A website maintenance checklist should make recurring work visible and manageable. For a small UK business, the most useful routine is one that has an owner, fits the site’s purpose and produces a record another person can understand. A long list without responsibility is easily forgotten.
Separate content work from technical support
List who updates service information, who maintains the website software and who manages hosting and the domain. One agency may cover several roles, but do not assume that a support subscription includes every task. Write down what is covered and how to request work outside the agreement.
Keep an ownership record somewhere the business can access. It should identify account owners, renewal contacts and the route for urgent help. Store credentials using your organisation’s approved method, rather than adding passwords to an ordinary shared checklist.
Choose checks around real visitor tasks
Start with the jobs the site needs to support. If it generates enquiries, test that route. If it publishes changing service information, identify the pages most likely to become inaccurate. If visitors rely on downloads, include opening the current documents.
| Suggested review | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|
| Contact and enquiry route | Test date and confirmation that the right team received it |
| Key service information | Reviewer and corrections made |
| Important downloads and links | Broken items and replacement addresses |
| Technical maintenance | Provider’s change record and follow-up checks |
| Recovery arrangements | Record of the agreed recovery test |
This is a planning template, not a universal timetable. Agree frequency with the people responsible, considering how often information changes and how much the business depends on each function. Time-sensitive faults need attention when discovered.
Keep changes reviewable
For each change, record what was changed, why and who checked the result. A short note such as “updated service coverage and tested the enquiry link on the affected pages” is more useful than “website done”. Include any follow-up work and its owner.
Ask the technical provider how updates are tested and how recovery would work if a change breaks an important function. A statement that backups exist is less useful than an agreed process that the team has checked. Avoid making unplanned changes during a period when no support is available.
Review whether the site still meets user needs
The GOV.UK Service Manual’s live-phase guidance treats operating a service as ongoing support and improvement. It recommends testing changes across browsers and devices, checking accessibility and using research. Although written for government services, the principle is useful for business sites too.
Review actual enquiries and feedback. If customers repeatedly ask for information that is already on the site, investigate whether it is easy to find and understand. Do not treat a traffic total by itself as proof that the site is helping visitors.
Finish each review with decisions
Record what passed, what needs fixing and what can wait. Give each unresolved issue an owner and a next review date. Keep evidence proportionate: enough to support a decision without creating a reporting task larger than the maintenance itself.
A useful routine survives a staff change. Ask a colleague to follow the checklist using only the records you have provided. Their questions will reveal missing ownership and unclear instructions before an urgent problem does.
Related project guides
Start with our website design brief and guide to choosing web-design services. Then use the launch checklist, migration checklist for the relevant stage of your project.
