Website · 11 min read · Updated:
Website maintenance: what's involved, how often, and what drives the cost?
A website isn't finished once it's live. Prices change, certificates renew, links break. Small but regular maintenance stops a site from quietly falling apart one day.
In short
- Website maintenance has two parts: technical maintenance (hosting, software updates, SSL, backups, security) and content maintenance (prices, hours, team, campaigns, legal texts).
- A practical rhythm is a short weekly check, a monthly content and link scan, a quarterly speed and mobile check, and a yearly review of the domain and legal texts.
- Website maintenance costs depend on the site's platform, who does the maintenance, how broad the scope is and how quickly a fix is expected when something breaks.
- In Heyşirket, hosting, SSL and system updates are the platform's job and there's no separate maintenance fee, even on the free Starter plan; content maintenance stays with you.
- Automatic backup, which can be turned on in the Heyşirket panel on every plan, takes a backup once a week and keeps the last 4; the site health screen lists problems such as missing alt text and broken internal links.
A website rarely breaks in one big event. First the certificate isn't renewed and the browser shows a “not secure” warning. Then an old price stays on the page, the contact form's email goes to an inbox nobody uses any more, and links to a removed page open an error page. None of these is a disaster on its own; together they tell the customer “this business doesn't care”.
In this article we explain what website maintenance covers, a weekly, monthly and yearly checklist, the difference between website updates and content updates, how to handle backups, and what the website maintenance cost depends on. In the last part we spell out which part of maintenance Heyşirket's platform handles and which part stays with you.
Part 1 · Definition What is website maintenance and what does it cover?
Website maintenance is all the work done regularly to keep a live site secure, fast, accurate and reachable. It has two main parts:
| Technical maintenance | Content maintenance | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Hosting, software and plugin updates, SSL, backups, security, speed | Prices, opening hours, team, services, campaigns, blog, legal texts |
| Who does it? | You, a developer or the platform, depending on the setup | Almost always the business itself |
| If neglected | The site goes down, gets hacked or slows down | Customers arrive with wrong information and trust is lost |
| Frequency | Continuous and automatic | Whenever things change, plus a monthly check |
On a site you built on your own hosting, most technical maintenance is your responsibility or your developer's. If you use a ready-made website platform, the platform takes on most technical maintenance; content maintenance is yours either way.
Part 2 · Rhythm How often should a website be maintained? A checklist
Tying maintenance to a calendar works much better than “I'll look at it sometime”. The rhythm below is enough for a small business site; for a large shop or a site with many pages the frequencies can be increased.
| Frequency | What to do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Open the site on a phone and look at the home and contact pages; check that form requests reach you | 5-10 minutes |
| Monthly | Update prices, hours, campaigns and team details; scan for broken links and missing image descriptions; check the backup | 30-60 minutes |
| Quarterly | Speed and mobile check; look at search visibility; update old blog posts | 1-2 hours |
| Yearly | Review the domain renewal date, the KVKK (Turkish data protection) notice and the cookie banner; clean up passwords and user access | Half a day |
Part 3 · Updates Why shouldn't website updates be put off?
A website update can mean two different things, and both matter.
- Software updates: The system, theme and plugins a site runs on are patched over time for security holes. On self-built sites, if these updates aren't made, the site can be taken over through a known vulnerability. Taking a backup before updating lets you go back if a plugin breaks the site.
- Content updates: Price lists, opening hours, staff, services and campaigns. A business that looks open during a public holiday, or a page showing last year's price, causes more customer complaints than a technical fault.
Legal texts are part of content updates too. When you add a new form, analytics tool or cookie to the site, the KVKK privacy notice and cookie banner should be updated as well; we covered the practical side on the KVKK-compliant website page.
Part 4 · Backups How do you back up a website, and how long do you keep backups?
A backup lets you return the site to yesterday's or last week's state when something goes wrong: a page deleted by mistake, a design change that broke things, or an attack. A good backup setup answers three questions:
- Is it automatic? Manual backups get forgotten. Weekly or daily automatic backups are essential.
- How many are kept? If only the latest backup exists and the problem is noticed a few days later, the latest backup may be broken too. A few weeks of history should be kept.
- Is there a copy outside the site? Downloading a backup once a month and keeping it on your own computer or in cloud storage also protects against platform or account problems.
Part 5 · Security What should you watch with security, SSL and domain renewal?
An SSL certificate makes the site open with https. Certificates are renewed at intervals; if one isn't renewed, the browser shows visitors a big warning and most of them leave. Using a certificate that renews automatically removes this risk.
The domain is like a separate subscription: if the renewal date passes, the site and the email addresses on your domain may stop working together. Turn on auto-renewal at the company you bought the domain from and make sure the registered email address is current. For choosing a domain and renewal prices see how to buy a domain name.
