Most website owners know their site needs “maintenance”, but ask what that actually means and you’ll often get a shrug. Is it just clicking update? Is it worth paying for? And why does one person charge $80 a month while another charges $300?

I look after more than 70 websites, so here’s a plain-English rundown of what maintenance should cover, what happens when it’s skipped, and what it usually costs in Australia.

What website maintenance actually is

A website isn’t a brochure you print once. A WordPress site is software: WordPress itself, a theme and a handful of plugins, all written by different people and all updated regularly. Maintenance is the ongoing work that keeps those pieces working together, keeps the site safe, and makes sure it’s still doing its job.

What it should include

  • Careful updates. WordPress, theme and plugin updates, checked afterwards, with a way to roll back if one breaks something. Clicking “update all” and hoping for the best isn’t maintenance.
  • Backups stored somewhere else. Daily backups kept away from your hosting, so a problem with the server doesn’t take your backups with it. A backup is only useful if it can be restored, so it’s worth asking whether anyone has ever tested one.
  • Security. Malware scanning, firewall rules and locked-down logins. Most of the hacked WordPress sites I clean up were running something out of date.
  • Uptime monitoring. Something checking your site around the clock, so the person looking after it knows it’s down before your customers do.
  • Email and form checks. Contact forms that quietly stop sending are one of the most common problems I see. Good maintenance makes sure enquiries actually arrive, which usually means proper email sending set up with SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
  • Hosting that’s looked after. Fast, managed hosting, with someone keeping an eye on the server itself, not just the website.
  • Small changes. Updating opening hours, swapping a photo or adding a new staff member. Some plans include a set amount of time for this each month.
  • A real person to contact. When something goes wrong, you want someone who knows your site, not a ticket number.

What happens if you skip it

Usually nothing, for a while. That’s the problem. An unmaintained site can look fine for months, then several things go wrong at once.

These are the ones I see most often: a site hacked through an old plugin and redirecting visitors to spam, an update finally run years late that breaks the whole layout, a contact form that stopped sending months ago so enquiries went nowhere, or hosting that lapsed because the renewal email went to someone who has since left the business.

Fixing any of those usually costs more than a year of maintenance would have. The missed enquiries are often the bigger cost. Reliability is one of the things that make a website successful, and it doesn’t happen by accident.

What website maintenance costs in Australia

Prices vary a lot, mostly because “maintenance” means different things to different people. As a rough guide:

  • Around $80 to $100 a month. Usually automated updates and backups, often from a large provider. Fine for simple sites, but check whether anyone actually looks at your site after an update, and whether hosting is included.
  • Around $100 to $250 a month. Typically careful updates, offsite backups, security, monitoring, hosting and some time for changes, with a real person behind it. This is where most small business websites sit.
  • $300 a month and up. For businesses that want their website to keep growing, not just keep running. As well as everything above, this usually includes ongoing SEO, regular content updates and more development time. Busy online shops and membership sites often sit here too.

For comparison, my own WordPress care plans start from $100 a month. As well as the essentials above, they include hosting, access to premium plugins, my own SMTP email service so your website’s emails actually arrive, and the MurrinMedia add-ons I’ve built for the sites I look after.

Whatever you pay, the question to ask isn’t “how cheap is it?” but “what exactly is included, and what isn’t?”

Questions to ask before you sign up

  • Who owns the website, the domain and the logins? (It should be you.)
  • Is hosting included, or is that a separate bill?
  • How often are backups made, where are they stored, and have they been tested?
  • What happens if an update breaks something?
  • Are small changes included, and how much time do I get?
  • How quickly will someone respond if the site goes down?
  • If I leave, can I take my website with me?

Can you do it yourself? (And what is your time worth?)

Yes, if you’re comfortable with it. Plenty of people run their own updates and backups. The things that tend to trip people up are testing updates properly, keeping backups somewhere other than the hosting, and noticing when something quietly stops working, like a contact form.

But it’s worth working out what your time is actually worth. Doing it properly can easily take a few hours a month, and a lot more when something breaks, plus the time it takes to learn it all in the first place. If an hour of your time is worth $100 or more to your business, doing it yourself often costs more than paying someone who does it every day.

You’re good at running your business. Looking after websites is what I’m good at. I’ve been doing it since the ’90s, and it’s my job every single day. I know which updates need testing first, what a hacked site looks like before the owner notices, and why emails end up in spam. Handing it over means you can put your time into the work that actually grows your business, knowing your website is in expert hands.

The short version

Good website maintenance keeps your site updated, backed up, secure, monitored and actually delivering enquiries, with a real person you can call when something goes wrong. For a typical small business website in Australia, that usually costs somewhere between $100 and $250 a month.

If you’re not sure what’s being done on your site right now, get in touch. I’m happy to take a look and tell you, in plain English, what shape it’s in. You can also see what’s included in my WordPress maintenance plans.