Kalamazoo, MI Website Maintenance Services

What is Involved in Maintaining Kalamazoo, MI Websites

We view web maintenance to be a reactive support service that provides your Kalamazoo business with the appropriate web developer resources to solve nearly any website problem. Here are a few examples of website problems that might need Kalamazoo web maintenance:

• Upgrading your website platform to the latest version.
• Updating apps and plugins to make them safer and more functional.
• Adding new pages whenever you release something new.
• Staying fresh with new blog content.
• Rearranging your Kalamazoo site's navigation menu.
• Improving page speed to help you pass Google Core Web Vitals.
• Taking backups of your website's files and databases.
• Changing the look and feel of your website.
• Troubleshooting Google Search Console coverage issues.
• Enhancing technical SEO with structured data, open graph tags, etc.
• Providing a solution to any other website problem.

The previously mentioned services are just a glimpse of what we view as possible Kalamazoo website maintenance services. Basically, Kalamazoo web support is anything a web developer or internet marketer does to change your website.

Reactive Kalamazoo Website Support

We consider website support a reactive service because most Kalamazoo website owners don't want a developer messing with their website without their permission. Our company will be your web support team on standby for any questions you have. However, we can provide some proactive website maintenance services for your Kalamazoo website.

View Kalamazoo Website Maintenance Pricing

Proactive Kalamazoo Website Support

For website owners in Kalamazoo interested in a proactive management service for some of their website upkeep requirements, we are happy to accommodate! There are several web support services, including platform upgrades, app / extension updates, website backups, performance monitoring, and broken link monitoring, that our website maintainers can handle in a proactive manner.

View Kalamazoo Website Management Pricing

In addition to supporting Kalamazoo-area websites, our website support firm also offers Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Sterling Heights, Taylor, and Troy small businesses and large corporations help with their websites.

Who Needs Web Maintenance in Kalamazoo, MI

At some point in time, every Kalamazoo website will require some form of website maintenance. It's because the internet is always changing. Not to worry though, our Kalamazoo web support cost isn't expensive so it should be affordable for you to maintain your website! Website maintenance in Kalamazoo might be needed for these reasons:

• Hosting companies sometimes upgrade their servers, removing PHP versions that were used by your Kalamazoo website. This means you have to refactor your app or upgrade to a newer framework that supports the new PHP version. There's no way you can expect custom web functionality to work forever.
• When an ecommerce platform or a content management system releases new versions, they eventually must deprecate the old versions so their teams can focus on maintaining the newer technologies. This recently happened to Magento 1.x ecommerce store owners who were forced to migrate to Magento 2.x, or an alternative ecommerce platform, because Magento 1.x had reached an “End of Life” status and would no longer be maintained or updated by Magento. As a result, Magento 1.x ecommerce businesses in Kalamazoo were looking for ecommerce developers to help migrate their websites.
• Whenever a website owner falls victim to malware or some other form of malicious activity, the website needs to be cleaned of malware and reviewed for security exploits. This is time-consuming, and often happens when the website owner isn't paying attention to the first two website support examples.
• To ensure future visitors to your Kalamazoo website receive accurate information about your organization, products, or services, your Kalamazoo website content needs to be refreshed. This type of web maintenance is critical to ensuring your Kalamazoo website is benefiting you.

There are many reasons why a website might need maintenance, other than just to update something. It is important to understand the future needs of your Kalamazoo business when planning budgets and schedules for website maintenance and support.

How We Perform Kalamazoo, MI Website Maintenance

We have an experienced web support team who puts forth great effort to understand your maintenance needs, schedule your work in a timely fashion, and follow up with your Kalamazoo business after the tasks have been completed.

A Kalamazoo website support service usually starts with an email from you. That email is routed into our ticket system and automatically assigned to the project manager on your account. Anyone on our team can work on the ticket without delay, resulting in faster turnaround time.

Phone or live chat requests follow a similar process to Kalamazoo web maintenance. We route the support request to the most appropriate web developer on our team based on the nature of the work needed on your website.

Example Web Maintenance Service List for Kalamazoo, MI Businesses

We are often asked for detailed examples of Kalamazoo website maintenance requests that might come up after the launch of a website. The following are some examples of Kalamazoo web support services we've provided in the past.

Simple Kalamazoo Website Changes

Your Kalamazoo website might need a paragraph updated, an image changed, or a new page added. Keeping content fresh for search engines and visitors is just normal, routine website support.

Kalamazoo Site Performance Improvements

Let us check your Kalamazoo website for hosting, caching, image optimization, console errors, broken links, poor database queries, and other potential problems that might be impacting your page speed. This will help improve page load times, which are beneficial to user experience and search engine optimization.

Platform Upgrades / Security Patches

It's important to keep your Kalamazoo website updated if it runs on a CMS like WordPress. Updates help improve security and functionality - and they're usually quick, so it might be a simple task.

