If you are building Divi websites for clients you should also be offering a website maintenance plan.
Divi maintenance plans are a win-win situation for web developers and clients.
As a web developer, you can generate a recurring monthly income after a website is completed and get to keep in regular contact with clients to grow a long-lasting relationship.
As a client, you can ensure your website remains secure and up-to-date hassle-free. There is also peace of mind that you are covered if anything were to go wrong with your site just like an insurance policy.
This article will explain what a website maintenance package is, what it should include, and how much it should cost.
What are website maintenance plans?
A website maintenance plan is a recurring service contract to perform various tasks that are required to keep a WordPress website up-to-date, secure, and optimized.
The most important components of a maintenance plan would include a regular update of the WordPress core files, WordPress & Divi plugins, and the Divi theme software. Maintenance packages can also offer a full range of digital services to manage, monitor, backup, optimize, and run a website.
What to include in a maintenance plan?
WordPress maintenance is an ongoing task and should be something that is factored into any healthy website. The most important tasks will include performing updates and monitoring security, but there are many other tasks that should be performed on a regular basis too.
There will always be a range of options for website maintenance packages but most packages will include at least a basic common set of tasks.
A basic maintenance plan may include;
- Update WordPress core
- Update WordPress & Divi plugins
- Update Divi Theme
- Website backups
A higher level maintenance package may then also include;
- Backup restoration
- More regular & offsite website backups
- Full website testing after all software updates
- Website speed & uptime monitoring, reporting & optimization
- Malware removal
- Website errors and broken links monitoring & fixes
- Website migration
- SEO services
- Content creation & updates
- Digital Marketing
- Support retainer time slots for unspecified support tasks
- WordPress training
How much to charge for a maintenance plan
The price of a maintenance plan will vary largely based on what is included in the package, but will also vary from developer-to-developer, and from country-to-country.
Some developers will offer up to 1-year free maintenance & updates with all new sites.
As a rough guide, the cost of a WordPress maintenance plan would be;
- A basic maintenance plan may cost: $20-50 per month
- A higher level maintenance plan may cost: $50-300+ per month
There are many variables when deciding on what price to charge for various maintenance services, but it will be based on the expected hours it will take to perform the tasks being offered.
This can be hard to judge as for example, updating a Theme can take a few seconds for the majority of updates, but when a bug or conflict occurs it can add many hours of development time to fix the issue. Many aspects of a maintenance plan can be automated but when issues arise they can be very time-consuming. This unknown time factor with maintenance plans would make them similar to an insurance policy so that all eventualities are covered.
Outsourcing your website maintenance
If offering website maintenance plans to your clients is not suitable for you, there are a number of businesses offering maintenance packages that you can refer your clients too. This may be useful if you do not have the resources or skills to perform all the necessary tasks included in a maintenance plan.
Many maintenance providers will offer you an affiliate payment or referral fee for sending your clients to them, so you don’t totally miss out on this valuable add-on service.
Final Thoughts
Making the mistake of not offering a maintenance package when a site is completed can leave a lot of recurring income on the table and can lead to the website breaking.
A maintenance package is a win-win for web designers and clients. As a web designer, you get a recurring income from clients, and as a website owner, you get a secure and up-to-date website.
Do you offer website maintenance plans for your DIvi websites? What do you include and what do you charge?
Drop a comment below and let us know.
Thanks. Good to get a rough idea of what I need to include and charge. Seems like unless there are update issues it is an easy passive income.
When I 1st started out I didn’t offer any maintenance plans at all. A big mistake that meant money was left on the table. I think for many, income from maintenance plans is make-or-break for them.
I’m interested in any companies providing Divi maintenance and who pay referral fees or have a good arrangement with design companies. thank you.
I might be interested in that too! Lots of people come here looking for someone to hire for their maintenance. If you are offering Divi maintenance and offering a referral plan drop a comment below 🙂