What a Website Care Plan Actually Does (and Why It Matters)

When a new website goes live, it feels finished. The design is signed off, the photos are in, and the contact form works. It's tempting to treat it like a printed brochure: done, paid for, move on.

But a website is closer to a company vehicle than a brochure. It works well when it's new, and it keeps working well only if somebody looks after it. A website care plan is the arrangement that makes sure somebody does.

This post explains the idea in plain English: what a care plan is, what it should cover, and what you can check yourself today.

Why websites need ongoing care

Sites don't sit still, even if you never touch them. Several things change around them all the time:

• The software ages. Most sites run on a platform, plus add-ons and a hosting environment. Those get updates, often to fix security problems. A site that never updates gradually becomes easier to break into or more likely to stop working.
• Browsers and devices change. A page that looks fine today can behave differently after a browser update, or on a phone model that didn't exist when you launched.
• Things quietly break. A form stops sending emails. An image link goes dead. A certificate expires and visitors see a warning instead of your homepage. None of this announces itself.
• Your business changes. New hours, a new service, a different phone number. The site needs to keep up.

If nobody is responsible for these things, the usual answer is "whenever someone notices", which often means after a customer does.

What a care plan covers

Care plans come in levels. Every Pulsar plan includes the same foundation, and higher levels add more on top.

The foundation, in every plan

• Website monitoring. Something is watching your site, so you find out when it's down or a key feature, such as your contact form, has stopped working, ideally before your customers tell you.
• SSL certificate and domain expiry alerts. Your SSL certificate is what puts the padlock in the browser, and your domain name is what lets people reach you at all. If either lapses, visitors see a warning or nothing at all. We flag both well before they expire, so there's time to deal with it calmly.
• Backups and updates. Regular copies of your site kept separately, so a mistake, hack or hosting failure doesn't mean starting from scratch. Plus keeping the software behind the site current, so known problems get fixed before they cause trouble.
• Hosting. The place your site lives, looked after as part of the plan rather than as a separate bill and a separate login to remember.
• A promised reply time. You know how quickly we'll get back to you.

Also in every plan, growing with the level

• Website reports. A summary of how the site is doing and what was done: every 3 months on the entry plan, monthly on the higher ones.
• A monthly edit-time allowance. A set amount of time each month for changes such as new hours, a photo swap or a revised service description, so you aren't starting a new project every time something changes. Higher plans include more time.

What higher levels add

• Faster reply times. On higher plans, your requests move up the queue.
• On the top plan: SEO touch-ups, keyword tracking and a quarterly strategy call on Zoom. This is the step from keeping the site healthy to helping it get found, with regular check-ins on the searches that matter to your business.

Which level fits your site

The right level depends on how much your site does for your business and how much change it needs. A site that mostly sits there as an online business card needs less than one that takes inquiries every day and changes with the seasons.

The easiest way to find out where your site stands is our free website and competitor analysis. Our research team reviews your site and your local competitors, then we walk through the findings with you on a free Zoom consultation, including which level of care, if any, makes sense for you.

What a care plan isn't

It helps to be clear about the limits:

• It isn't a redesign. Care keeps a site healthy. It doesn't rebuild one.
• It isn't a marketing campaign. The foundation keeps the site healthy so it's ready for visitors. Getting more of them, through search, ads or social media, is separate work. The top plan includes some SEO touch-ups and keyword tracking, but that's not the same as a full marketing program.
• It isn't a guarantee of results. A well-maintained site can still have a weak message or poor local visibility.

Do you need one?

Not everyone does. If you're comfortable updating your own site, keep tested backups and notice problems quickly, you may be fine without a plan. A care plan tends to make sense when:

• You don't have the time or interest to manage updates
• The site matters to your income, so downtime costs you real business
• Your site takes bookings, quotes or payments
• The person who built your site is no longer around

The question to ask isn't "Is this worth it?" in general. It's "What happens to my business if the site is down for three days?"

Check your own site today

Whether or not you ever sign up for a plan, ten minutes can tell you a lot:

• Test your forms. Fill out your own contact form and confirm you receive it.
• Look for the padlock. Visit your site and make sure there's no browser warning about it being "not secure".
• Run a speed check. Put your address into PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile results.
• Check how Google sees it. In Google Search Console, look for messages or errors about your pages.
• Find your backups. Ask your hosting provider or web developer: where are my backups, how often are they taken, and when were they last tested?
• Check the basics for accuracy. Hours, phone number and address should match your Google listing.
• Find out who's responsible. Do you know who to call if something breaks tonight? If the answer is "nobody", that gap is the real problem a care plan fills.

What to ask any provider

If you're comparing care plans, whether ours or someone else's, ask:

• What exactly is included, and what costs extra?
• How often are backups taken, and where are they stored?
• How quickly do you respond if the site goes down?
• Do I own my site, my domain and my content if I leave?
• Can I see what was done each month?

Clear, specific answers are a good sign. Vague promises of "peace of mind" are not.

For a wider look at your site's health, our free guide, The 25-Point Small Business Website Checklist, includes several maintenance checks you can score yourself. It's free when you sign up for the free website and competitor analysis.

Start with a free review

If you're not sure what state your site is in, start there. Our free website and competitor analysis has our research team review your site and your local competitors. Then we walk through the findings with you on a free Zoom consultation, scheduled within one week. There's no cost and no obligation, and you keep the findings either way. It's also the easiest way to work out whether a care plan makes sense for your site, and which level is the right fit.

Richard runs Pulsar Strategies, a digital marketing and web design agency for small businesses based in Smyrna, Delaware.