Solution · Websites
Website maintenance and support after launch
A website is not finished at launch. Software it depends on receives security updates, browsers change, forms stop delivering because a mail setting changed, and the business itself changes what it sells. Maintenance is the agreed, regular work that keeps the site working, safe and up to date — instead of calling a developer only when something is already broken.
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In short
In short
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Support has two parts: keeping the site healthy (updates, backups, monitoring) and making changes (new pages, fixes, improvements).
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The most important part of the agreement is response time: how fast someone reacts when the site is down, and how fast routine requests are handled.
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Backups only count if restoring them has been tested.
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Monitoring should notice a broken form or an expired certificate before a customer does.
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Everything needed to change contractor — access, code, documentation — should stay with you regardless of who supports the site.
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Scope
What maintenance covers
Keeping the site healthy
- Updates of the platform, plugins, libraries and server software, tested on a copy before being applied to the live site.
- Backups of files and database on a schedule, stored separately from the server, with periodic test restores. See backups and recovery.
- Monitoring of availability, response time, SSL certificate expiry, domain renewal and form delivery. See 24/7 monitoring.
- Security: reviewing logs, closing newly published vulnerabilities, managing access for staff and contractors.
Changes and improvements
- Content changes the team cannot make in the admin panel.
- New pages and sections, landing pages for campaigns.
- Fixes after browser or platform changes.
- Improvements based on analytics: forms, speed, navigation.
How requests are handled
We agree in advance on:
- Channels. Where requests are sent, so nothing is lost in private messages.
- Priorities. A site that is down or a payment that fails is urgent; a new banner is not. Each priority has its own reaction time.
- Volume. How much change work is included per month and how additional work is estimated.
- Reporting. What was updated, what incidents occurred and what was changed during the month.
The formal version of this is a service level agreement — see SLA. For a small business it can be one page; what matters is that the terms are written down before the first incident, not negotiated during it.
If the site was built by someone else
We take over support for sites built by other teams. The first step is an audit: we check access, the state of the code and platform, backups, and what is actually installed on the server. It often turns out that nobody has the hosting password or that backups have not run for months. We fix the basics first and then agree on regular support. A checklist of what you should have received from the original developer is in what to get at website handover.
What we need from you
- Access to hosting, domain registrar, DNS, the admin panel and code repository.
- A contact person who approves changes and receives incident reports.
- Your business hours and who should be called if something breaks at night.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is maintenance necessary for a small website?
Yes, but its scope can be small: updates, backups, monitoring and a few changes a month. Most hacked small-business websites were running outdated software that nobody updated.
Can we do maintenance ourselves?
Content changes, yes — a good admin panel is built for that. Updates, backups and security are better handled by someone who can test changes on a copy and restore the site if an update fails.
What happens if we stop support?
The site keeps working, but updates stop. That is why access, code and backups should be in your hands from the start: then another team or your own staff can take over without an investigation. Agree on this in writing before signing any support arrangement, with us or anyone else.