Website maintenance, Melbourne —
your site, looked after.
One person who keeps your website updated, backed up, secure — and quietly improving.
Website maintenance is the ongoing care that keeps a site healthy after it launches — the updates, backups, security and small fixes that pile up when nobody owns them. That's what I do, through monthly care plans, for WordPress sites and the modern Astro/Cloudflare sites I build — for small businesses across Melbourne and Australia.
// 45 min · Google Meet · No obligation
// Recognition
Why people come to me for this.
Usually because a website that cost real money to build has been left to fend for itself — and it's starting to show. It tends to look like one of these:
Launched, then left
The site went live a year or two ago and hasn't been touched since — software out of date, content going stale, and nobody quite owning it.
Update anxiety
Every WordPress update feels like a small gamble, so they get put off — which quietly leaves the site less secure and more fragile each month.
No one to call
A form stops sending, the site slows down, something breaks — and there's no one on the other end who knows your site and can just fix it.
None of these mean the site was badly built. Websites just need steady, unglamorous upkeep — and most business owners have better things to do with that time than become their own webmaster.
// How it works
What maintenance actually covers.
Strip away the package names and website maintenance is three jobs, done consistently:
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Keeping it current. Software updates — WordPress core, plugins and themes, or the dependencies under a modern site — applied on a schedule and checked afterwards, so security holes get closed and nothing quietly breaks.
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Keeping it safe. Backups that are actually tested, security monitoring, and uptime checks — so when something does go wrong, it's caught early and there's always a clean copy to restore from.
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Keeping it improving. A maintained site doesn't just stand still. Small fixes, content changes and performance checks each month keep it fast, accurate, and working for the business.
Maintenance keeps a good site good — it can't rescue a site that's fundamentally wrong for the business. When that's the honest diagnosis, the answer is a rebuild through my web design service, and I'll tell you before you spend a cent on a care plan.
// What I do
What I do.
A care plan with me is steady, practical work on a monthly rhythm — most of it invisible when it's going well, all of it visible in the report. Here's what that covers:
Updates, applied and checked.
WordPress core, plugin and theme updates — or dependency updates on an Astro/Cloudflare site — applied on a regular schedule, with the site checked afterwards so nothing has quietly broken.
Backups you can actually restore.
Regular backups, stored away from the site itself, and periodically test-restored. A backup that's never been tested is a hope, not a plan.
Security, watched.
Security monitoring and hardening — login protection, malware scanning, SSL, and the unglamorous settings that keep a small-business site off the easy-target list.
Uptime and performance monitoring.
Around-the-clock uptime checks and regular speed reviews, so I usually know the site is down — or slowing — before you do.
Small changes, just done.
A price update, new photos, a staff change, a broken link — the small jobs that would otherwise sit in a someday pile. Send them through; they get done and confirmed.
A monthly report in plain language.
What happened, what I did, and what's coming next — traffic, uptime, and the state of the site, without the metric soup.
A regular catch-up call.
Time on the calendar to walk through the report, answer your questions, and agree next month's priorities. Monthly on most plans.
Proactive recommendations.
I flag things before they become urgent — a plugin losing support, a page that's started slipping, a form worth improving. You don't have to ask.
// For the technically curious — the upkeep behind this
WordPress (core / plugin / theme updates, PHP version upkeep, staging checks before risky updates) · Astro / Cloudflare (dependency updates, build + deploy checks, edge caching) · off-site backups with periodic test restores · uptime monitoring with alerting · security (login hardening, malware scanning, SSL) · Core Web Vitals + broken-link sweeps · GA4 + Search Console kept healthy. All reported in plain language.
You work directly with me — one person, start to finish. You'll always know exactly who's looking after your website, because it's me.— Nathan Schram · Website maintenance, Melbourne
A big maintenance provider suits businesses with a fleet of sites and a procurement process. A consultant suits businesses that want direct access, plain answers, and someone who treats their website like it matters — because to your customers, it does. If that's you, this is built for how you like to work.
// What I look after
The sites I take on.
Two kinds. WordPress sites — the platform most Melbourne small businesses are on, and where regular maintenance matters most — whether or not I built them. And the Astro/Cloudflare sites I build myself, which need less firefighting but still deserve steady care.
I'm Melbourne-based and work with businesses across the city, regional Victoria, and the rest of Australia — maintenance is remote work by nature, so where you are matters less than what your site runs on. If your site is on a platform I can't support properly, I'll tell you on the first call and point you somewhere better.
// What I don't do
What I don't do.
Honest scope — because in website maintenance, the fine print is where trust usually goes to die.
If something sits outside the default scope and there's a real reason to do it, ask anyway. The honest discipline runs both ways: you have to agree to the scope, and I have to be confident I can deliver it to a standard worth my name.
// Pricing
What it costs.
Here's how the money usually works, in plain numbers. Most maintenance work with me takes one of three shapes:
// Audit
A one-off site audit.
A clear read on the state of your site — updates, security, speed, tracking — as part of the free Basic Digital Health Check on every call. The In-Depth version, checked inside your actual hosting and analytics, starts at $300.
// Catch-up
A one-off catch-up sprint.
For a site that's been left for a while: updates applied, backups sorted, security tightened, the worst of the backlog cleared — so a care plan starts from a clean slate. Project-based, quoted to scope after the call.
// Ongoing
An ongoing care plan.
Updates, backups, security, monitoring, small changes, and the monthly report and call — every month. From around $1,000/month depending on scope — see the four care levels on Looked After.
ACNC-registered charities: 25% off. Single ABN-lookup verification at intake — the same rate that runs across every NSD service.
// FAQ
Common questions.
What does website maintenance actually include?
How much does website maintenance cost?
Do you offer WordPress maintenance?
What's a website care plan — is that different from maintenance?
Can you maintain a website you didn't build?
Am I locked into a contract?
What happens if my site goes down or something breaks?
How does this relate to your Looked After plan?
Can I just maintain the website myself?
// Start
Get started.
Not sure what state your site is actually in? Book a 45-minute call. I'll run a free Basic Digital Health Check on your site beforehand — including the update, speed and security basics visible from the outside — and walk you through it, so the conversation starts from facts rather than worry.
// 45 minutes · Google Meet · no obligation
Every call ends with one — a plain-English read on where your site stands today. No charge, no catch.
- The update, security and speed basics — checked
- What's working, and what's quietly at risk
- Your top 3 fixes, in priority order
The PDF is yours to keep regardless.
// Last updated: 2026-07-23