Outsource2Us Outlines cases on why you should invest in Website Support
When you’ve got a shiny, newly-built website, having ongoing maintenance may seem like a pointless investment. However, for the long-term health of your site, it is crucial that you invest in regular, expertly conducted website maintenance. Below, we explain two case studies from our clients that showcase just how important ongoing web maintenance can be.
Case 1
With over 30,000 websites hacked each day, making sure your website is updated frequently is absolutely crucial. Here’s why…
THE SITUATION
In 2017 Outsource2Us was commissioned to build a website for a client that we were, at the time, hosting and backing up. However, the client did not want to pay for ongoing maintenance or for updates to their sites plugins, themes or WordPress core files.
THE PROBLEM
Three years passed without any plugins or themes being updated on this site; it was primarily being used as a blog posting website. At this time, the client discovered that every subpage on their site contained a warning message from a hacker. This client’s hack was the result of bugs or security holes in old plugins that had not been updated on the site. The main issue with this hack (as the site wasn’t receiving regular maintenance) was that Outsource2Us couldn’t identify when the hack had occurred and consequently could not remove the vulnerability with a simple backup.
THE RESULT
To resolve this issue, Outsource2Us had to fully rebuild the website.
COST OF SOLUTION VS COST OF MAINTENANCE
Unfortunately, having to completely rebuild this website from scratch cost the client a minimum of $5000. If they had invested in ongoing website support and maintenance from Outsource2Us during the two years their site was active, their plugins would have been updated and monitored, therefore their site would have been more secure from hackers. This website support and management would have only cost this client $1800 over 3 years.
Case 2
Sometimes when you don’t have a skilled IT person on staff, it’s better to play it safe and contact an expert when things go wrong. Here’s why…
THE SITUATION
We were engaged by a client in 2020 to build a new site for their new brand of products. Once the site was built, it was strongly recommended that the site was kept updated and maintained by Outsource2Us over the span of the website’s life. However, the client decided that they would do this work internally.
THE PROBLEM
Unfortunately, this client’s staff were not skilled in WordPress website management. Thus, in 2023, they contacted Outsource2Us because the website had accidentally been reset back to default and had lost all its branding and styling. This was caused by an internal staff member trying to do an update on the site’s theme, resulting in the WordPress theme breaking.
THE RESULT
Because this client did not elect to pay for continued maintenance and site backup from Outsource2Us, we were unable to provide a full backup of the site to reupload. This resulted in having to requote this client to completely rebuild their site from scratch.
COST OF SOLUTION VS COST OF MAINTENANCE
Completely rebuilding the site cost this client around $4000. This is on top of the $6000 they paid for the original site to be built. If the client had approached Outsource2Us before they attempted to update their site themselves, fixing their website theme would have been a fraction of the cost.
