Controlled routine care
Handle agreed updates, backups, and maintenance checks through a defined process rather than waiting for something to go wrong.
Based in Manchester. Working with clients across the UK.
Website maintenance and support for businesses that need reliable ongoing care.
Ducie Street Media provides ongoing website maintenance and support for business websites, covering routine updates, backups, monitoring, troubleshooting, content changes, and smaller development tasks.
What you can expect from this service
01Clear inclusionsKnow what is included before work begins.
02Direct communicationWork directly with Scott throughout.
03Commercial purposeDecisions linked to a useful business outcome.
04Practical deliveryRecommendations shaped around budget, timing, and implementation.
What website maintenance should help you achieve
Keep responsibility clear after launch.
Maintenance is most useful when routine website work has an agreed point of responsibility, problems have a clear route to resolution, and smaller changes do not require a completely new project each time.
Clearer issue handling
Give troubleshooting and smaller website problems an established route so responsibilities and next steps are easier to understand.
Easier ongoing changes
Handle agreed content changes, form updates, and smaller development tasks without treating every adjustment as a new website project.
What the work includes
Website maintenance and support can include
Website review and support baseline
Review the existing platform, hosting where relevant, theme or template setup, apps, plugins, integrations, access, and known issues before ongoing responsibility is agreed.
Controlled software updates
Manage agreed platform, theme, app, plugin, or integration updates where applicable, with appropriate checks around the affected website.
Backups
Confirm and maintain agreed backup arrangements so suitable restore points are available before higher-risk changes. Recovery work following a significant incident may require a separate quote depending on the cause and condition of the website.
Monitoring and troubleshooting
Carry out the checks agreed for the support arrangement and investigate website errors, broken functionality, form problems, or other issues that fall within the agreed support.
Content and form changes
Make agreed smaller changes to website text, images, forms, contact information, and existing page content where continuing support is useful.
Small development tasks
Handle smaller technical or layout changes that fit the agreed support arrangement without turning the work into a larger development project.
Change control and escalation
Explain when an issue falls outside routine maintenance and agree the additional work, cost, or different service route before that work begins.
Website maintenance in practical detail
What should be agreed before ongoing website support begins?
A useful maintenance arrangement should define the website being supported, who controls the important accounts, what routine work is included, how support requests are handled, and where maintenance ends and a separate development project begins.
Platform, condition, and access
An existing website should be reviewed before DSM takes ongoing responsibility for it. The platform, hosting where relevant, theme or template setup, apps, plugins, integrations, access, and current technical condition can all affect what maintenance is sensible.
The planning should account for:
- Confirm administrative access and relevant account ownership
- Identify unsupported, duplicated, or unusually fragile components
- Record known problems before the maintenance arrangement begins
Updates and backups
Updates should be managed deliberately rather than applied without considering compatibility or the importance of the affected functionality.
In practical terms:
- Maintain an agreed approach to platform, theme, app, plugin, or integration updates where applicable
- Confirm suitable backup arrangements before significant changes
- Check important functionality after relevant updates
Maintenance versus development
Routine support should not become an undefined development allowance. Smaller fixes and changes can sit within an agreed support arrangement, while larger functionality, templates, integrations, or broader visual and structural work should be quoted separately.
In practical terms:
- Keep smaller fixes and changes within the agreed support arrangement
- Quote new templates, larger functionality, integrations, or substantial development separately
- Use Website Redesign when the visual system, navigation, content, or customer journey needs broader change
Support requests and response expectations
The arrangement should make it clear how requests are submitted and what level of response has actually been agreed.
In practical terms:
- Keep routine support requests in an agreed channel
- Distinguish normal maintenance from urgent problems
- Do not assume 24/7 or emergency availability unless it has specifically been agreed
Hosting, licences, and third-party services
Maintenance does not automatically transfer ownership of the website’s underlying services to DSM.
In practical terms:
- The client should normally retain control of the domain and key business accounts
- Hosting and third-party licences are separate unless explicitly included
- Premium apps, plugins, software, and external services remain subject to their own terms and charges
When maintenance is no longer the right service
Some websites need more than routine care. A defined batch of technical improvements may be better handled through WordPress Development. A broader change to design, navigation, content, or customer journeys may require Website Redesign. Ongoing search-performance work belongs under SEO.
