Why a managed website beats a one-off build for most small businesses

The traditional way to buy a website is to pay a lump sum, get a site, and then hear nothing from the agency until something breaks. Two years later the plugins are out of date, the contact form has silently stopped working and nobody knows the hosting password.

What actually happens after launch

A website has running parts: the domain renews every year, the SSL certificate renews every few months, the platform and its plugins need updates, backups need to exist somewhere other than the server itself, and Google changes its mind about what it likes roughly twice a year. None of that is the exciting part, and none of it happens on its own.

The managed model

With a managed website you pay one monthly fee and all of that is included: hosting, domain, updates, backups, monitoring and support, with your email DNS set up alongside. The incentive is right way round too. We only do well if the site keeps working and you keep it, so we have every reason to answer quickly and fix things properly.

When a one-off build still makes sense

If you have an in-house team who will genuinely look after the site, or a very large project with its own operations budget, a project fee can be the better fit. For a café, a clinic, a tradesperson or a club, it almost never is.

The cheapest website is the one that is still working, and still findable, three years from now.

If you want to talk it through, send us a note and you will get a plain answer within two working days.