What website maintenance should mean in a subscription.

Draw the line between an edit and a new feature

A small edit changes existing content — a price, a photo, an opening hour, a paragraph of text. A new feature adds a capability that wasn't there before — a booking widget, a members' area, a new integration. A maintenance scope only works when both sides can tell these apart on sight.

• Small edit: updated price, hours, photo, or paragraph
• Small edit: fixing a typo or broken link
• New scope: a booking or payment integration
• New scope: a new page type or content structure
• New scope: a redesign of an existing section

Ask how a small edit actually gets made

Some studios require a support ticket and a multi-day queue for a one-line text change; others handle it by email the same day. Ask for the actual channel and turnaround before you sign, not after the first request.

Confirm what a quarterly review covers

A meaningful review checks page speed, broken links, security patches and whether analytics is still tracking correctly — not just "we looked at it." Ask what the review actually produces: a report, a to-do list, or nothing you ever see.

Know what happens if you leave

Before signing, ask what you receive if you cancel: a portable export of the site and content, or a locked account you have to negotiate your way out of. This is the single question that reveals the most about how a provider actually treats the relationship.