Annual website maintenance, not mandatory, but advisable.
October is our time to send out offers to extend maintenance for another year. So you have a new website, you’ve paid for it, it’s working, and you receive an invoice for maintenance. Is this really necessary? The simple answer is “no.” Maintenance isn’t mandatory, but it is recommended. We understand the question, and that’s why we strive every year to transform a traditional maintenance contract into a strategic partnership focused on future sustainability and competitive advantage, making maintenance an investment.
What is traditional website maintenance?
Traditional website maintenance consists of updates, keeping the CMS (such as WordPress) and its plugins up to date. Security, monitoring for suspicious activity, and patching vulnerabilities caused by outdated software are also included. Backups are typically performed daily so that in the event of a crash or hack, the site can be quickly restored to a version no older than 24 hours. This basic package ensures that the website doesn’t deteriorate, but it doesn’t make it any better than the competition. The average price of this traditional, purely technical maintenance package is between €25 and €75 per month.
Why our maintenance is an investment.
We don’t look at maintenance as insurance to prevent disasters, but as an annual strategic upgrade. We focus on elements that deliver immediate results. For example, the advent of AI is changing the way people search, and so our maintenance package does too. It includes GEO and AEO to ensure your site remains relevant and discoverable in this new landscape. Also consider legislation and regulations. This year, the Accessibility Act came into effect, and we’re not selling it as a standalone upgrade; we’ve added it to our maintenance contract.
Maintenance is measurable!
While most maintenance contracts limit themselves to the invisible aspects (updates, security, and backups), we focus on measurable results. Think, for example, of PageSpeed, accessibility, and SEO. These three elements are also included as standard in our maintenance, not something you have to purchase separately. These elements are directly related to the user experience and, crucially, the findability of your site. Our maintenance isn’t just about preventing regression, but about proactively driving progress. Measure the results of your maintenance here.
What do you mean? You have 2 hours left.
Another difference between an average maintenance contract and our strategic partnership contract is the kind of gift certificate you receive with a maintenance contract. Usually, it includes a certain number of hours that you know in advance will never be enough. We don’t believe this method maintains a sharp focus on proactive progress. We believe in flexibility, personal attention, 24/7 availability, and give and take. Most requests concern minor adjustments, which we handle “on the fly” and out of goodwill. If it involves structural additional work, we’ll sit down with you.
Maintain by yourself.
Now that it’s clear how busy our maintenance is, you also know what you’re missing out on if you don’t renew it. And if you don’t renew it, “someone” will still have to monitor updates, security, and backups. If you do nothing, performance will degrade, and sooner or later, something will go wrong. The problem is, even if you update everything properly yourself, things will still go wrong sooner or later, because among the countless updates each month, there’s always a faulty update. Repairs are usually so time-consuming and expensive that you should have opted for maintenance… including all the extras.
Not mandatory, but advisable.
So, maintenance isn’t mandatory. But after considering the risks and especially the unique strategic, measurable added value we offer, “sensible” is an understatement. The question isn’t “is maintenance mandatory?” but “what do I get with maintenance?” Are you paying for maintenance at your agency but getting nothing in terms of optimization, PageSpeed, or Accessibility? Do you have a poor score, and the only tangible result is the invoice? Are you completely unsure what maintenance actually covers? Then you need maintenance to prevent regression, while still standing still and can get super-comprehensive maintenance for €35 per month.