Extension / Plugin Updates

It's important to update plugins and extensions on your Kalamazoo website if they were developed and maintained by a third-party. This is similar to the idea of updating the CMS platform since it helps patch security and functionality issues.

Google Search Console Issues

Did you get a report from Google Search Console telling you about a coverage issue? If so, we can fix the coverage issues, and let you know how it went. By making Google happy, you'll boost your search engine rankings throughout Kalamazoo and beyond!

Add Structured Data

When you search Google organically, have you noticed reviews or prices in the search results? This is brought to you by structured data, which is a standardized way of describing the content on the web page, whether it be of a local business in Kalamazoo, and ecommerce product or some other common data type.

Add Open Graph Tags on Your Website

By adding Open Graph Tags to your website, digital platforms can better understand the content of your page, which improves its appearance on social media.

Add Google Tag Manager

Interested in using Google Tag Manager for managing custom scripts? That won't be a problem! We can add Google Tag Manager to your Kalamazoo website and even give you a crash course in using Google Tag Manager.

Add Conversion Tracking

If you are interested in understanding the benefit of an online advertising campaign for your Kalamazoo website, it is important to setup conversion tracking. Then you'll know where your conversions come from, whether it be direct traffic, organic search, or paid ads.

Image Optimization

Do you have a Kalamazoo website that's slow because of large images? That won't be a problem! We can run all your images through our image compression tools and even setup recurring image compression for newly added images in the future!

Setup Live Chat

Is your website ready for live chat? If you'd like us to recommend the best live chat system for your Kalamazoo business, install the tracking code, and customize the design for your branding, we can do it!

Review Error Logs for Issues

Do you have a lot of error_log files on your hosting account? We can help diagnose the issue and update programming code or repair platform issues to prevent recurring error messages.

Setup reCaptcha on Forms

If spambots are attacking your Kalamazoo website, we can setup a checkbox or invisible reCaptcha to help minimize unwanted submissions on your forms.

Implement a Caching Plugin

Interested in installing a caching plugin for your Kalamazoo website, but don't know how to set it up? We can recommend caching plugins, or we can install and configure them for you!

Send Website Emails Over SMTP

To help improve email deliverability, we can configure your contact form and website platform to send emails through an SMTP account instead of PHP mail.

Restrict IP Addresses

Have you been getting fake orders, contact submissions, or live chats from a particular network? Our team can help set up IP restrictions so your website doesn't get hit with as much malicious traffic.

Run Website & Database Backups

Is it time to make a backup of your Kalamazoo website? We can help you create one-time or scheduled backups that store locally or at an offsite location.

Create a Staging Website

It is often recommended that you setup a development or staging website before proceeding with a major upgrade or extension installation. Just let us know if you need help creating and managing that development / staging site!

Setup A/B Testing

Would you like to make changes to your Kalamazoo website based on statistical data? We can help you run A/B testing to help you decide which design or content layouts are best.

Create 301 Redirects

Are you launching a new website or removing pages from your website? You will want to create 301 redirects for your Kalamazoo website to prevent broken pages from hurting your SEO. Having broken pages will cost your Kalamazoo business a lot of organic traffic if they aren't fixed with 301 redirects. We are happy to help you resolve broken pages through the creation of 301 redirects within .htaccess files, nginx templates, and CMS plugins.

Train You on Your Website

Do you need help learning how to make changes to your Kalamazoo website? If your Kalamazoo site was developed in a platform we work within, such as WordPress or Shopify, we'll be happy to help!

The Platforms We Maintain for Kalamazoo, MI Websites

We have a diverse team of web designers and web developers, for Kalamazoo businesses, who have been immersed in multiple website platforms over the years. Having said that, it's better to master a few platforms than try to specialize in them all. For that reason, our web maintenance firm for Kalamazoo websites tends to service only the following platforms:

• Kalamazoo WordPress Web Support
• Kalamazoo WooCommerce Website Support
• Kalamazoo Shopify Web Maintenance

In the past, we provided website maintenance and support for Joomla and Magento platforms of Kalamazoo businesses. However, we chose not to use those platforms so our web maintenance experts could focus on training and support within the more popular platforms.

Questions to Ask Kalamazoo, MI Website Maintenance Firms

Before signing up for any Kalamazoo website support package, it is important to ask the Kalamazoo web maintenance company some questions about how their services work. It'll give you a better idea of the experience you'll have with their premium Michigan web support services prior to making payment and providing website access. Let's go over some simple questions to ask:

• What kind of security do you have on your site? Do you scan client websites for security?
• What's the turnaround time for Kalamazoo website support?
• Is your Kalamazoo web maintenance outsourced?
• How much might it cost to maintain an average Kalamazoo website?
• Do you have minimum deductions or minimum billable expenses for Kalamazoo website updates?
• What are your normal hours of operation?
• When there are new updates on my platform, will you let me know?

