Website Maintenance Basics: What to Expect from Your Website Maintenance Vendor

Website maintenance is the service that ensures that your website runs smoothly and securely throughout the year. Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, your website uptime and operation are critical. Nothing says ‘don't do business with us’ like an inoperational or broken website.

For our clients, the website maintenance service is an invaluable part of our services and a no brainer for the cost and effectiveness. After all, your website reflects your reputation.

Unfortunately, a website not covered by an active website maintenance contract is actually much more common than you would think. Businesses take great pains to set up a website, often working on it for months, only to leave it unattended and vulnerable after launch.

This could also be the mistake of the web design vendor. We do not take up websites without a maintenance contract tied into it. We do not want to work hard only to see the website wither away, the money notwithstanding.

What are the essential functions of website maintenance?

Let’s take a look at the nuts and bolts of website maintenance. A website maintenance contract should ensure the following:

• Ensure your site content is uptodate (working in tandem with the client)
• Protect your site from security threats and hacks
• Ensures smooth user experience and fast loading times
• Keep scripts and plugins/software up-to-date
• Support SEO and marketing initiatives
• Reduces the risk of downtime or data loss with regular backups

Core Services a Vendor Should Provide

1. Regular Updates - A website's underlying technology changes frequently i.e. server software is upgraded, browser versions change or CMS functionality become outdated. The backbone of a website is the Content Management System (CMS). This is a critical component that has to always be uptodate for the site to run smoothly. A website that’s not updated will have components fail till the site itself stops working completely. Updates are critical.
2. Security Monitoring & Protection - Most well trafficked sites also come under constant attack. Not only from malicious hackers but also from automated scripts called ‘Bots’. These bots are automated programs that try to find weaknesses in your website to break in. Once they break in they take over the resources of the server to further their own agenda.
   
   To prevent such malware the firewalls and security measures must be kept uptodate. Known vulnerabilities (there are sites which highlight these for the public good) have to be patched (corrected). The site's SSL certificate that gives it the https:// (Secure) designation must be renewed and maintained.
   
   Of course, even the best prevention is not foolproof. Incase of an attack and hacking of a site, there has to be a contingency plan for backup and recovery. A website maintenance program must have a regular backup schedule either automated or manual.
3. Performance Optimization - There is only so much time that a visitor will wait for your website to load. It has to load fast and cleanly. This is also critical for SEO. As part of the website maintenance, speed testing and improvements must be done on a regular basis to ensure fast load times and great user experience. As the content on the site increases over time it becomes even more crucial to make sure that the website is optimized for speed by using small gains such as image compression, database cleanup, caching etc.
4. Content & UX Updates - A fast and smoothly running site is of no use if the content itself is not uptodate and relevant. Website maintenance contracts must allow for coordination with the client to update the website content on a regular basis. The frequency and types of updates can depend on the contract. These content updates could include adding new pages, images, forms or blog posts. It could also include removing outdated content, pruning is just as important and growing.
5. Technical SEO Maintenance - For Google to rank a site consistently the site must meet specific standards or SEO hygiene. This includes fixing broken links and redirects, maintaining sitemap and robots.txt and optimizing the page speed. These can be done in coordination with the agency handling the site SEO.
6. Troubleshooting & Support - A good website maintenance contract gives you peace of mind knowing that someone is there to support your website throughout the year. Whether its small fixes or emergency support, the website maintenance company must be available to help. A good idea is to have fixed response time guarantees also known as Service Level Agreements (SLAs) so that you know when and how you are going to be assisted depending on the level of issue. Emergency issues should have a SLA of a few hours, routine tasks can be given a longer time period.

Important questions to ask when hiring a website maintenance agency

Ideally the agency that designed the website should be the one to maintain it but due to a variety of reasons that might not be the case. In case you need to hire an agency to maintain your website, you should look for the following:

Do they offer a clear scope of services? Check what’s included and what’s not. Make sure there is no fine print or hidden charges to trip you up later.

Frequency of updates and monitoring of the site? - Clear timelines for when basic maintenance and checking of websites will be done. It can vary from client to client but the vendor must be clear about this.

What’s their turnaround time for requests and issues? - A proper Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that maps out the turnaround time for both emergency issues or routine requests.

Do they offer 24/7 support or only business hours? - A website works 24/7, does your support agency offer the same? Not a deal breaker but if your website processes critical business throughout the 24 hour period then it's good to have a maintenance agency that will support it at any hour of the day.

What’s their backup and recovery process? - Trust me, nothing feels as horrible as to have your site go down and not have the latest backup at hand. Worse still no backup at all except some very old version. Don’t let this happen, ensure that the vendor has a clear backup and recovery process.

How is reporting and communication handled? - Nothing is more frustrating than needing assistance and no one responds to your calls or emails. Ensure that there is smooth communication especially during emergencies. A good robust ticketing system is always a big plus.

A few last thoughts on getting the best website maintenance vendor

Pick an agency that can handle the size and complexity of your website. Smaller agencies can get overwhelmed handling large sites or complex issues. Multi-disciplinary skill sets in an agency is a plus as they will be able to handle different problems easily.

Website Maintenance is not the place to skimp on cost. Yes, get the best deal by all means but don’t beat down the vendor price to such an extent that they are unable to provide quality services. This happens when clients spend a bundle on designing the site but then want to save on maintenance and pay for it later with downtime and business interruptions.

Look for agencies that give due importance to website maintenance. There are many web design agencies that focus on design and development and provide maintenance as an afterthought. Avoid such agencies. Instead look for those that have a robust system and resources to handle website maintenance for their clients.

Long term partnerships matter in website maintenance. Running a site smoothly takes two, the vendor and the client. A good working relationship goes a long way to help grow and manage the site as your business grows with it. During negotiations, aim for a long term deal. Show commitment and get commitment in return.

In Conclusion

Website maintenance is fundamental. The right vendor maintaining your means peace of mind, good business and security of important information. When choosing a vendor for website maintenance, take your time, do the due diligence, and find the right fit for your business. And if it is not working out, you can always choose another vendor. But it's always better to get it right the first time and have a great long term relationship.