Do I really need a support contract for my website?

These days we have monthly fees for everything. Streaming channels, phones, and an endless array of apps and websites. They get forgotten about until you look at your bank statement when you realize how much they're costing you. I get it.

So why do I need yet another monthly expense for my website? I mean once it's built, is there anything else to be done?

There's quite a bit actually. Let me explain what and why a maintenance contract helps.

Hosting

Your website has to run on a computer somewhere on the Internet. The company that provides the servers to do that is the hosting provider. Because I have a lot of expertise managing cloud services, I can act as my own hosting provider by renting a server from Amazon Web Services (AWS). It gives me more flexibility to ensure things are running smoothly and is cheaper because I'm doing it myself.

For you that means you're getting the server and me as your hosting provider. No need to call an impersonal tech company where you're just another account number.

Content updates

As part of your maintenance plan, every website includes having me make updates to your website. Need to change your opening hours or want to update your About page to include a new certification? I can do this for you in a couple of minutes where it might take you an afternoon to find the instructions, remember how to navigate the site, and do the actual update.

You have better things to do than mess with technology, like researching new business or serving your existing ones.

Technology rot

Over time software gets old and creaky. New software updates are required to prevent security lapses, provide new features, and improve performance. Updates are required for the program running your website, such as Astro or WordPress, but also for the underlying server it's all running on.

Without these regular updates your website could get "hacked" which can mean everything from getting your password to changing web pages or even deleting them.

Help when you need it

Invariably something will go wrong. You'll lose your password. If you have a CMS attached to your site, you'll lose the instructions for how to get into it. You may accidentally delete something important or break the design of the site and not know how to fix it. You changed something in your email and now you're no longer getting messages from form submissions.

The list of "oops" moments can be long. I know because I've done these things, which means I also know how to fix them. You can just give me a call me and I'll fix it.

We have a relationship

I enjoy building working relationships with people. As anyone who's called their bank or cable company knows, it's getting harder and harder to get real people on the line when you need something. I want you to be able to call someone who knows not just your website and the technology behind it, but also someone who understands you and your needs for the site.

In short, a support agreement means you don't have to worry about your website. It becomes my responsibility to keep things running smoothly with things go sideways, which invariably will happen at some point.