Website Maintenance: What Houston Businesses Actually Need (And What's a Waste)

You’re paying $200 a month for website maintenance. But when you ask what that actually includes, you get vague answers about “updates” and “security monitoring.” Sound familiar?

Website maintenance packages have become one of the most confusing—and frequently overpriced—services sold to small businesses. Some companies genuinely need comprehensive maintenance. Others are paying for services their site doesn’t require. Here’s how to figure out which category you’re in.

What Website Maintenance Actually Means

At its core, website maintenance covers four areas:

1. Software updates (CMS, plugins, themes)
2. Security monitoring and protection
3. Performance optimization
4. Content updates and backups

The complexity and cost of each depends entirely on how your website is built and what it does.

The Maintenance Your Site Definitely Needs

Security Updates (Non-Negotiable)

Every website needs security maintenance. Hackers actively scan for vulnerable sites, and outdated software is their favorite target. A hacked website can:

• Get blacklisted by Google, destroying your SEO
• Expose customer data, creating legal liability
• Spread malware to your visitors
• Cost thousands to clean and restore

What this should include:

• Regular software updates (weekly or monthly depending on platform)
• Security plugin or firewall maintenance
• Malware scanning
• SSL certificate management

Reliable Backups (Also Non-Negotiable)

Your website backup strategy is insurance. When something goes wrong—and eventually something will—backups are the difference between a minor inconvenience and a business disaster.

What this should include:

• Automated daily or weekly backups
• Off-site backup storage (not just on your hosting server)
• Tested restore procedures
• At least 30 days of backup history

Uptime Monitoring

You should know when your website goes down before your customers tell you. Basic uptime monitoring is inexpensive and essential.

What this should include:

• Automated checks every few minutes
• Immediate alerts when site goes down
• Response time tracking

What You Might Need (Depends on Your Site)

Regular Content Updates

If your business has:

• Seasonal promotions or changing inventory
• Staff or team member changes
• Blog content that needs publishing
• Event calendars or schedules

Then you need either the skills to update content yourself or a maintenance plan that includes content changes.

However, if your website is essentially a digital brochure that rarely changes, paying monthly for “unlimited content updates” is wasting money.

Performance Optimization

Websites slow down over time as databases grow, images accumulate, and plugins add overhead. Monthly performance checks make sense for:

• E-commerce sites with many products
• Blogs with years of content
• Sites using many plugins or integrations

For simpler sites, quarterly performance reviews are usually sufficient.

WordPress-Specific Maintenance

WordPress powers a huge percentage of small business websites, and it requires more maintenance than some alternatives. Here’s why:

• Core updates release several times per year
• Plugin updates can happen weekly across your installed plugins
• Theme updates need testing to avoid breaking your design
• Plugin conflicts can emerge when updates don’t play nicely together

A WordPress site with 15 plugins might need 50+ updates per year. Each update carries a small risk of breaking something, which is why professional maintenance includes testing.

E-commerce Maintenance

Online stores have additional requirements:

• Payment gateway updates and testing
• Shopping cart functionality checks
• Inventory system maintenance
• Order processing verification

If customers can’t complete purchases, revenue is affected for every hour the issue persists. E-commerce sites justify higher maintenance budgets.

What You Probably Don’t Need

”SEO Monitoring” Bundled With Maintenance

Basic keyword ranking reports are not website maintenance—they’re SEO services. These should be separate, with clear deliverables and strategy, not vague “monitoring” added to a maintenance package.

Excessive “Security Scans”

Some providers advertise “daily malware scans” or “hourly security checks” as premium features. In reality, a properly secured site with a good firewall doesn’t need constant scanning. Weekly scans are typically sufficient for most small business sites.

”Priority Support” You’ll Never Use

If your site is stable and maintained properly, you shouldn’t need emergency support often. Don’t pay premium rates for a benefit you’ll use once a year.

Hosting Included at Inflated Rates

Some maintenance packages bundle hosting at 3-4x market rates. A standard small business website should cost $10-50/month for quality hosting. If you’re paying $150/month for “managed hosting” on a basic site, you’re overpaying.

What Maintenance Should Cost

DIY approach: $50-100/year for tools and hosting, plus your time.

Basic professional maintenance: $50-100/month for standard WordPress or similar sites. This should cover updates, backups, security, and basic monitoring.

Comprehensive maintenance: $150-300/month for complex sites, e-commerce, or those needing regular content updates.

Enterprise/high-traffic sites: $500+/month for sites where downtime costs thousands per hour.

If you’re paying significantly more than these ranges, ask detailed questions about what you’re actually receiving.

Questions to Ask Your Maintenance Provider

1. What specific updates do you perform, and how often?
2. Where are backups stored, and can I get a copy?
3. What happens if an update breaks my site?
4. How quickly do you respond to emergencies?
5. What’s included versus what costs extra?
6. Can I see a log of work performed each month?

Legitimate providers welcome these questions. Evasive answers are a red flag.

When to Handle Maintenance In-House

Consider DIY maintenance if:

• You have someone technically comfortable with your platform
• Your site is simple without complex integrations
• You’re willing to learn and stay current on updates
• You have 2-4 hours per month to dedicate to it

Consider professional maintenance if:

• Your site generates significant revenue
• You lack technical staff
• Downtime would seriously impact your business
• Your site uses complex plugins or custom code

Building a Site That’s Easier to Maintain

The best time to reduce maintenance headaches is during web development. Sites built with maintenance in mind use fewer plugins, cleaner code, and more reliable hosting. The upfront investment in quality development pays dividends in lower ongoing costs.

Taking Control of Your Maintenance

This month, take these steps:

1. Request a detailed breakdown of your current maintenance services
2. Verify your backups work by asking for a test restore
3. Check your site speed using Google PageSpeed Insights
4. Review your hosting costs against market rates
5. Document who has admin access to your site

Understanding what your website actually needs puts you in control of your budget and your digital presence.

Have questions about what maintenance your site needs? We provide honest assessments without pushing unnecessary services. Contact our team for a straightforward evaluation of your website’s requirements.