How to write a maintenance plan for a small website

A maintenance plan states who watches the site, which tasks are included and how changes are approved. Even a small static website needs accurate content, account renewals and a recovery copy.

List the responsibilities

Separate content updates, software upkeep, hosting, domain renewal, form delivery and backups. Mark which apply to your site. A CMS may have software and plugin updates; a static site may require a build-and-deploy process for edits. Do not copy a plan for a different platform without adapting it.

Set a practical review schedule

Assign a frequency and owner to each task. For example, review public contact details after any business change and inspect the enquiry route periodically. Choose the schedule based on the risk and how often things change; it is not an SEO requirement to update every page each month.

Define what a maintenance fee covers

Ask whether the fee includes content edits, monitoring, recovery or only technical updates. Record limits and response arrangements. Explain how urgent requests and extra features are quoted. “Ongoing support” should not leave both sides assuming different services.

Plan recovery before needing it

Keep the required source, media and database backups where applicable. Record how to restore the site and who can approve a rollback. For WordPress, its official updating guidance recommends a backup before updating. Check that the chosen recovery process has been demonstrated rather than assuming any downloaded archive is sufficient.

Keep a change log

Record date, change, owner and verification. After a content edit, check the affected links and mobile layout. After a form or provider change, repeat the delivery test. Keep renewal and provider alerts routed to someone who will act on them.

The plan is ready when each important task has an owner, frequency and expected result. Review it after adding payments, bookings, customer accounts or another major dependency. A clear small plan is more useful than an impressive list of checks nobody is responsible for performing.

Practical guidance with illustrative examples. Read our editorial standards or send a correction.