In practical terms:
- Use maintenance for recurring care and smaller agreed changes
- Move larger technical work into a defined development project
- Use redesign or SEO where the primary problem sits outside maintenance
This summary separates routine support from work that belongs under a larger development, redesign, SEO, or third-party agreement.
| Requirement | Normal route |
|---|---|
| Agreed platform, theme, app, or plugin updates | Maintenance & Support |
| Backups and agreed monitoring | Maintenance & Support |
| Smaller content or form changes | Maintenance & Support |
| New templates or substantial functionality | WordPress Development or a separately defined development project |
| Broad layout, structure, or content overhaul | Website Redesign |
| Ongoing search and content performance | SEO |
| Hosting, licences, apps, plugins, or third-party fees | Separately agreed |
Best suited for
Ongoing support for websites that need regular attention without a larger rebuild.
- Businesses with an existing website that needs regular technical care, updates, content changes, or troubleshooting
- DSM website clients who want continuing support after launch
- Teams that want a consistent contact for routine website changes and troubleshooting
- Websites where smaller recurring tasks are more appropriate than commissioning a new development project each time
How the work progresses
A clear route from website review to ongoing support.
- 01
Review
Inspect the existing website, access, hosting environment where relevant, software, integrations, and known issues.
- 02
Agree responsibilities
Confirm what routine support includes, how requests will be handled, and what remains the client’s or a third party’s responsibility.
- 03
Establish the baseline
Record the current condition of the website and confirm the agreed update, backup, and support arrangements.
- 04
Maintain and support
Carry out the agreed routine work and respond to support requests that fall within the arrangement.
- 05
Review larger requirements
Identify work that has moved beyond maintenance and agree a separate development, redesign, or other service before it continues.
Relevant experience
Support informed by managing live business websites.
DSM’s own website, Charlie Scott’s, and Charlie & Friends are active commercial websites managed across WordPress, Shopify, and Wix. That first-hand work includes ongoing content changes, technical checks, troubleshooting, integrations, search, and practical improvements as the businesses evolve.
View selected work →Before you enquire
Common questions about Website Maintenance & Support.
These answers clarify pricing, inclusions, platforms, hosting, third-party costs, content changes, SEO, and response expectations.
How much does website maintenance cost?
Website maintenance and support is quoted after the existing website and required level of support have been reviewed. The platform, hosting, apps, plugins, integrations, website condition, update requirements, and expected level of ongoing work can all affect the price.
What can website maintenance include?
An agreed support arrangement can include updates, backups, monitoring, troubleshooting, smaller content changes, form changes, and limited development tasks. The exact inclusions are confirmed before ongoing support begins.
Can you maintain a website you did not build?
Yes. The website is reviewed first so its platform, hosting where relevant, theme or template setup, apps, plugins, integrations, access, and current condition are understood before ongoing responsibility is agreed.
Which website platforms do you support?
DSM can provide website maintenance and support across a range of website platforms and ecommerce systems. The exact support provided depends on how the website is built, the access available, the integrations involved, and the work required.
Is hosting included with website maintenance?
Not automatically. Hosting is included only where it is separately agreed. Clients should normally retain control of their domain and key business accounts.
Are premium plugins, apps, software, or licences included?
No. Required third-party plugins, apps, themes, software, licences, or external services are paid separately unless the written agreement specifically states otherwise.
Can you make content changes as part of ongoing support?
Yes. Smaller agreed changes to existing text, images, forms, and page content can be included. New pages, substantial content work, or larger changes may need a separate quote.
Is SEO included in website maintenance?
No. Maintenance can protect the technical operation of a website, but ongoing SEO, search-content work, reporting, and competitive search improvements are a separate service.
What happens if the website needs more than maintenance?
DSM will explain when the required work has become a larger development or redesign project. That work is quoted separately before it begins rather than being treated as unlimited maintenance.
Does website maintenance include 24/7 emergency support?
No standard DSM maintenance arrangement should be assumed to include continuous or 24/7 emergency availability. Normal support arrangements and response expectations are agreed in writing, and any exceptional out-of-hours requirement would need to be agreed separately.
Based in Manchester. Working with clients across the UK.
Discuss website maintenance and support.
Share your current position, what you want to improve, and any timeframe you have in mind. We’ll come back to you with the most useful next step.