A maintenance plan should do more than promise updates. Here is the monthly checklist we think every small business website needs, and the questions to ask before you sign up for one.
Short answer: a good website maintenance plan covers four things every month: keeping the software updated and backed up, checking that everything a customer touches still works, watching speed and search health, and making the small content changes you ask for. If a plan only mentions "updates", ask what is checked after the update.
Why websites break without anyone changing them
Software updates, expired certificates, renamed pages and third-party tools that change how they work all break things quietly. When we checked 271 small business websites, one in ten had a dead link on the home page and several did not open at all. In most cases nobody had touched the site. That is exactly the problem.
The monthly checklist
Security and backups
- Update the platform, theme and plugins, after taking a backup
- Keep at least one backup stored away from the website's own server
- Check the security certificate is valid on every version of the address
Things customers touch
- Submit every form and confirm the message arrives
- Click through the main menu and footer for dead links
- Check phone numbers, addresses, hours and the copyright year
- Test checkout or booking end to end if the site has one
Speed and search
- Check home page speed on a phone
- Look at Google Search Console for pages dropped from the index and new errors
- Fix broken links found by Google
Content
- Make the small changes you have asked for: text, images, team members, offers
What to ask before you sign up
- What exactly is checked each month, and do I get a report?
- How quickly do you respond if the site goes down?
- How many content changes are included?
- Who holds the backups, and can I get a copy?
- If I leave, do I keep all my accounts and access?
Can you do it yourself?
Yes, if you are comfortable with the checklist above and have an hour a month. The risk is not difficulty, it is that it gets skipped when the business is busy. A plan is worth paying for when it is actually done, every month, with a record you can see.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a website be updated?
Security updates should go in as soon as they are released. Everything else can be checked monthly.
Does maintenance include SEO?
Basic search health, such as fixing errors and dead links, should be included. Ongoing content and link building is usually a separate service.
What happens if my site goes down?
A good plan includes monitoring that alerts the team, and a clear response time for getting the site back online.
Related services and guides
- Website maintenance services, USA
- Website maintenance services, Dubai
- What we found checking 271 small business websites
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