Simply put, website maintenance is the ongoing process of keeping a website secure, up to date, and performing at its best for users.
It’s common for businesses to invest a lot of time and money into a website rebuild but it is just as important to invest in ongoing support and maintenance to ensure reliability, prevent downtime, and protect sensitive data.
At Somar Digital along with providing a full-suite of web design and development services, we also provide website support and maintenance(external link) to a number of trusted companies and organisations in New Zealand such as Greater Wellington Regional Council, Cancer Society NZ, and Citizens Advice Bureau.
Key Takeaways
- Website maintenance is the ongoing process of keeping a site secure, up to date, and performing at its best for users.
- Common maintenance tasks include software and plugin updates, CMS and security patching, performance and uptime monitoring, backups and disaster recovery, and SEO audits and content refreshes.
- Monthly maintenance is recommended for most websites, helping to prevent downtime, protect against hacks, and reduce the risk of broken functionality.
- Working with a New Zealand based team offers faster communication and local expertise in widely used platforms such as Silverstripe CMS.
- Maintenance costs vary depending on site complexity, hosting requirements, and support level, ranging from $50 to $200 a month for smaller sites to $2,000+ a month for larger corporate websites.
- While website maintenance can be managed in-house, partnering with a dedicated agency helps ensure issues are identified early and handled properly.
- Somar Digital provides proactive, Wellington-based website maintenance services, hosted on its own AWS-powered platform, Somar Digital Cloud.
Why Invest in Website Maintenance? Working With a NZ-Based Team
Keeping on top of website maintenance directly impacts security, performance, and user experience. Common issues include:
- outdated plugins
- ignored updates
- broken functionality
- slow loading speeds
Working with a locally based team can help address these issues more efficiently. Quick communication is a lot easier when you are working in the same time zone. A New Zealand based team is also more likely to have expertise in platforms widely used in NZ such as Silverstripe CMS.
What Kind of Maintenance Does a Website Need?
Website maintenance can cover a range of essential tasks that keep your site secure, fast, and accessible.
Ideally, you’re looking for an agency or an internal team that is proactive who can respond to issues quickly, preventing small issues from becoming costly problems.
Typical maintenance tasks include:
- Software and plugin updates
- CMS and security patching
- Performance and uptime monitoring
- Backups and disaster recovery
- SEO audits and content refreshes
These services keep your website continuing to meet the needs of users while staying ahead of potential technical or security risks.
How Often Should You Maintain Your Website?
For the vast majority of websites, monthly maintenance is recommended to keep your site up to date and running smoothly. Regular updates prevent downtime, protect against hacks, and reduce the risk of broken functionality.
Somar Digital works with clients under a Service Level Agreement (SLA), which guarantees an agreed number of hours each month for general maintenance. Clients can also raise additional improvements or bug fixes as needed, while larger updates or new features can be scoped as standalone projects.
This structured approach gives our clients peace of mind that their website is getting continuous care without unexpected surprises.
How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost in NZ?
In New Zealand, website maintenance costs can vary widely depending on the size of the site and the amount of maintenance it needs on an ongoing basis. A basic content site with a few pages probably doesn’t need a lot of maintenance but a much larger site that handles large amounts of data is a different story altogether.
The cost depends on several factors, including:
- Complexity of the site and number of integrations
- Hosting environment and infrastructure requirements
- Support level, from basic updates to fully managed services
Costs can range from $50 to $200 a month for smaller websites to $2,000+ a month for larger corporate websites. So it is important to understand what type of site you have and budget accordingly.
Can You Do Website Maintenance Yourself?
Yes, you can do website maintenance yourself if you have the technical expertise, but it can be time-consuming and risky without the right tools and knowledge. Ideally, you would need a dedicated internal team that can provide website maintenance services.
In many instances, however, organisations tend to choose to work with a trusted digital agency to partner with so that tasks are handled properly and issues are identified early.
Working with a dedicated agency can give you peace of mind that you have a local support team monitoring your site and keeping everything secure and optimised.
Looking for a NZ-Based Company to Support Your Website?
Somar Digital’s Website Maintenance Services
Somar Digital’s Wellington-based support team provides reliable, proactive website maintenance services for organisations across New Zealand.
We specialise in Silverstripe CMS(external link) but have experience working across a range of technology stacks, including Sanity and Webflow. We host client websites on our own custom-built hosting platform, Somar Digital Cloud. Built on AWS infrastructure, Somar Digital Cloud prioritises security, scalability, and high performance.
Our maintenance services help not-for-profits, government agencies, and businesses save time and money by preventing problems before they happen and keeping their sites fully optimised for users.
Somar Digital Cloud Pricing Plans
Case Study: Greater Wellington Regional Council
Greater Wellington Regional Council has relied on Somar Digital for ongoing website support and maintenance for 10+ years now. The site has gone through a number of changes and design updates during that time and ongoing website maintenance and support has been (and continues to be) an important part of it.
An example of the type of maintenance we have provided is load testing to prepare the Greater Wellington site for large influxes of visitors. In a region of over 500,000 people the Greater Wellington site could experience a jump in users in the event of an emergency. By providing website performance testing we help Greater Wellington mitigate the risk of their website crashing.
Along with regular updates, security monitoring, and performance optimisation, we’ve worked with Greater Wellington to keep their website a trusted and accessible source of information for the community.
What are Your Next Steps?
If you have any questions related to support and maintenance for your website you can reach out to our team for a no obligation chat. We can help you better understand the maintenance needs of your site, what kind of work needs to be done and how much it might cost to provide ongoing support.
