Website maintenance is the work you do after a site is already live. Plugin updates, security patches, backups, a change of phone number, a new team photo, and a person to call when the contact form stops sending. The site stays useful because someone is watching it, not because it was finished on launch day.
A new website is a different job. So is the server it sits on. This is about the ongoing work.
What the work includes
On a normal business site the list is short.
- Updates. WordPress, the theme, and the plugins need updating. Leaving them for months is how a small site gets compromised.
- A backup first. Take one before the update, so a bad plugin can be rolled back.
- Content. Opening hours, a staff photo, a service you no longer offer. Small edits, and still part of keeping the site true.
- Speed. A heavy plugin or a huge image makes the page slow. Checking that belongs in the same visit.
- The call when it breaks. A form that does not send, a checkout error, a page that is suddenly blank.
Most of the sites we look after are WordPress, including WooCommerce shops. We also take custom PHP and other content systems. If another agency built the site, we start with a health check rather than guessing.
The first month on an existing site
If the site has been live for a while and nobody has been updating it, the first visit is a health check, not a redesign. We look at the WordPress and plugin versions, whether a backup exists, whether the contact form actually sends, and how slow the home page is. Then we update what is safe to update, and tell you what is not.
After that, the work is ordinary. A phone number. A photo. A plugin that needs a look because it threw an error. That is the job. It is not a new design every month.
The server is a different job
This work is what happens to the site. Hosting is the machine. You can keep the host you already have. If the site should sit with the same company that updates it, shared cPanel hosting in Sydney is the usual place for a brochure site or a blog. A busy shop belongs on a VPS. Either way, the invoice for the server is separate from the hours spent editing the site.
Paying by the hour, or reserving hours
One-off work starts at $80 an hour, GST included, for simple updates. Medium work, such as theme changes and performance fixes, is $110 an hour. Major changes, a migration, or cleaning up a hacked site is $210 an hour.
A monthly plan reserves hours at a lower rate. Plans start at $475 a month for 5 hours, and unused hours roll over. We also call that a retainer. It is the same product: hours set aside, a faster reply than a one-off ticket, and the same team. A site that is down, or has been hacked, jumps the queue.
The published rates, what each hour covers, and how rollover works are on our website maintenance packages. That page is the price list. This article is the explanation.
A new website is a different job
If the site does not exist yet, or it needs to be rebuilt, that is development. WordPress Development covers a new build. The ongoing work starts once the site is live and someone has to keep it current.
You do not need to be in Melbourne or Sydney. The work is remote, and the team is in Australia. For the rates or a quote, use the packages page. To talk it through, call 1800 519 724.
