Why offer web maintenance services with WordPress
If a client asks you to create their new website and you don’t offer a maintenance service for when the work is finished, both of you will lose. And if not, pay attention to what we are going to tell you.
Why are you losing out?
You, as a professional, give up getting more revenue and generate a better brand image.
The client, because in a while he will find himself with an outdated website, with performance and security problems, that he will have to remake sooner rather than later.
Websites are like cars. The better maintenance you do on them, the longer their useful life will be and the more profitable the investment made in them will be.
In this article, we are going to analyze the importance of web maintenance and the reasons why you should offer this type of services to your clients.
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The importance of offering good web maintenance to your WordPress clients
Good web maintenance aims to ensure that there are no significant problems on a website and that it works optimally despite the passage of time.
Offering this type of service to your WordPress clients can be an effective way to grow your business and get many potential customers who may have a website, but need someone to keep it ready.
In our WordPress website maintenance guide we explain all the necessary tasks for a good maintenance and how to do them.
You can create maintenance plans or packages, or simply add an additional cost to the total project budget that covers these tasks for X amount of time.
In case we haven’t convinced you with this introduction, let’s see the main reasons why you should start offering web maintenance services right now:
#1 Earn recurring revenue
This type of services can allow you to generate recurring revenue (hallelujah!). Instead of charging in hourly rates, you can offer monthly plans for ongoing maintenance work.
Whether you are self-employed or part of an agency, there are times when the number of projects tends to decrease. That’s why having a recurring maintenance fee that arrives every month to your account will give you a lot of peace of mind.
It is true that they are usually low budgets and that some month it will be expensive for you (if there is any big problem with an update that depends on you). But it will usually be profitable, as many tasks are on autopilot.
Also, if the client is satisfied with your work, it will be much easier for the client to recommend you to friends or family by being present in the day-to-day of their company.
#2 Reduce client requests
As a professional in the sector we are sure that you know perfectly the importance of a good web maintenance, however, it is very possible that your client is not aware.
What happens when it’s not done? That over time, problems begin to appear on the website, and therefore, with your clients.
First, because they are very rarely going to take care of maintenance. And if they do, it will be only of the most basic tasks.
This can cause the website to break and the level of requests from the client to increase considerably towards you, who are the expert.
On the contrary, if you are the professional who is in charge of this service, the processes will be carried out correctly from the beginning, avoiding awkward conversations.
There are many tools that allow you to simplify these aspects. For example, with Modular DS, we not only allow you to manage all your websites from one place, but you can also manage all these maintenance tasks without having to log in to each one of them.
#3 You can build long-term business relationships
Offering maintenance support can allow you to strengthen the relationship with your clients, as well as build longer commitments.
This way, you can increase your revenue while clients are satisfied with the good performance and functioning of your website.
Think that if they are satisfied with the website you have designed, they will also trust you to tale care of maintenance and security.
And, without a doubt, you will be the first choice for their next projecVale sits. They will consider you part of their team.
#4 Your clients will understand why maintenance is important
There are many clients who think that once a website is created it will work forever and they will not have to worry about it again.
What they don’t know is that WordPress and its plugins are constantly being updated. That being the most used CMS in the world, hackers are always trying to find new security vulnerabilities to take over your site. Or that at any time there may be a server failure and your website might stop working.
The daily work and the creation of good monthly reports can help your clients really understand what is behind a proper web maintenance. If they do, they will value your work much more.
In addition, and one thing that even non-technical people understand, you have to let them know that having an optimized and always online website will help Google to see it with good eyes, and therefore, improve its SEO positioning.
#5 Avoid content loss
Imagine that the website breaks and there was no previous backup, it is possible that the client has lost all the content. And you know who it’s going to be blamed. You, because you haven’t been able to solve a problem for him.
It doesn’t matter that they’re not paying you for maintenance. You’re probably the one responsible. And even if your work has already been done, that client may not recommend you anymore. We don’t want that.
This is one of the main reasons why it is convenient for you to offer maintenance services. WordPress does not have a built-in backup solution, so clients have to keep in mind that these backups are mandatory if they really want to protect their investment.
But beware, if it is also an online store, it is important that the client knows that backups have to be made almost daily, or on the contrary, a one-time failure can become a real drama.
#6 Provide quality hosting
This is one of the key points to get to sell your maintenance services, and is that the costs of hosting and domain are something inevitable for a website to work.
And if the customer has to pay them anyway, why not offer them within your maintenance service so that they can centralize everything in the same person? It will be much more comfortable for them.
This way, you make sure of its quality (how important it is to have a good hosting nowadays right?) and to have control of it in case of emergency.
In addition, working with many clients, the cost of hosting will be much lower for you and you will be able to earn a higher margin. All while the client receives a better service than if he hires it directly on his own.
#7 Happier and more knowledgeable clients
While WordPress is still one of the most user-friendly management systems, most website owners will need help managing their WordPress website. They will even be afraid of not being able to count on it if something happens.
Having the trsut that they can write or call you if something happens or they have a question about the website will give them a lot of peace of mind and they will be happy to have you.
#8 Improve website speed and performance
One of the key benefits of offering maintenance services is to ensure that your client’s website is always optimized for performance. Over time, WordPress databases can become heavier, and websites can start to slow down due to the accumulation of temporary files or lack of image and resource optimization. By including maintenance tasks such as database cleanup, image optimization, and CSS and JavaScript file minimization, you can significantly improve site load speed.
In addition, Google takes the speed of a page very much into account in its SEO ranking algorithm, so a fast website will not only offer a better user experience, but will also have better search engine results. This will add even more value to your maintenance services and demonstrate to your customers the positive impact that consistent maintenance can have.
#10 Differentiation from the competition
There are still many professionals in the sector who do not want to offer web maintenance services, with the consequent problems that this can cause in the websites of their clients. For this reason, the fact that you offer it and value it from the first moment in conversations with potential clients will make you stand out from those who do not.
Make your clients see that you want to build a long-term relationship with them to help their website add value to their business. That you are not looking to just do the website and forget about them. That will give them confidence that you are the right person, even more so if they have had previous bad experiences, something very common in our world.
Conclusion
As we have seen in other posts, a good maintenance is something fundamental for any WordPress website. And it is something that you should know and make your client see.
The good thing is that this need will give you the opportunity to offer a highly automated service that will allow you to add more value to your client, get recurring income and avoid problems with the websites you have made.
May all the hard work you’ve done on a website not be ruined by an unexpected WordPress update after six months.
We hope this post has been useful to you. We love to inspire you, but also to make your life easier. And since you’ve come this far, we invite you to try Modular DS completely free. A tool to manage all your WordPress websites from one place, automating maintenance tasks and giving access to your clients so that they understand what is being done on their website.
Let’s go!
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