What Does Website Hosting and Maintenance Include

Why Does Your Small Business Need Help?

A new website is an important step for a small business. It gives potential customers a place to learn what you do, check your details and decide whether to get in touch. But what happens once the site is live? Who makes a small update, and who do you contact if something stops working?

That is where website hosting and maintenance come in. They help keep your site available and give you a plan for looking after it as your business changes.

What is website hosting?

Website hosting is the service that makes your website available online. When someone types in your web address or follows a link, the hosting service helps deliver the site to their device.

Your web address, or domain name, is a little like your business’s online address. Hosting is the service behind it that lets people visit the website. They work together, but they are not the same thing.

For a small business owner, you don’t need to understand the technical setup in detail. It is useful to know who provides your hosting, who manages the domain and who can help if your website becomes unavailable.

What does website maintenance involve?

Website maintenance is the ongoing work that helps keep a website useful and working properly. Some changes are simple: updating a phone number, adding a new service or changing a paragraph. Other times, you might need help when a page behaves unexpectedly, or a technical problem appears.

The amount of maintenance a business needs depends on its website. A straightforward site may not need frequent changes, but it still helps to know who is responsible for it and how to ask for help.

Maintenance can also include keeping track of how the site is performing. Google explains that it automatically looks for websites to include in Search, but that it can miss sites or pages. Its guide to getting your website on Google suggests checking that pages can be accessed and that the site works well on mobile devices.

Hosting and maintenance do not guarantee search rankings. Having someone available to help with website issues can make it easier to keep your site in good order.

Why does ongoing support matter to a small business?

If you run a small business, you may already be responsible for sales, customer service, bookings, paperwork and the day-to-day work itself. Learning how to manage every part of a website can easily fall to the bottom of the list.

Having someone to contact can make the technical side less daunting. You can ask for help when your services change, when a detail needs updating or when something does not look right.

There is also a practical question of recovery. If a change causes a problem, you will want to know whether an earlier version can be restored. The National Cyber Security Centre’s guidance on backing up data advises organisations to check that important information can be accessed and restored.

What is included in 80five’s Website Care?

80five’s Website Care costs from £49 per month. It includes website hosting, platform version history and recovery, basic edits, bug fixes, general support, domain and DNS management where needed.

In practical terms, this means you have somewhere to turn when you need a small change or run into a problem. Rather than having to work out which service or setting to investigate, you can contact 80five and explain what you need in plain English.

Also, quite importantly, we aim to be quite proactive. We use a wide range of website monitoring tools so that we know as soon as anything changes or issues arise. We can fix issues before you even realise there was a problem!

The Website Care plan is designed to provide ongoing website support for small businesses. It is not an unlimited development service or an ongoing SEO campaign. If a request is outside the plan, you should be able to discuss the work and any cost before it begins. You can find more detail on the 80five Services, or read the FAQs for answers about what Website Care covers.

What should you check when comparing website maintenance plans?

Before choosing a website care plan, check what it actually includes. A low monthly price may cover hosting only, while another plan may include help with updates and fixes.

Here are a few useful questions to ask:

• Is website hosting included, and who manages it?

• Can someone help with basic content changes?

• What happens if part of the site stops working?

• Is there a way to restore an earlier version?

• Who manages the domain and DNS settings, if needed?

• Which requests are included, and which cost extra?

The National Cyber Security Centre’s guidance on choosing a managed service provider recommends clear agreements about what a provider will do and what remains the customer’s responsibility. That principle is helpful for website care too. You should be able to understand what you are paying for and who to contact when you need help.

Is website maintenance essential?

Every website needs hosting to be available online. Ongoing paid maintenance is a choice: some business owners prefer to handle updates themselves. Others would rather have support in place and have one less thing to worry about.

The important thing is to make a plan before you need one. Know where your website is hosted, who controls the domain and how you can get help if something goes wrong. If you are not sure what your current arrangement covers, review it now rather than waiting until you need an urgent change.

A website is an ongoing part of your business, even when you are not changing it every week. With a clear hosting and maintenance plan, you can spend less time worrying about the technical details and more time looking after your customers. If you would like to ask whether Website Care is right for your business, get in touch with 80five.