If you ask these questions to a Kalamazoo website services agency, you'll gain a better understanding of the future relationship, the security of your website, and the turnaround time for important maintenance requests.

Kalamazoo, MI Website Maintenance Plans and Tips

We are often asked for a web support plan by larger companies in and around Kalamazoo looking to establish routines and procedures within their IT department. We can help your Kalamazoo business set up a website support plan so all aspects of your website, hosting, and domain name are monitored regularly.

Here is a list of annual Kalamazoo web maintenance tasks to review:

• Check if your web hosting provider has newer servers that your account can be migrated to.
• Ask your web developer if your website has a major platform release coming up that will require a lot of work to install.
• Try restoring a website backup to make sure the data is good enough for a full recovery. Also, make sure your backups are stored somewhere else besides Kalamazoo.
• Take a look at the websites of your competitors (even those outside Kalamazoo) to see if you're missing out on anything.
• Perform a full security review of your website to ensure nothing has been compromised or left vulnerable.
• Verify structured data, open graph, and social links are all working properly.
• Remove any unnecessary 3rd party tracking, live chat, or heat map scripts that may have been installed in the past.
• Take down any unnecessary development or staging sites.

Read through this list of semi-annual Kalamazoo website maintenance tasks to review:

• Make sure you have access to your domain name and it's not about to expire. When you have to renew your domain name, this will come in handy.
• Ensure you have access to your hosting account and that it isn't expiring soon.
• Make sure you can access your DNS in case anything needs to be changed.
• Check if your SSL certificate will be expiring in the near future.
• Make sure your website backup schedule is working and you have remote backups.
• Make sure you're running an image optimization service.
• See if there are any console errors on the website.

Read through this list of monthly Kalamazoo web support tasks to review:

• Check for broken links on your website, which negatively impact user experience and SEO.
• Check for website performance issues from recent updates or changes on the website.
• See if there's anything wrong being reported within Google Search Console.
• Update some of your service pages or blog articles to keep your website fresh.
• Take a look at your website platform and extensions for any available updates.

The Cost of Website Support Service in Kalamazoo, MI

The starting price for our Kalamazoo website maintenance services is $119.50/hour, but we offer discounts for pre-purchased blocks of time that bring the rate as low as $99.95/hour. We also offer website management for Kalamazoo websites, starting at $50/month, if you'd like the peace of mind knowing a company is proactively upgrading your site.

To get started, if you are new to our web maintenance company, we'll need you to pre-purchase a block of time which includes a discount on our hourly rate. If you are an existing client in Kalamazoo, you are welcome to choose monthly billing at our higher hourly rate or continue to pre-purchase time and receive discounted hourly rates for your website updates.

If you pre-purchase a block of time for your Kalamazoo web maintenance services, you will be happy to know there are no contracts, there are no hidden fees, the time never expires, and there are no minimum deductions for small website update requests. Please keep in mind we rarely see tasks take less than 10 minutes, since the process of reviewing an email or taking a phone call, checking on whatever was asked, providing some form of feedback, and then logging the task usually takes at least 10 minutes of time. To keep you informed of the time usage on your pre-purchased block of web maintenance time, you will receive a monthly email update letting you know how much time remains on your account.

What is Considered Billable Time?

When talking with prospective Kalamazoo website maintenance clients, we are often asked what is considered billable time. You will find the answers to vary greatly within the website support industry. In some situations, you may find a website maintenance company in Kalamazoo to charge a much higher hourly rate, but not bill out for communication and organization. Likewise, there are website support companies in Kalamazoo who charge a more affordable hourly rate, but also bill out for most communication and organization. This is the approach we take. To help provide clarification, let's go over some examples of what we consider billable time when it comes to maintaining and supporting your Kalamazoo website.

Here are examples of what is considered billable time:

• Reading through lengthy emails to understand what is being requested.
• Preparing responses to lengthy or complex email messages.
• Helping you figure out your domain name or web hosting provider.
• Scheduling your website maintenance to be completed by the best team member.
• Talking with you on the phone about ideas or tasks you want to discuss.
• Reviewing completed work for quality control purposes.
• Providing you training on how to handle administrative tasks.
• Researching unique solutions to difficult questions you present our team.
• Providing more detailed time usage reports, beyond the automated monthly update email.
• Helping you figure out email client issues within Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.
• Almost any other task not specifically mentioned in the list below.

Here are examples of what is not considered billable time:

• Talking with you about personal matters, such as the weather, a recent vacation, or a sporting event.
• Responding to simple email messages that don't require research or lengthy feedback.
• Handling accounting-related tasks, such as invoice generation, payment confirmations, etc.

800-796-8263 Email Us