Website
maintenance

Website maintenance that doesn't need a ticket system

For most small businesses, website maintenance comes down to two needs: keeping the site safe and working, and keeping the information on it current. The first should happen without you noticing. The second should be as easy as telling someone what's changed.

That's how I handle the sites I build. You send a message on WhatsApp, Telegram or email, such as "new prices from January", "we're closed December 24 to 27", "add Maria to the team page", or just a photo of the new menu board, and I update the site. No forms to fill in, no support tickets, no account manager in between. I reply within one business day.

Why maintenance is lighter on my sites

A lot of what people pay for in website maintenance is plugin and theme updates: keeping dozens of third-party components current, checking they don't conflict, fixing what breaks. The sites I build are hand-coded or run on a custom CMS without a plugin stack, so most of that work simply doesn't exist. There's no weekly update cycle and far less surface for security issues.

What remains is the useful part: backups, uptime monitoring, checking that forms still deliver leads, keeping the server and the few dependencies up to date, and making content changes. The article on website maintenance cost compares what different setups usually require.

You can edit a lot yourself

Every site comes with an edit panel built for the things you change often: prices, hours, photos, team, projects, posts. After launch I train you on it over Zoom. Many clients end up making routine changes themselves and only message me for new sections or larger work. On a website on a custom CMS the panel is designed around your exact content.

The monthly check

Things can quietly go wrong on any site: a form starts landing in spam, a contact email changes, a new tracking tag slows pages down, a link to a partner breaks. Once a month on the sites I maintain, I check backups, test the forms end to end, look at speed and Search Console errors, and tell you if anything needs attention. If you also run ads or SEO with me, this check is part of the regular report.

Seasonal and Canadian specifics

Canadian businesses change a lot with the seasons: winter hours, holiday closures, spring promotions for landscapers, snow removal contracts in the fall. I'll remind you ahead of key dates if your site needs updating. If you serve Quebec, any new content needs a French version at the same time as the English one, and since I maintain English content only, your own team or translator handles the French side. Privacy policy and cookie settings may need updates when you add new tracking tools, especially under Quebec Law 25.

If your current site was built by someone else

I don't take over maintenance of sites built by other developers. It's not about pride; editing unfamiliar code is slow and risky, and you'd be paying me to learn someone else's decisions rather than to improve your business. Instead, I build a new site on your domain, move the content worth keeping, set up redirects, and then maintain it properly. That's described on website redesign.

Terms

Support after launch is included with every site. Ongoing maintenance is agreed individually based on how often your content changes. Like all my ongoing work, it has no minimum term and can be cancelled with one month's notice. Your code, domain and accounts stay in your name, so the site keeps running whatever you decide. Start with a free 30-minute call, or see all web design services.