A website is not a leaflet you print once. The software around your site gets updates, browsers change, security holes are discovered and your own offer shifts. Maintenance keeps your site secure, fast and usable, even when you rarely look at it yourself.
For a hair salon, an installer or a restaurant, the website is often where a new customer makes first contact. A broken form or an expired certificate only shows when enquiries stop coming in. That is why a fixed routine pays off.
What maintenance involves
Maintenance has six parts. They sound technical, but each one has a direct business consequence.
Updates
A CMS, plugins, themes and underlying packages get new versions regularly. Many updates close security holes. If they are left waiting, your site runs on software with known weaknesses. Do not install updates blindly on the live site: test them on a copy first where you can.
Backups
A backup is only worth something if you can restore it. Keep backups somewhere other than the site itself, keep several versions and now and then actually try a restore. That way you know how long it takes and whether anything is missing.
Security
Think of a valid SSL certificate, strong passwords with two-step verification for every admin account, and removing accounts of former staff or a previous web builder. Our article on cybersecurity for small businesses covers what else is involved.
Speed
New photos, extra scripts and a growing database slowly make a site slower. Google measures this with the Core Web Vitals: a good score is an LCP of up to 2.5 seconds, an INP of up to 200 milliseconds and a CLS of up to 0.1. Measure on mobile, because that is where most visitors are and where slowness shows first.
Content
Are your opening hours, prices, services and team photos still right? A hotel with an outdated package or a yoga studio with last season’s timetable loses trust. Outdated content also tells search engines that little is happening.
Forms
This is the one most often forgotten. A form can work fine in the browser while the email behind it never arrives, for example because of a changed password or a spam filter. So send test enquiries yourself and check that they land where they should.
The monthly list
Allow an hour or less when everything is in order. Do it at a fixed moment, such as the first Monday of the month.
- Updates: check which updates are waiting and install them, on a test environment first if you have one.
- Backup: check that the automatic backups succeeded and how old the latest one is.
- Forms: send a test enquiry through every form and check the confirmation email and the notification on your side.
- Speed: measure your homepage and your main service page on mobile with PageSpeed Insights.
- Errors: look in Google Search Console for new errors and pages that can no longer be found.
- Content: check opening hours, contact details and offers.
The yearly list
Once a year you take a wider view. It takes more time, but it catches the things that drift slowly.
- Test a restore: restore a backup in full on a test location and check that everything works.
- Clean up accounts: remove admins, integrations and keys that are no longer needed.
- Domain and certificate: check expiry dates and that the domain name is registered to your business.
- Plugins and scripts: remove what you no longer use; every extra piece of software is something to keep up to date.
- Privacy: review your cookies and privacy statement, see privacy and cookies on your website.
- Content and offer: rewrite pages that no longer fit what you sell today.
Do it yourself or outsource
With a simple site, a little time and a fixed routine, you can do a lot yourself. Outsourcing makes sense when updates keep waiting, nobody reads the alerts or you are not sure your forms work. It also helps when your site is linked to other systems, such as a booking calendar or a till, and someone needs to oversee the whole.
For websites we build, we handle this through hosting and care: backups, security updates, monitoring and support with fixed arrangements per month. Want to know first how your current site is doing? Request the free website check. You get an overview of what works well and what needs attention.
Good maintenance is quiet. You mainly notice it because problems do not happen.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I update my website?
Check at least every month whether updates are waiting. Security updates for a widely used CMS or plugin are best installed within a few days.
Is a backup from my hosting provider enough?
Often it is as a starting point, but check how long those backups are kept and whether you can start a restore yourself. A second copy somewhere else adds certainty.
How do I know my contact form works?
Send a test enquiry yourself and check that both the confirmation to the visitor and the notification to you arrive. Do this every month and after every change to the site.