Is Your Maintenance Plan Actually Being Done?

You pay for maintenance every month. The site looks fine. But “looks fine” is also exactly what a site looks like when nobody has touched it in six months. This post shows you how to verify your maintenance plan is really being worked, in about half an hour, without being a developer.

I run a maintenance business, so I’ll say this plainly: you’re allowed to ask for proof. A good provider will be glad you did.

Why “the site looks fine” proves nothing

Most maintenance work is invisible when it’s done well. Updates install in the background. Backups run at night. Monitoring sits there quietly until something goes wrong.

The problem is that the same work is also invisible when it’s not done. A site with no backups looks identical to a site with daily backups, right up to the day you need one. You only find out which one you have when something breaks.

So instead of trusting how the site looks, check the things that leave a trail.

How to verify your maintenance plan in six checks

You don’t need to understand the code for any of these. You need a login, a browser and ten minutes of your provider’s time.

1. Read the last monthly report

Start with the report. If there isn’t one, that’s your first answer.

A useful report tells you:

• which updates ran, and when
• when the last backups ran
• whether the site went down, and for how long
• what was caught and fixed
• what they recommend next

Every tier of our wordpress support plan includes a monthly report for this reason. The warning sign isn’t a short report. It’s a report that says the same thing every month, or just “all good” with no detail behind it.

2. Look at the Updates screen yourself

Log in to WordPress and open Dashboard → Updates. Then open Plugins and look for “There is a new version available” notices.

A couple of updates released in the last few days is normal. Careful providers test updates on a copy of the site before they apply them, so there’s often a short gap. A long list, with some updates weeks or months old, means nobody is looking.

While you’re in there, open Tools → Site Health. WordPress runs its own checks there and lists anything it thinks needs attention (Site Health screen, WordPress.org). You don’t have to fix what it finds. Just ask your provider about each item.

3. Ask for a backup date, and a restore

Send your provider four questions:

1. When did the last backup run?
2. Where is it stored?
3. How far back do the backups go?
4. When did you last restore one to check it works?

The last question matters most. A backup nobody has ever restored is a hope, not a plan. You also want backups stored away from your hosting account, so a problem with the host doesn’t take the backups down with it. That’s how we do it, whether the plan runs backups every two weeks, weekly or daily.

4. Check that monitoring is really switched on

“We monitor your site” can mean a lot or nothing. Ask:

• What tool is watching the site?
• How often does it check?
• Who gets the alert, and at what hours?
• When was the last alert, and what did you do about it?

If they can’t name a single alert in a year, ask how they know the monitoring works. A quiet year is possible. A provider who can’t show you the setup is a different thing.

5. Check the padlock and the certificate date

Click the padlock next to your address in the browser and open the certificate details. You’ll see an expiry date.

Most certificates renew automatically, but “most” isn’t “all.” A good provider confirms the renewal date rather than assuming.

While you’re on security, ask whether HSTS is switched on. It’s a setting that tells browsers to always use the secure version of your site. It’s low risk and a small fix.

6. Test the things that make you money

Fill in your own contact form and check the email arrives. If you run a store, place a test order. If people book through the site, make a test booking.

Then open the site on your phone and use it the way a customer would. If it’s awkward, read our notes on having a mobile-friendly website.

A plan that updates everything but never checks the form has missed the point. The site exists to bring in work.

What to do if the answers are vague

Vague answers aren’t proof of anything, but they’re a reason to push.

• Ask in writing for a list of what was done last month.
• Ask for the response time if the site goes down, in writing.
• Ask what happens if you leave. You should get your logins, backups and documentation. On our plans that’s standard: month-to-month, 30 days’ notice, and everything is handed over. Ask your current provider whether they’d do the same.

If you still can’t get a clear picture, get an outside check. Knowing how to verify your maintenance plan is only half of it. The other half is acting when the answers don’t add up.

A short routine to keep

You don’t need to do all six checks every week. Once a quarter is enough for most small-business sites:

1. Read the last three reports side by side.
2. Look at the Updates and Site Health screens.
3. Ask for the last backup date and the last test restore.
4. Check the certificate expiry date.
5. Submit your own form and, if you sell online, place a test order.

For a quicker gut check between those, our 3-question maintenance checklist takes about five minutes. For the wider picture beyond maintenance (being found, speed, turning visitors into enquiries), use the small business website checklist.

Result

Here’s how to verify your maintenance plan without touching code:

• a monthly report with real detail
• no old updates waiting on the Updates screen
• a recent backup, stored off the hosting account, that has been restored at least once
• monitoring you can see, with a named person on the alerts
• a certificate that renews on its own
• a contact form and checkout that work when you test them

If most of those are a yes, your plan is being done. If several are a no, it’s worth a closer look.

If you’d like a second pair of eyes, ask us for a free website audit. We’ll check the site from the outside and tell you plainly what we find.