Website hosting and website maintenance are often bundled together, which makes it easy to assume they’re essentially the same thing.

They aren’t.

Website hosting is where your website lives. Website maintenance is what keeps it working properly once it’s there.

And then there’s content updating, which is another job again.

For a small business owner, the distinction might not seem particularly important. If you’re paying someone to look after your website, you probably just want it to work. But understanding what you’re actually paying for makes it much easier to compare website services, avoid unexpected costs and know who is responsible when something goes wrong.

What is website hosting?

Every website needs somewhere to live.

A website consists of files, images, databases and other information that need to be stored on a server connected to the internet. Website hosting provides that infrastructure.

When somebody enters your domain name or clicks a link to your website, the hosting server delivers the necessary information to their browser.

At its simplest, that’s what hosting does.

A hosting package may also provide things such as:

• server resources and storage
• SSL certificates
• server-level security
• automated backups
• caching and performance tools
• database facilities
• technical server support

Exactly what’s included varies enormously between hosting providers.

Cheap hosting may simply give you space on a server and leave almost everything else to you. A more comprehensive managed website hosting service may include considerably more.

But hosting your website doesn’t necessarily mean anybody is actively looking after the website itself.

What is website maintenance?

Website maintenance happens one level above the hosting.

If hosting provides the building your website occupies, maintenance is the work required to keep that building in good condition.

This is particularly important with WordPress websites because WordPress isn’t a static piece of software installed once and forgotten about. WordPress itself is regularly updated, as are its plugins and themes.

WordPress website maintenance therefore typically covers things such as WordPress, plugin and theme updates, security, backups, technical checks and dealing with problems when they occur.

Simply clicking Update isn’t really website maintenance. The important part is making sure everything still works afterwards.

There’s considerably more involved in properly maintaining a WordPress website.

For now, the important distinction is that hosting provides the environment your website runs on; maintenance looks after the website running within it.

So hosting doesn’t include maintenance?

Not necessarily.

This is where the terminology becomes confusing.

Some hosting companies provide managed hosting, while some website designers provide hosting as part of a wider maintenance or website care service.

The word managed can also mean different things depending on who’s using it.

A hosting company may describe a package as managed because it manages the server, operating system, security and backups. That doesn’t necessarily mean somebody is checking your WordPress plugins, testing your contact form or making sure the website still looks as it should after an update.

Conversely, a website maintenance provider may take responsibility for both the hosting environment and the WordPress website running on it.

Neither approach is inherently wrong.

What matters is knowing what is actually being managed.

Where do website backups fit in?

Backups are a good example of where hosting and maintenance can overlap.

Many quality hosting services automatically create backups of the websites they host, providing an important first line of protection.

But I don’t believe your entire backup strategy should necessarily depend upon the same system hosting the website. That’s why my own approach includes regular hosting backups alongside additional offline backups.

Think of it like keeping the spare key to your house somewhere other than inside the house.

Backups can therefore form part of both the hosting infrastructure and an ongoing website maintenance service. The important thing isn’t simply that somebody says your website is backed up, but that there’s a reliable copy available if it’s ever needed.

And what about content updates?

Content updating is another service that’s frequently confused with maintenance.

Updating WordPress and its plugins is technical maintenance.

Changing the wording on your About page isn’t.

Adding a new team member, replacing photographs, publishing a case study, adding a new service or changing your opening hours are all content updates.

They may be included within a website care package, but they’re not inherently part of website maintenance.

That’s an important distinction when comparing different website plans.

One provider might charge £30 a month for hosting and technical maintenance but charge separately whenever you want something changed. Another might charge more each month but include an allowance for content updates.

The cheaper monthly price isn’t necessarily the cheaper service once you compare like with like.

What happens if you only pay for hosting?

Potentially, absolutely nothing.

Your website can remain online perfectly happily while the underlying WordPress installation gradually becomes outdated.

That’s the problem.

Hosting companies generally aren’t responsible for maintaining the individual websites stored on their servers in much the same way that a landlord isn’t responsible for changing the oil in your car simply because it’s parked in their garage.

Your website may continue working for months or even years without obvious problems.

But outdated software can increase security risks, compatibility problems can accumulate, and eventually something may stop working.

Leaving a business website untouched indefinitely isn’t really a maintenance strategy. It’s more of an experiment.

Do small business websites really need ongoing maintenance?

If your website matters to your business, it needs someone taking responsibility for keeping it healthy.

That doesn’t mean constantly tinkering with it. A well-built business website shouldn’t require continual intervention, but WordPress, its plugins and the technology around it don’t stand still.

For the purposes of this distinction, the important point is much simpler:

Paying for website hosting doesn’t necessarily mean anybody is maintaining your website.

That’s something worth establishing before choosing a hosting, maintenance or website care package.

What should a website care service include?

There’s no universal definition of a website care plan, so it’s worth looking beyond the name and checking what’s actually included.

At a minimum, I’d want to know:

Where is the website hosted?
Is it appropriate hosting for the website rather than simply the cheapest available option?

Who performs WordPress updates?
Are updates actively managed, or are they simply left to WordPress’s automatic update system?

Are backups taken?
How frequently, where are they stored and how long are they retained?

What happens if an update causes a problem?
Is fixing it included or will you receive an additional invoice?

Is security monitored?
Who takes responsibility if suspicious activity is detected?

Are content changes included?
If so, how much time is included each month?

Who do you contact when something goes wrong?
A surprisingly important question.

These details tell you far more than whether a package happens to be called hosting, managed hosting, maintenance or website care.

Hosting, maintenance and content updating are three different jobs

The simplest way to understand the difference is:

Hosting keeps your website online.

Maintenance keeps the website technically healthy.

Content updating keeps the information on it current.

They can be purchased separately or combined into a single service.

For many small businesses, combining them makes sense.

You don’t particularly want to work out whether a problem belongs to the hosting company, plugin developer, website designer or somebody else. You want one person to take responsibility for the website and sort it out.

That’s the principle behind my website hosting and care plans.

Rather than providing somewhere to dump a WordPress installation and wishing it the best of luck, the aim is to keep the website hosted, maintained, backed up and properly looked after.

Because building a good business website is only the beginning.

Keeping it working is what allows it to continue doing its job.