An article I read recently asks “Should You Sell Website Support or Maintenance Services?” Well, why wouldn’t a designer sell those services?
Some designers want to do only that – DESIGN. Build a site and then let it go. There are also clients who want that. Build it for me and then I’ll take care of it myself.
I have had my share of both approaches. I have also designed sites and handed them over only to have the client contact me months or a year later to ask if I would do updates. Their intention to keep the site updated didn’t work out.
There are also some companies that focus on support and maintenance services.
Why offer clients support and maintenance services? The number one reason must be that it is ongoing and so means steady income. Let’s say you charge a client $2500 to create a small restaurant website. Then you offer maintenance services at $50 an hour. If that site only requires an hour per week, you will make $2600 in the next year.
You can also offer these services to someone whose site you did not design. I have maintained sites that people already had on places like WordPress, GoDaddy, Squarespace, and Zenfolio that they either didn’t know how to keep going or simply didn’t have the time or desire to update. Two of those clients eventually asked me to build them a brand new website.
Support and maintenance services, though not as interesting or creative as designing, can be lucrative. If you have a less experienced employee, support can be a good training activity before giving them their own design projects.
Kenneth Ronkowitz 