VirtualMV/Internet and Web/Monitoring and Maintenance/Content

Overview

 * Like a house, a website needs regular monitoring and upkeep. Don't make the mistake of assuming that once it's online, it's done.

Monitoring

 * Your web site needs to be monitored, for example, to check that it is actually online and running. This can be done manually, but better to have another system monitoring your site ad letting you know when there is a problem.
 * Example: Pingdom

Maintenance

 * If you want people to return to your site, someone will have to add new content and update existing material; there's e-mail to answer, links to check, and perhaps usage statistics to track.
 * For a small site, this can take as little as two or three hours a month.
 * Maintenance on a large site can be a full-time job, so build the costs of continuing maintenance into your budget.