Website Maintenance

Have you ever experienced the following on your website?

  • getting hacked
  • pages taking a really long time to open when you click on them
  • broken images (that’s where photos should be on a page but instead are boxes with ‘x’es in the corners)
  • weird code appearing on pages where actually good stuff used to be, like a contact form or a photo gallery
  • a bunch of red alerts when you log into your website dashboard


The truth is a website is like a car, you can’t just drive it forever with no maintenance and expect it to not break down on the side of the road.

If maintaining your website is one more thing on your giant list, it goes on the wayside. We get it. Especially if you are small, you can’t do it all.

But bad things happen when you ignore problems. What are some types of sad websites that need some maintenance?

Sad Website Type: Hacked Websites

Every website we’ve unhacked in the last five years has one thing in common. When we ask ‘When is the last time you updated your website?’ people either can’t answer or say hesitatingly something like “Um, six months I think?”

You might not even know your website has been hacked, until you see this alert in Google:

Example of the hacked warning in Google, via www.sucuri.net

If your website is secretly sending out spam, your server could be blocked, making email from you undeliverable. Point is, being hacked is not only bad for your website visitors but bad for your company and anyone you interact with online.

Sad Website Type: Websites That Don’t ‘Work’ Like They Used To

Often times, software can get out of date. Like Ford can decide to stop making the Ford Escort, a particular developer can decide to no longer make a piece of software. That means you have to find a replacement that does something similar for your site to continue working:

Example of an outdated plugin in WordPress.

If you perform website updates, you’ll notice these things before anyone else can. But if staff, customers, or the general public are complaining about your website, you know it’s gone too far.

Sad Website Type: Sluggish Websites

You know what people AND search engines don’t like? Slow websites. And if you have been uploading content to your website (full resolution images, video, etc.), chances are your website as started to move ssslllooowww.

When we onboard a new maintenance website, one of the things we do is make it as light as possible. It makes it easier for us to maintain but also, it just makes your site work better… for everyone coming to visit.

Website Maintenance Level 1: Software Updates At $25/month

It’s hard to remember to log in regularly and backup and update your software. Not to mention that 1 out of every 300 times, something breaks and you have to fix it.

We have a weekly backup and WordPress updating service that can take care of problems before they even become problems and keep your site from being hacked… all for $25/month.

We know your intern can do it, we know you can do it… but, be honest, is it getting done? If not, get it on our radar and take it off yours and free your mind to do more important stuff for your business.

Website Maintenance Level 2: Software And Content Updates at $300/month

There is always more to do on a website, isn’t there? Besides keeping your website error and hacker free, sometimes you need new information to freshen things up. Some items include:

  • Changing out visual elements like slides in a slideshow
  • Posting new content on your blog (your staff member wrote something great but no one knows how to get it online)
  • Adding unique titles/descriptions to your pages to help with search engine ranking
  • Updating your hours, staff page, etc. with new information on a seasonal basis
  • More!

By contracting with us to set up monthly updates, we can lower our hourly rate for you, saving you money for being the forward thinker that you are. 

We’ll email you quarterly and see what’s new… and if nothing is new, we’ll work on a hit list we create together of things that can get done to improve your website over time.

Let your website age like a fine wine, for your website visitors and the health of your business. Sign up and we’ll get your website on our maintenance schedule!

Here’s what we know:

WordPress runs 28% of the world’s websites.

And most people we talk to on a regular basis can’t remember the last time they updated their software.

This combination is a recipe for disaster.


You may ask yourself why ANYONE would want to hack your site.

Here’s the thing: they probably don’t (unless it’s a bored teenager, but we’re going to assume it’s not). Most hackers are looking for access to your website’s server, which they get by hacking your individual website.

Most people have “shared” web hosting, meaning the web host works like an apartment building where people are just using the little bit of space they need, but share the larger structure with others within that hosting company.

Let’s say someone leaves their window unlocked… and a burglar gets in.

Now that the burglar is in your apartment building, it is easier for them to get into the other apartments in the building, or even conduct illegal activity from your apartment. Makes you want to double check your windows, right?

What is the best way to not get hacked? Keep your software up to date.

It’s a preventative measure that makes it more difficult for people to get into your site (think of it as regularly changing the locks on your door). Your security, and the security of the building itself, is now that much stronger.

That being said, it is ONE MORE thing to do. You’re already running around trying to find car keys and get out the door on time, so chances are you won’t always remember to double check that all the windows are locked. Why not let someone you trust do it?

I have other stuff I want to change on our site, too.

Having someone else regularly looking at your site means they can notice things that could use an update, like your weekly specials actually haven’t been updated in six months, or you have new properties for sale.

We have a secondary package that reserves a certain amount of our time a month to make these updates. If you don’t have regular updates, we’ll use the time to make improvements to the website over time, for both search engines and the people visiting your website.

Either way, we want you stay unhacked and updated. Let us help you out:

  • We'll need your Wordpress username and password as well as your web hosting login. If you have no idea, you can type in the email address and name of the person who set it up for you and we can follow up with them!
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