A website is a little like a car. You can’t just drive it out of the showroom and expect it to keep running forever. It needs regular servicing and updates, and when you hire a web designer to create a custom website, you’re not also getting lifetime support.
Technology moves so quickly, so having someone on your team to help out with the tech side of things is a great idea.
How does a maintenance agreement work?
A maintenance agreement will be a monthly payment you make to someone to look after and maintain your website. This will be for an agreed amount of time per month to keep everything up to date and in tip top shape, and will allow you to get on with what you need to do in your business.
Think of it as regular services for your website, and in a sense insurance in case you break down.
What can maintenance agreements be used for
A maintenance agreement is specifically for keeping your website in good working order. But there can also be some added benefits that come with maintenance agreements including access to your web designer for advice, strategy, training or just a general brain pick. They can also be used for emergency issues with your website.
Sometimes web designers will also offer retainer services that will allow you to do minor tweaks to improve the performance of the website. This is also super helpful if you’re working on search engine optimisation and need to make regular adjustments quickly.
Another bonus of a website maintenance agreement is you’ll often benefit from a discounted rate.
When you may not need a maintenance agreement
A lot of the hosted services such as Shopify or Squarespace take care of all the updates for you. That’s what the monthly fees are for. In this case, it’s unlikely you’ll need someone to manage updates for you. You may however want access to a tech genius to make tweaks to improve your website as you go.
Sometimes if you’re paying off a website as a monthly fee, the fee may include regular maintenance for the term of the contract. So it pays to check this out.
You also may not need a maintenance agreement if you’re happy to take charge of the tech side of your business.
So if you want to focus on running your business, and not messing with the tech side of things a maintenance agreement is a probably good idea.