In the early days of website creation, you could more or less leave your website alone after building it. That’s because websites functioned more like online brochures.
Websites have since evolved into much more complex, advanced platforms with functionality that was unimaginable twenty years ago. As marketing tools, they are capable of increasing leads and moving prospects down your sales funnel toward becoming loyal customers. Because of this increased complexity, websites need more maintenance, especially in terms of website security, updates, and speed.
WordPress.org recommends the following monthly site maintenance focuses:
A web host — at least a good one — will also provide customer support. This is often overlooked when people are shopping around for a cheap hosting service, but it shouldn’t be.
Poor customer service can cost you and your business dearly. Website problems can quickly push away potential clients and impact your brand. To be sure that you end up with a quality web host, read reviews to identify which ones are reputable and quick-responding.
LiquidWeb* offers this now as well.
A website maintenance company will also provide you with more options for backing up your website.
Most managed WordPress hosting plans offer automatic daily backups of your site with a one-click restore, but storage is limited to 30 days – 90 days for premium managed WordPress hosting plans.
Meanwhile, with maintenance services, such as WP Buffs, your site is backed up four times a day, and that data is stored in three different locations — including the cloud, in case the server crashes. You can also choose to save your backups in Europe or the United States, depending on your needs.
Scoring well on Google PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom, and GTMetrix tests are important for your website, as you don’t want potential clients clicking away because it’s taken too long to load your site.
Of course, at the end of the day, communication and support from a website maintenance service team makes all the difference in the world.
By working with a team that understands your needs and desires, instead of a business that’s mostly focused on hosting, you can be confident that your website is in good hands. Part of this is the 24/7 customer support that goes beyond server issues. Having a team that cares about your success, at your fingertips, at any time of the day can make the difference between a product launch going smoothly and crashing down around you.
Another plus about working with a maintenance service such as WP Buffs is that it allows you to develop a little side hustle if you’re a freelancer or own a design agency. WP Buffs offers a white label support service that you can provide to your clients.
Whichever web host you choose to work with, a website maintenance company can help strengthen its offerings. If you’re looking for recommendations, WPBuffs works with SiteGround*, Anchor, Pressable*, WPEngine*, Kinsta*, and so many more web hosts.
However, the long-term price of having a slow, vulnerable, or outdated website is significantly more. If your website doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, you’re likely losing out on conversions.
WordPress maintenance doesn’t typically include content creation, though credits for web design changes are often included or offered at a discount to customers. This creates additional utility outside of regular maintenance tasks. It’s easier to request additional website help from a company you already trust versus going out on your own to vet a WordPress developer for a one-off project.
Websites have since evolved into much more complex, advanced platforms with functionality that was unimaginable twenty years ago. As marketing tools, they are capable of increasing leads and moving prospects down your sales funnel toward becoming loyal customers. Because of this increased complexity, websites need more maintenance, especially in terms of website security, updates, and speed.
WordPress.org recommends the following monthly site maintenance focuses:
- Website security: It’s crucial to secure your data and your clients’ data, especially since hackers love targeting WordPress websites.
- Website speed: Fast page loading time is a critical aspect of a good user experience. Most users abandon websites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.
- SEO: In order to rank in relevant searches, you need to regularly seek out and fix SEO issues on your website.
Our team at WP Buffs is dedicated to helping website owners, agency partners, and freelancer partners manage their WordPress sites 24/7. Whether you need us to manage 1 website or support 1000 client sites, we’ve got your back.
What Do Website Hosting Providers Do? 🙋
In a nutshell, website hosting offers a service that allows individuals and organizations to post their websites online. This service is provided by a web hosting service provider, often referred to as a web host. What the host does is store the data for your website — as in your entire website — on a server. So, when someone wants to access the site, all they have to do is type your domain in the browser, and the server will connect them to the site. In addition to offering host plans, many web hosts also provide several value-added features. These often include a free domain, FTP access to allow you to upload files from your computer to the web server, and email accounts created using your domain name for a more professional look (such as: yourname@yourwebsite.com). Just look at some of the “Essential Features” offered by Siteground:
A web host — at least a good one — will also provide customer support. This is often overlooked when people are shopping around for a cheap hosting service, but it shouldn’t be.
