You’ve got a perfect new website, that means hands off for the next five years – right?
Wrong. If you LOVE the website you’ve spent months planning, designing and building, you’ll want to keep it that way. Think of it your digital dog that needs nurturing and nourishment to stay healthy.
“Feed” it with quality content to ensure a good SEO ranking; fix “bugs” as they occur; prevent issues, and keep it “safe” with regular updates; much like you do your phone or favourite apps.
By nature, websites are prone to technical issues, downtime, even hacking…not exactly what you signed up for.
In this article, we’ll tell you why setting up a maintenance plan for your site can save time and money in the long run.
What is a maintenance plan?
Any web design agency worth their salt will recommend a maintenance plan, and talk you through what’s included in the additional fee you’ll need to pay.
Yes, it’s an extra charge for this monthly service but it will ensure you’re always up-to-date and secure.
Usually, prices range from $50 to $250 per month, depending on what’s included in the package and the amount of support provided.
Right about now you’re probably asking, “why can’t I just do it myself?”
We’ve compiled a list of reasons why to let experts care for your website, while you take care of business.
1. Whoops, I broke it…
Once your site is complete, you’ll get access to the “back end,” at which time you’ll probably want to make yourself familiar.
Trouble is, one wrong move can leave you staring at a blank section, funky formatting, terrible typos or worse – it’s possible to delete an entire section.
These are all time-consuming fixes, that could be simply avoided with a maintenance package, allowing a web designer to step in and put things right – fast
2. We’ll take away your hosting and domain pain.
Hosting is the equivalent of renting space online, you can’t have a website without it, and MUST pay annual fees to keep the site and domain name(s) live.
A maintenance plan will spread this cost over time, to keep everything ticking along . You can leave that up to us!
3. Hackers be gone.
Website downtime = loss for your business service, product or brand.
Many sites collect and store personal information from customers or potential customers. If security isn’t up to scratch – this data could be put at risk.
A maintenance plan provides an additional layer of security to protect your site.
Think of us as gate-keepers, periodically patching holes and maintaining the fence around your site – in order to keep hackers at bay.
4. We back it up.
As part of our plans, we make many necessary updates, such as website “backups”.
This means saving a copy of your website and storing all files, so they can be recalled if anything goes wrong.
One backup is saved in a location away from the website, so it will always be recoverable, even if the site is hacked or not accessible.
5. Ch-ch-changes
Your website is always evolving. Even if you don’t make changes yourself, technology behind the scenes must be monitored and kept up-to-date.
Most modern sites have additional plugins or themes, that require updates to keep running smoothly.
6. How can we help?
We’re here for you! Some of our higher maintenance plans even include email and/or phone support as part of the package each month.
Any nagging question, niggling issue or nuisance update, simply consult our MRD Help Desk. (helpdesk@mrd.co.nz)
7. Ad hoc Updates
In addition to guidance from our web guru’s – you may require regular content and structural updates.
We do this too…anything from the creation of new pages, to adding additional images, text or design changes.
8. Peace of mind
Rest assured, we know exactly what we’re doing. MRD has been building and managing websites since way back.
Having an extra set of eyes on your site makes all the difference…We may even pick up on things you’ve totally overlooked.
