As part of my transition from a web designer to a digital consultant, I’ve now started offering my clients the ability to take out maintenance contracts for their shiny new websites. There are a few reasons for this but honestly, the main point is that your website isn’t complete after it goes live despite what your current designer tells you. If anything, going live is simply the first step in a much longer process.
I’m a big advocate for iterative design and this just happens to fit in perfectly with the maintenance packages I offer my clients, once the website has gone live it’s constantly evaluated to make sure that it’s performing well and if for whatever reason users are having a hard time with a particular part of the site then the design is amended, re-coded and re-launched until the issue is resolved.
So here is my list of reasons why you should be taking out a maintenance contract on your website.
1) Your Website Is Never Really Finished
Once your web designer has finished your website and it’s live this isn’t the end of the process if anything, you’ve just gotten out of the start gate. After my client’s websites have gone live, I make sure that I get them signed up to a maintenance contract ASAP I then start evaluating the performance of the website and if for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to be doing as well as it should then we look at what we can do to improve it through iterative design.
2) Your Website Should Be As Secure As Possible
There’s no such thing as an unhackable website and anyone that tells you otherwise is lying and there is no exception. Your web designer should be making sure that they follow the best hardening practices available for securing your website.
As part of my maintenance package, my clients automatically get a free SSL certificate. Also to limit any changes a hacker would have to get in your site I make sure to keep your site up to date.
3) Your Website Should Be Backed Up Daily
As part of my maintenance contract, I create an automated backup system so that if the unexpected did occur we would be in a position to recover any lost data immediately, minimising the damage to both your business and your reputation.
4) You Shouldn’t Just Take Your Website And Run
I maintain not only my client’s websites but also my relationships with them, I believe in after sales care which is why any client who has a maintenance contract with me gets a guaranteed time every month for all the little things they don’t have time for. Your web designer should be making sure that the site is performing well after launch and if not make suggestions on what can be done to improve it to help your business grow as much as possible. If you part ways with your designer after the site is launched you may not be getting the most out of it!
The above are just a few of the reasons why you should take out a maintenance contract on your website. If you’d like to know more or would like an estimate for maintaining your website please get in touch!