Poor customer service can cost you and your business dearly. Website problems can quickly push away potential clients and impact your brand. To be sure that you end up with a quality web host, read reviews to identify which ones are reputable and quick-responding.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Nowadays, many web hosts have started specifically offering WordPress support services via managed WordPress hosting. This is because most websites that rely on hosting plans run on WordPress, which powers 33% of the internet. These WordPress managed hosting services are basically concierge services where the host manages many important technical aspects of running a WordPress site such as security, speed, WordPress updates, daily backups, ensuring website uptime, and scalability.What Do Website Maintenance Providers Do? 🔧
In many ways, website maintenance services are similar to managed WordPress hosting. They also take care of the technical aspects of your website, including daily backups (of both database and core), page speed optimization, performance monitoring, and security and hacking prevention — including malware scanning, cleaning, and removal. The primary difference is that a website maintenance provider is entirely dedicated to ensuring your site runs optimally, while a managed web host provides those services as an add-on to their core product.Why You Should Get a Website Maintenance Provider 🤔
Popular website hosting companies offer add-on services that — at first glance — are similar to those of a website maintenance provider. Considering both at-a-glance can make it seem like focusing only on a managed WordPress hosting plan saves both time and money. However, considering the difference between managed WordPress hosting vs maintenance companies is significant. One of the primary differences between the two is the human factor. While managed WordPress hosting services can take care of daily backups, updates, and security, most of these things can be automated anyway. Of course, there are some aspects of these services that can’t be automated; they include editing site content, changing banners, headers or footers, and update landing pages. What’s not included in most packages offered by WordPress hosting services are any custom development, including:- PHP
- Plugins
- Themes
LiquidWeb* offers this now as well.
A website maintenance company will also provide you with more options for backing up your website.
Most managed WordPress hosting plans offer automatic daily backups of your site with a one-click restore, but storage is limited to 30 days – 90 days for premium managed WordPress hosting plans.
Meanwhile, with maintenance services, such as WP Buffs, your site is backed up four times a day, and that data is stored in three different locations — including the cloud, in case the server crashes. You can also choose to save your backups in Europe or the United States, depending on your needs.
Scoring well on Google PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom, and GTMetrix tests are important for your website, as you don’t want potential clients clicking away because it’s taken too long to load your site.
Of course, at the end of the day, communication and support from a website maintenance service team makes all the difference in the world.
By working with a team that understands your needs and desires, instead of a business that’s mostly focused on hosting, you can be confident that your website is in good hands. Part of this is the 24/7 customer support that goes beyond server issues. Having a team that cares about your success, at your fingertips, at any time of the day can make the difference between a product launch going smoothly and crashing down around you.
Another plus about working with a maintenance service such as WP Buffs is that it allows you to develop a little side hustle if you’re a freelancer or own a design agency. WP Buffs offers a white label support service that you can provide to your clients.
Whichever web host you choose to work with, a website maintenance company can help strengthen its offerings. If you’re looking for recommendations, WPBuffs works with SiteGround*, Anchor, Pressable*, WPEngine*, Kinsta*, and so many more web hosts.
What WordPress Maintenance Does Not Include ⛔
Though a website maintenance plan can make a huge difference for you and your business, it’s not a silver bullet. One of the biggest hurdles companies face is the increased expense of having both a hosting plan and a maintenance plan. Even if you’re not using a managed WordPress plan, which is considerably more expensive than a standard shared hosting plan, the costs can add up.
However, the long-term price of having a slow, vulnerable, or outdated website is significantly more. If your website doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, you’re likely losing out on conversions.
WordPress maintenance doesn’t typically include content creation, though credits for web design changes are often included or offered at a discount to customers. This creates additional utility outside of regular maintenance tasks. It’s easier to request additional website help from a company you already trust versus going out on your own to vet a WordPress developer for a one-off project.
