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Website maintenance: what it includes and why sites break without it
Why an unattended site ages, how technical support differs from content support, how to hand a site over to a new contractor and how to check yours in 15 minutes.
After launch a website looks finished: it opens, forms work, customers visit. But a site is software running on a server, and without care it ages. Within a year or two you get outdated modules, an expired SSL certificate, a broken enquiry form or a hack. Here is what website maintenance includes, how technical support differs from content support, and how to check your own site in 15 minutes.
Why sites "break" without support
- Outdated CMS and modules. Vulnerabilities are found in old versions and then used for attacks. Updates close those holes.
- Server updates. The hosting provider moves to a new PHP or database version, and old code stops working.
- SSL certificate and domain. If they are not renewed on time, browsers show a warning, and the site can disappear altogether.
- No backups. After a failure or a hack there is nothing to restore, and the site has to be rebuilt.
- Silent failures. The enquiry form stopped sending emails, and nobody notices until sales drop a month later.
- Stale content. Old prices, last year's offers and empty news sections reduce trust and search rankings.
Technical support vs content support
| Technical support | Content and SEO support | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | The site opens, runs fast and is protected | The site has up-to-date information and is found in search |
| Includes | CMS and module updates, backups, uptime and SSL monitoring, hack protection, bug fixes | Publishing news, offers, products and vacancies, page edits, meta tags, internal linking, index monitoring |
| Matters most for | Every site, especially those with forms and payments | Sites that change often and get customers from search |
You can choose either or both. The minimum every site needs is updates, backups and uptime monitoring.
Monthly plan or one-off tasks
A monthly plan is a package of hours per month. It suits sites with regular tasks: publishing, small improvements, updates. The site is always looked after, and tasks do not wait for separate approval.
One-off tasks suit sites that rarely change. But then someone has to run the regular checks — updates, backups, SSL — or remind the contractor.
How to hand a site over to a new contractor
If the previous developer no longer responds or you decide to switch studios, collect:
- access to the domain registrar — the domain should be registered to your company;
- access to the hosting or server and the database;
- admin access to the site's control panel;
- the source code and a recent backup of the site and database;
- access to email, Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster and analytics;
- a list of connected services: payments, 1C, CRM, Telegram bots.
A new contractor starts with an audit: it checks the code and hosting and only then defines the scope of work. That is how we took over the BINOKOR TEMIR BETON SERVIS site: we redesigned it in Russian, Uzbek and English, moved it to new hosting and continue to support it.
Checklist: check your site in 15 minutes
- Open the site on a phone: everything is readable, menus and buttons work.
- Check the padlock in the address bar and the SSL certificate expiry date.
- Check the domain expiry date at your registrar.
- Submit an enquiry through the form and make sure it arrives.
- Test the speed in PageSpeed Insights.
- Search Google for
site:your-domainand see how many pages are indexed and whether any look unfamiliar. - Check the date of the latest news item and whether prices and contacts are current.
- Ask your contractor when the last backup was made and where it is stored.
- Find out the CMS and PHP versions: versions that have not been updated in a long time are a reason for an audit.
FAQ
How much does website maintenance cost?
It depends on the platform and code quality, the number of language versions, how much you publish and whether you need SEO support. We price it after an audit, and the estimate is free.
Will you support a site built by another studio?
Yes. We start with an audit to understand the state of the code and hosting, and only then define the scope and price.
How fast do you respond to problems?
Within 2 hours during business hours. You post tasks in Trello, where you can also see their status and the history of work.
Not sure what state your site is in? Order a free express audit: we check speed, indexing, CMS versions, SSL, forms and backups. More on technical support and content and SEO support.
Further reading: SEO in Uzbekistan: how to rank in Yandex and Google; How to choose a web studio in Tashkent: 12 questions.
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