Security checklist
- Panel passwords are strong and personal; no shared passwords.
- Access for employees who left and for a former developer has been removed.
- Two-step verification is on where possible.
- SSL renews automatically; the site opens with https.
- The domain is on auto-renewal and the registered email is current.
Part 6 · Cost What drives website maintenance costs?
There's no single market price for website maintenance; very different work is sold under the same “monthly maintenance” label. The main factors that set the price are:
| Factor | How it affects the cost |
|---|---|
| Platform | A site on your own server with many plugins needs more technical maintenance; on a ready-made platform most technical maintenance is included in the plan |
| Who does it? | A freelancer, a software company or the platform itself; as the team grows, price and service level change |
| Scope | Only updates and backups, or content entry, SEO and reporting too? |
| Response time | Promising a fix within a few hours when the site goes down raises the price |
| Content hours | How many hours of content changes a month are included, and how extra hours are charged |
Before signing a maintenance contract, ask: How often are updates made? Where are backups kept, how many, and do I get a copy? If the site goes down, whom do I contact, how, and how quickly will they respond? Which content changes does the monthly fee include? If the contract ends, how do I take my site and content? We compared all the cost items of building a site in website cost.
Part 7 · In practice How does website maintenance work in Heyşirket?
In Heyşirket your site is published on the platform's infrastructure. Hosting, system updates and installing and renewing the SSL certificate are the platform's job; you don't deal with theme or plugin updates. There's no separate maintenance fee for this, and the free Starter plan also includes hosting and SSL for one custom domain. Content maintenance is yours: you update prices, hours and services from the company panel.
- Automatic backup: When you turn on the Otomatik yedekleme (Automatic backup) feature on the Eklentiler (Add-ons) screen, your site is backed up once a week and the last 4 backups are kept. Şimdi yedekle (Back up now) takes a manual backup whenever you like, and İndir (Download) saves a copy to your computer. The backup covers content and settings, not media files; restoring is done with Ayarlar › Araçlar › İçe aktar (Settings › Tools › Import). The feature can be turned on on every plan.
- Full export: Ayarlar › Araçlar › Dışa aktar (Settings › Tools › Export) downloads all content as JSON. Siteni al götür (take your site with you) on the Sahiplik ve çıkış (ownership and exit) screen prepares a ZIP containing the backup, media and a static copy of the site.
- Version history: In pages and posts, Sürümler (Versions) above the editor lists earlier states; you undo a wrong change with Bu sürüme dön (Restore this version).
- Site health: The Ayarlar › Araçlar › Site sağlığı (Site health) screen lists missing image descriptions, low content SEO scores, broken internal links and missing settings in one place; Düzelt (Fix) on each item takes you to the right screen.
- Maintenance mode: If you turn on Bakım modu (Maintenance mode) while reworking the site, visitors see a short “we're under maintenance” page while you keep previewing in the panel.
- Professional and Premium: The Professional plan unlocks SEO tools such as the site audit and speed report. On the Premium plan our team runs technical SEO, speed and indexing work and sends a report every month.
Step-by-step guides in the panel: Help › Backup, take your site with you and ending the service and Help › Site health check. The plan comparison is in differences between website plans and prices on the pricing page. If you're thinking of moving from another platform, see the website migration page.
How often should a website be maintained?
For a small business site, a short weekly check, a monthly content and link scan, a quarterly speed and mobile check, and a yearly review of the domain, legal texts and access is a sufficient rhythm. Software updates and backups should be continuous and automatic.
Why do website maintenance prices vary so much?
Because different work is sold under the same name. The price is set by the platform, who does the maintenance, the breadth of the scope (only updates, or content and SEO too), the response time when something breaks and the content hours included. Ask for the scope in writing when comparing offers.
What happens if a website isn't updated?
On self-built sites, a system, theme and plugins that aren't updated can be taken over through known security holes or break in newer browsers. If content isn't updated, customers arrive with wrong price and opening hours information.
Do I pay a separate maintenance fee in Heyşirket?
No. Hosting, system updates and the SSL certificate are the platform's job and you don't pay extra for them, even on the free Starter plan. You update content yourself from the company panel; on the Premium plan our team runs technical SEO and speed work.
Does Heyşirket back up my site?
When you turn on Automatic backup in the panel, your site is backed up once a week and the last 4 backups are kept; you can also take a manual backup with Back up now. The backup covers content and settings, not media files. You can also export all content as JSON at any time.
Turn on automatic backup Turn on Automatic backup on the Add-ons screen; your site is backed up once a week and the last 4 backups stay in the panel. Turn on backups
Author: Heyşirket Editorial Team