Websites are like cars in that they require regular maintenance. I know a lot about websites, and here’s how I compare website maintenance to car maintenance (which I know very little about).
The car maintenance I do myself includes filling up with gas, taking it to a car wash, and refilling the windshield wiper fluid.
For everything else, I go to the car dealer for a professional to complete oil changes, tire rotations, and new tires, fluid flushes and refills, and mechanical maintenance per the schedule.
When things go wrong:
I know from experience that when you get in a car accident, it can be very costly in time and money to get your car running again.
Likewise, it can be very costly in time and money to get a hacked or poorly maintained website back up and running. (Ask me about website horror stories that have lasted all night)
Let’s look at the life of a new car:
When you buy a shiny new car, it’s wonderful, everything works, and it needs little maintenance. You fill it with gas (or plug it in), get oil changes occasionally, and get it washed.
The life of a new website is similar:
When your new website launches, all content and software are up to date, and it requires little maintenance. And as a Constellation Creative client we ensure you know how to update text and images yourself through our custom website instruction manuals and videos.
Car Maintenance Schedule:
Each car has a maintenance schedule that gets progressively more complex and expensive, like this one suggested by CARFAX:
“Every 10,000 miles: Rotate tires, Oil change if using synthetic oil, If necessary, change the cabin air filter and engine air filter
At 50,000 miles: Replace brake pads and fuel filter. Drain and replace transmission fluid and filter, inspect exhaust, emissions, and suspension systems
At 100,000 miles: Change high-mileage coolants and 100,000-mile spark plugs (if so equipped).”
And the list goes on from there. I’ve personally never owned a car with more than 100,000 miles.
Website Maintenance Schedule:
Websites move a bit faster than cars and therefore require more regular maintenance. See a comprehensive list from Uptime Robot, which says:
“The easiest thing you can do to mitigate risks is to keep things up to date. When Alexa looked at over 40,000 WordPress security sites, it found that more than 70% of them carried some kind of vulnerability — and these were mostly related to outdated plugins.”
We recommend a minimum maintenance package for every website, including:
- Ongoing Website Developer Software Updates to WordPress, Plugins, and Themes, Testing, Troubleshooting, and Fixes
- Uptime monitor with immediate alerts if the website is down.
DIY Car Maintenance:
Are you a mechanic who does all maintenance on your car yourself? Wow, congratulations, this is much more complex with the way newer cars are more software-driven and automated.
DIY Website Maintenance:
Want to try updating your own website themes, WordPress, and Plugins? Please be very careful, as it is super-easy to break things and make your website crash when making updates. We recommend this guide from the Wordfence security plugin.
The best news is that Constellation Creative offers very affordable website maintenance packages at a fraction (about 180% less) than the going rate of $1000/month. Contact us today to avoid costly mistakes or a hacked website caused by outdated software.
Constellation Creative provides affordable websites, SEO/AEO, digital marketing, and advertising with a data-driven strategy.
Contact us today to learn how we can help your business or organization meet your growth goals.
Notice: AI was not used in writing this blog.
This blog article was written entirely by a real human being, Maresa Thompson, the old-fashioned way, with research and writing skills. AI was only used for spelling and grammar (so if you find any errors, blame the computer).