You’ve done it. You’ve just launched your brand-new website. Job done right? You can sit back, relax, and let your website do its thing…
Not quite. Unfortunately, the reality isn’t quite so straightforward. Websites are not static products, and the world wide web isn’t a stationary system. Websites are actually dynamic, evolving entities that require constant care and maintenance. But just how much maintenance is required? And can you get by without? Let’s find out.
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Why do WordPress websites require ongoing fixes and maintenance?
The web is constantly evolving. Web standards improve, technology advances, user behaviour changes – it’s an ever-shifting landscape. Just like a car, a website left unmaintained will deteriorate over time.
There are five key reasons for this:
1. Websites have to be kept secure
Website security is an arms race. Malicious actors work to exploit vulnerabilities in websites while software developers race to patch and strengthen them. Not keeping on top of security updates is a disaster waiting to happen. You might think that your website would be of no interest to hackers, but this categorically isn’t the case.
Based on an analysis of 7 million websites, SiteLock reports that websites currently experience an average of 94 attacks every day, and are visited by bots approximately 2,608 times a week.
If your website is online, it is of value to hackers. It can be hijacked to send spam, altered to host phishing pages, and even exploited to mine cryptocurrency. Malicious bots scour the internet, probing and attacking every website they stumble upon. An unmaintained website becomes more and more vulnerable to these bots with every passing day.
2. As a website grows, performance can slow
The content of most websites grows over time. Think new blog posts, comments, user accounts, images, pages, products… Every website is different but very few will remain as they were at launch for their entire lifespan. If a website’s database and new content isn’t reviewed and optimised then it can become slower, and if its resource usage outgrows its server’s capabilities then it can even crash.
3. Updates, updates, updates
Plugins are a vital part of a WordPress website. They extend the basic WordPress website functionality with things like booking systems, e-commerce capabilities, and email marketing features. The more complex your website, the more plugins your website is likely running. Each one of these plugins will require its own regular updates. These updates fix bugs, add features, and improve compatibility with other plugins. If updates are not installed, then unexpected problems and compatibility issues can arise. Occasionally, new updates can cause problems too. When this occurs the plugin version must be rolled back to an earlier, problem-free, version.
4. It’s all about the user experience
A website that is not maintained and does not stay current with the latest website design practises can look outdated, irrelevant, and unprofessional. This can affect your brand image and credibility.
At worst this can result in a website that is difficult to use and turns visitors away.
Regular maintenance can ensure that your website displays correctly on the latest devices and web browsers and doesn’t fall behind the competition.
5. To win at Search Engine Optimisation you have to play the long game
For a website to remain relevant and appear high in search engine results pages it should be updated regularly and consistently follow web development best-practises. Content should be reviewed often to ensure it is properly optimised for search engines. A website maintenance package that includes SEO tasks can help with this and ensure that your website content is performing at its best and attracting visitors.
What is a website support care plan?
A website support care plan is an ongoing service that provides regular maintenance and support for your website. It ensures that your website is looked after and kept in tip-top shape. All the technical nitty gritty is taken care of, giving you the freedom to get on with the stuff you really care about.
A website support care plan helps you to keep your website fast, functional, reliable, and secure.
What is included in a WordPress website support care plan?
WordPress website care plans typically include WordPress updates, website backups, uptime monitoring, fixes for technical issues, security monitoring and malware removal, and technical support.
Our WordPress website support care plans cover a wide range of essential website tasks. The cover you get depends on the type of plan that you opt for.
Our plans include:
- Security updates: as soon as a security update is released it is applied to your website to keep it protected.
- Updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins
- Human website testing: we manually check your website after every update to ensure it’s working as intended
- Fixes for any website issues or errors
- Regular FULL backups of your website files and database
- Daily malware scans and removal
- Comment spam protection
- Website uptime and traffic monitoring
- Speed and performance monitoring
- Speed optimisations
- Monthly status reports
- Hacked website recovery
- Expert technical support and guidance
- Monthly SEO reports
- Broken link monitoring
- Content updates
- A discount on our hourly service rate for any additional work outside the scope of the service plan
Do you really need a WordPress support care plan? What happens if you don’t have one?
Choosing not to be covered by a website care plan can have serious consequences for your WordPress website. If it isn’t kept up-to-date and secure, your website could become vulnerable to cyber-attacks, malware, and technical issues.
Without a care plan, you risk website downtime, data loss, reputation damage and (if you have a business website) potential loss of customers. If your website gets hacked and you don’t have any backups, you may even face a complete website rebuild.
How valuable is your time?
Going without a website support care plan could prove to be a costly decision. If your website does experience any issues you would have to spend valuable time and resources troubleshooting the problem yourself or hiring a professional to do it at a higher cost.
A website is like an investment – it requires proper care and attention to protect its value. If it isn’t looked after, then in a few years you could find yourself with a low-value website that requires a big overhaul or even a rebuild just to get it back up to the level it was when it launched. Far smarter to stay on top of things and keep your website working the best it can, year after year.
How much risk can you afford to take?
Ultimately it comes down to how much risk you are willing or able to take, and how much of the necessary website maintenance you are able to do yourself. With a personal blog you perhaps don’t have as much to lose but if your website is the face of your business, holds personal user data, or is an e-commerce website, you really can’t afford to not be covered by a maintenance plan.
How to get started with a WordPress support care plan
It couldn’t be simpler!
- Get in touch with us and we will review your website and requirements.
- Choose one of our care plans from the options we give you.
- Share your website access details with us via a secure tool.
- Relax! Your website is now in safe hands. We’ll keep it maintained, secure and optimised.
Don’t let your website lose its shine. Let us keep it up-to-date and secure and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your website is in safe hands.
Summing-up
Hopefully you now have a clear idea of exactly what a website support care plan includes and why it is so important.
A good website care plan is an investment in your website. It protects the value of your website and saves you time and money in the long run. It keeps your website running at its best: fast, secure, optimised and up to date.
It’s also worth remembering that among all the benefits that a support care plan brings, one of the biggest is the peace of mind it can provide. Not having to worry about the technical side of running a website can free you up to focus on what matters to you.
Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, deciding to go without a support care plan is a risky move and could end up costing you time, money and energy that could be better spent.
Don’t let your website fall behind. Get in touch now and let’s get your website performing at its best.
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