Business owners are rarely aware of the ongoing maintenance costs associated with a website. These include technology updates, outage support, and hack protection. For all these reasons, purchasing the right maintenance contract is crucial.
What a Website Maintenance Contract Should Include
Typically, the overall contract with your web service provider will include a short paragraph about your maintenance agreement, the details of which are rarely discussed during the pre-sales process.
But it’s a crucial aspect of negotiating your partnership with a web services company. At BDC, we’ve advised over 400 business owners on digital marketing projects. Here are our takeaways on what to look for when negotiating a maintenance contract:
1. Website Hosting and Security – Read the Fine Print!
Most web service companies do not host their clients' sites on their own servers and instead use hosting provider companies. Hosting costs are therefore often passed on to the client on a monthly or annual basis, and are rarely negotiable. The hosting service also includes protection of your site against attacks and technical support.
Since your web service provider is responsible for fixing any issues through the third-party provider company, ask about their hosting and security terms and annual maintenance costs . This will help you determine whether the level of service will fit your business needs and operating hours. Having to urgently contact a web service company after hours is a nightmare that is best avoided.
2. Website Technology Updates – Stay Up-to-Date
Once your new site is up and running, make sure you get all the files for it. You'll need them if you ever decide to host your site on your own servers or change web providers. Since your site will evolve over time, you should get an updated version of the files regularly, ideally every three to six months.
The maintenance contract should also cover future technology updates related to the content management system, widgets (forms, site search, etc.), plugins, third-party software API integration (QuickBooks, Salesforce, etc.), and operating systems/web browsers. To start, you should have a detailed list of the versions currently running on your website. Our free website assessment tool can help you get started.
3. Web technical support – according to your business linkedIn database needs and your level of digital maturity
The initial warranty period after a website goes live is usually no more than 30 days. When it expires, you either have to make arrangements yourself or you have to have a maintenance contract that includes technical support for the site.
Most web vendors offer a set number of hours of technical support for a fixed monthly fee, or a banked-hour pricing model with volume discounts (the more hours you subscribe to, the lower your hourly rate).
Here are some details to watch for in this section of the contract.
What happens to unused monthly hours? They are generally not carried over to the following month, unless you have opted for an annual hour bank.
What level of service is offered? As with traditional IT support, the service provider promises to "do their best during business hours, but there is no guarantee that the problem will be resolved." If you operate an online store that accepts orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would be a good idea to get a quote for additional service levels (e.g., 4-hour response time and 12-hour resolution, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). However, some web service companies are unable to provide support outside of business hours.
Can technical support hours be used for other website-related projects? A number of vendors allow customers to apply unused hours to general site enhancements or training.
Can you change the annual hour bank after signing the maintenance contract? The answer is usually “yes.” However, make sure that the pricing for each level of hours used is specified in the contract before signing.
Should I choose an hourly rate or a bank of hours? The person responsible for maintaining your website is best placed to answer this question. If there is a relatively high level of technical expertise in-house, an hourly rate will probably be more advantageous. Otherwise, it is always best to check how many hours you use each month before committing to an annual contract.
Conclusion and recommendations
Our experience shows that negotiating a maintenance contract based on the right expectations fosters a successful partnership with your web services company. That’s why it’s important to discuss your maintenance needs at the very beginning of the project when requesting a quote. Then include this important element in your overall budget.
After the initial warranty expires, we recommend calling your web vendor quarterly to review your maintenance needs and obtain an updated version of your website code and a list of updates made by the support team or developer.
Otherwise, you risk finding yourself in two years with an outdated website and not being able to handle an emergency – which is bound to happen in our experience!
Do you currently have a website maintenance contract? If so, what do you recommend for business owners who don't? Enter your comments below.
