A website isn't finished when it goes live. Something has to keep it updated, backed up and working, and on most small business sites that job belongs to nobody. Prices below are in NZ dollars, before GST, and were checked in October 2026.
What maintenance actually covers
- Software updates. WordPress, its theme and its plugins all get updates, many of them security fixes. Skip them for a year and the site is easy to break into.
- Backups. A daily copy of the site, kept somewhere other than the server it runs on, so a bad update or a hack can be undone.
- Security. A firewall, malware scanning, and the padlock certificate renewing on time.
- Monitoring. Something that checks the site is up, every few minutes, and tells a person when it isn't.
- The contact form. Forms stop sending quietly: a plugin update, a changed email password, a spam filter. A test enquiry each month catches it.
- Small changes. New prices, new photos, a new phone number, holiday hours.
- The domain. Renewing it on time, in your business's name. An expired domain takes the website and the email down with it.
What it costs
You can pay for maintenance three ways:
| Option | Typical cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Your time | Whatever you remember to do |
| Pay by the hour when something breaks | An hourly rate (ours is $60 per 30 minutes) | Fixes, after the problem has cost you |
| A monthly care plan | From about $59 a month | Updates, backups and monitoring as routine |
As an example of a care plan, one NZ agency's WordPress care plan is $59 a month with no lock-in, covering hosting, updates, daily backups, security, a monthly report and 30 minutes of edits.
Compare like with like. Check whether the plan includes hosting, how many minutes of changes you get, whether anyone tests your contact form, and who holds the domain.
What happens when nobody does it
The usual pattern: the site works fine for a year or two, then something breaks at a bad time. A plugin update takes the site down, the hosting card expires, the domain lapses, or the site gets hacked and Google starts warning visitors away. Fixing it after the fact usually costs more than a year of maintenance would have, and the enquiries lost while it was down don't come back.
If your site is down right now, start with the website down checklist.
Questions to ask whoever looks after your site
- When were WordPress and the plugins last updated?
- Where are the backups kept, and when was one last restored as a test?
- Who finds out first if the site goes down: you, or them?
- When was the contact form last tested?
- Whose name is the domain registered in, and when does it renew?
If nobody can answer, nobody is maintaining the site.