What does a website maintenance plan include?
By Dale Sutton · Updated 14 September 2026
A proper website maintenance plan includes managed hosting with SSL, daily backups that are actually tested, core, theme and plugin updates applied safely, security monitoring and clean-up, uptime monitoring with alerts, small content changes, and a monthly report. Oria Digital's Website Care plan covers all of that from $249 a month + GST; Growth + Optimisation adds analytics, conversion and SEO work.
What's in a plan — and what separates a good one
| Item | A basic plan | A good plan |
|---|---|---|
| Backups | Taken | Taken daily, kept for weeks, and restored to a test site periodically to prove they work. |
| Updates | Applied | Checked fortnightly, applied within days of a security release, staged first where they might break something. |
| Security | A plugin installed | Monitoring, hardening, and clean-up if something gets through — with a person, not a dashboard. |
| Uptime | Nothing | Monitored continuously; you hear about an outage from your developer, not a customer. |
| Changes | Billed hourly | Small content and image changes included, turned around in a day or two. |
| Reporting | Nothing | A short monthly note: what was done, what was found, what's recommended. |
| Access to a person | A ticket system | The developer who looks after the site. |
Do you actually need one?
If the site has ever broken after an update, been hacked, or gone down without you knowing — yes. If you've paid for two or more one-off fixes in a year — yes, it's already cheaper. If the site is simple, rarely changes and nothing has ever gone wrong, a plan may be more than you need; keep a current backup and pay for a fix when you need one.
The honest case for a plan isn't the fixes. It's that someone is paid to keep the site working rather than paid to fix it after it fails, and those are different incentives.
Oria Digital's plans
Website Care, from $249 a month + GST: managed Australian hosting with SSL, daily tested backups, staged updates, security monitoring, uptime alerts, small content changes and a monthly report. Month to month, no lock-in. Growth + Optimisation, from $499 a month: everything in Care plus analytics review, conversion work, SEO improvements, automation monitoring and two hours of improvement work each month, on a three-month minimum term.
Related questions
What does a website care plan include?
Oria Digital's Website Care plan includes managed Australian hosting with SSL, daily backups with tested restores, security monitoring and updates, uptime monitoring with alerts, small content changes on request, and a monthly health check with a plain-English report. Growth + Optimisation adds analytics review, conversion and SEO work, automation monitoring and improvement hours.
How often should a WordPress website be maintained?
Core, theme and plugin updates should be checked at least fortnightly and applied within a few days of a security release. Backups should run daily and be tested at least quarterly. Uptime and speed should be monitored continuously. That's what a website care plan does, so it happens on a schedule instead of when something breaks.
Is there a minimum commitment?
Website Care is month to month with no lock-in. Growth + Optimisation has a three-month minimum term, then continues monthly. Three months is roughly what it takes to install improvements, watch real enquiries move through them, find what isn't working and fix it — any less and you'd be judging it before it has had a fair run.
Do you provide ongoing support?
Yes. Every Oria Digital care plan includes managed hosting, SSL, backups, security updates, uptime monitoring and small content changes. Growth + Optimisation adds the AI assistant, automation workflows and a set number of improvement hours each month, so the system keeps developing instead of standing still.
Want this applied to your own site? Start with the free audit, or go straight to Website Care.