to the correct destination. |
| Mobile layout | Customers can read the content and use the main features on a phone. |
| Online sales | Where applicable, checkout, payment and order notifications work as expected. |
Checking the full journey matters. For example, submitting a test enquiry and seeing a confirmation message is only part of the check. Someone should also confirm that the enquiry arrived where it should.
Why do software updates need checking?
Software updates need checking because changes can affect how different parts of a website work together. Updating a theme or extension may alter a layout, form or feature, so testing afterwards is part of the job.
For example for WordPress websites, the official WordPress update guidance recommends taking a backup before updating. A backup should include the files and database needed to recover the website.
The appropriate update process depends on the site. For a more complex website, testing changes on a separate copy before applying them to the live site can help identify problems before customers encounter them.
Keep the information customers rely on current
Technical checks are one part of website maintenance. Your content also needs attention when your business changes.
If you stop offering a service, change your telephone number or adjust your prices, update every relevant page. Check the main service information, FAQs, downloadable documents and any repeated details in the footer.
For businesses in Swindon and Wiltshire, accurate service-area information is useful too. Customers should be able to tell whether you cover their location without having to guess.
How often should you check your website?
Your website should be checked after significant changes, with regular reviews scheduled around how frequently it changes and how much your business relies on it. A busy online shop will generally need closer attention than a small website with rarely changing content.
As a practical starting point, schedule a monthly review of contact details, important links and enquiry forms. Check relevant functions again after software updates or changes to the site. Backups and monitoring may need to run more frequently, depending on how much information you could afford to lose or how quickly you need to spot a problem.
Include performance in your review. If pages become noticeably slower, investigate what changed rather than assuming a redesign is needed. Our guide to improving the speed of your business website explains the areas worth checking.
What should you ask before paying for website maintenance?
Before paying for website maintenance, ask which tasks are included, how often they happen and what costs extra. The scope of the work gives you a more useful comparison than the monthly price alone.
Check whether the agreement includes:
- Software updates and testing afterwards.
- Backups, retention periods and restoration support.
- Monitoring and a clear way to report problems.
- An allowance for content changes, with any limits explained.
- Support hours and agreed response arrangements.
- Hosting, domain renewals and paid software licences, where applicable.
Also ask what happens if the website is already broken, an extension is no longer supported or you need a new feature. These jobs may sit outside routine maintenance.
Swindon Web Creations provides website design, hosting and ongoing support. If you would like help understanding what your existing website needs, speak to our team about the site and the support you are looking for.
