And do you really need it?
You may wonder – once your website is live, isn’t that it? Is “maintenance” just a way for website designers to keep charging forever? Is it a scam?!
The reality is that WordPress website maintenance is constant, mostly invisible work. When it’s done properly, you barely notice it. But if it’s not done, it’s only a matter of time before you really notice it!
Why website maintenance is necessary
Without getting too techy, a WordPress website is made up of
- WordPress itself
- A theme (how it looks)
- Plugins (additional functionality such as forms, security, SEO, bookings, etc.)
All of these are built and maintained by different people. Some plugins are made by big companies, and others are literally built by one developer. Good plugins are updated regularly, adding new features, bug fixes, and security patches. It’s really important to keep WordPress itself, your themes and your plugins up to date to make sure your site is secure and running smoothly.
The main risks:
- Security vulnerabilities
Out-of-date sites are the easiest targets for hackers. In 2026 hackers aren’t sitting in their basement surrounded by screens of scrolling green text. Most of them are automated bots, scanning the internet for known weaknesses and then injecting malicious code into your site. An unmaintained site is low-hanging fruit. - Licences expiring
Many professional plugins eventually stop working properly if licences lapse. If a licence expires, you often can’t update the plugin anymore. That means no security patches and no compatibility fixes. Over time, they become somewhat of a ticking time bomb. - Things breaking behind the scenes
Sometimes you don’t even realise things have stopped working. Forms stop sending. Pages load strangely, with whacky fonts and layouts. Buttons don’t work. You don’t always know until a client tells you they tried to contact you and got no response.
When things go wrong
If your car breaks down in a busy city intersection, would you know what caused it? How to fix it? How to get it moving again before it gets flattened by a tram?
Websites are the same. Sometimes updates don’t go to plan, and a website will break, “look funny”, throw an error, or completely crash.
Maintenance isn’t just about updates, it’s about being able to fix problems or roll back quickly when something goes wrong.
What GoldenWeb website maintenance includes
Regular updates
- WordPress core updates
- Theme updates
- Plugin updates
These happen as needed, usually multiple times a month. GoldenWeb clients receive regular reports showing what’s been done.
Backups
- Independent backups, in addition to your hosting backups
- This protects you if something goes wrong at the host level, or if an update causes issues
Broken link checks (404 errors)
- Twice a year, I scan sites for broken links and fix them – this is good practice both for users (nobody likes getting a 404 error screen!) and Google.
Contact form checking
- Forms are notorious for silently failing
- I manually check them every quarter
- For many clients, I also use a paid service to improve email deliverability from your website
Plugin licences
- Professional websites almost always use paid plugins
- For common tools like Elementor Pro, your licence is covered as long as you’re on a GoldenWeb maintenance plan
Security scanning
- Ongoing monitoring and scanning for issues. Larger sites on my plans also have Patchstack monitoring, which is a paid service that identifies security vulnerabilities early.
Uptime monitoring
- I am notified whenever your website goes down, so there is no danger of it ever being offline for hours on end.
Plus…
Depending on your plan, you also get up to an hour a month of additional help, which can be used for things like:
- small content or layout tweaks
- setting up analytics or tracking
- adding a popup
- uploading a blog post
Can I do it myself?
Yes, of course you can. But just like you wouldn’t service your own car if you don’t know anything about cars, you do need to be a bit tech savvy.
You need to:
- understand how things work behind the scenes
- know what to update (and what not to update)
- know how to troubleshoot when something breaks
- have backups and know how to restore from them
If you’re not comfortable with that, outsourcing maintenance usually saves time, stress, and money in the long run.
So… is it worth it?
If your website:
- matters to your business
- collects enquiries
- represents you professionally
- would be stressful or costly to lose
Then yes. No matter who does it – GoldenWeb, yourself or someone else – your site needs regular maintenance to stay secure and functional.
