What you keep up to date yourself

Module 8: After going live · Reading time: 10 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can explain what the AI Builder and your package handle automatically and what you keep up to date yourself, set up a maintenance routine for your own site, and recognise the pitfalls that slowly make a site go out of date.

Key concepts: maintenance, content, maintenance routine, Publish changes, opening hours, business details, posts, renewal, yearly check

A site is never finished

A site you make with the AI Builder needs little technical maintenance. There is no WordPress to update, no plugin that goes out of date and no database that fills up. The builder or your package handles a lot automatically:

• the secure connection (https) and the certificate;
• the sitemap and robots.txt, which are updated with every publication;
• the cookie banner, which automatically follows the services running on your site (lesson 7.2);
• the check in the Security panel: after the first Check now, the builder checks your site automatically every day, including all links;
• with a package: daily backups of your hosting.

What the builder doesn't know is what changes in your business. Your prices go up, you take a week off, a staff member leaves, you stop offering a service. A site that isn't told about this is no longer accurate after a year. Visitors notice first: they call on a day you're closed or ask about a service you no longer offer. Google notices later, from visitors who leave quickly.

What you keep up to date

One pitfall with opening hours. The builder takes your business details for Google from your contact page, but only as long as you haven't filled in anything yourself under SEO. If you typed your opening hours there yourself, the builder no longer updates them when you change the contact page. In that case, change them in both places; otherwise Google shows different hours from your site.

About your domain and package: these are separate products in your account. If you cancel your package, your domain stays registered, and the other way round. Make sure the renewal invoices are paid and that the email address in your account is correct, so reminders reach you. If a package is suspended, for example because of an unpaid invoice, your site goes offline until the package is active again (lesson 8.2).

Making changes without risk

Every change in the builder is first a new version in the builder, not on your real site. Only when you click Publish changes (in the top bar) and then Push your changes live in the window does it go online. A common mistake is creating a holiday notice and forgetting to publish it, or publishing it and forgetting to remove it after the holiday.

Work in small steps:

• Editing text yourself, choosing photos, moving sections and publishing cost nothing. You don't need AI for a new price or opening time.
• If something goes wrong, restore an earlier version in the Versions panel (lesson 3.5). Give a version that works well a name, for example "Before summer 2027".
• Ask in the chat about anything you don't know ("where do I set the email address for my form?"). Questions cost nothing.

A maintenance routine

A routine works better than "when I think of it". This is how Schildersbedrijf Example does it:

Every month (10 minutes)

• Send a test message through the contact form: does it arrive?
• Check the Security panel for any issues.
• One post in Articles about a recent project, with your own photos.

Every quarter (30 minutes)

• Go through all pages on phone and computer: is everything still correct?
• Opening hours and holidays for the coming quarter.
• Look at the figures (lesson 8.3): which pages are viewed, which search terms bring visitors?

Every year (one hour)

• Prices and VAT statement.
• Business details in the footer and under SEO.
• Privacy statement and cookie banner: do they still match what runs on the site?
• Reviews: are they still genuine, recent reviews with permission?
• Photos of people: is everyone still there, and do you still have permission?
• Run the final check from lesson 8.3 again.

When something happens

• New service or integration: update your privacy statement.
• New email address: change Send messages to and test it.
• Moving: update the address in the footer, on the contact page, under SEO and in your Google Business Profile.

Put the fixed moments in your calendar. A site you look at briefly every month never falls far behind.

Pitfalls

• Outdated news: a post saying "New: we've started!" from three years ago at the top of the homepage. Remove old news from the homepage, or write a new post in Articles now and then.
• A widget from a service you cancelled: the appointment planner or the review widget shows an error or an empty space. Remove the section and check under Settings > Integrations whether any old tracking IDs are still there.
• An email address that no longer exists: messages from the form disappear. Test after every change to your email.
• An expired domain: your site can't be reached and your email stops working. Once it has expired, someone else can register your domain.
• Doing everything with AI: you don't need to spend edits on small changes. Save the AI for new sections and bigger rewrites (lesson 8.2).

Summary

• The builder and your package handle https, the sitemap, the cookie banner, the daily check and backups; you keep the content up to date.
• Keep your offer, prices, opening hours, holidays, photos, form address, privacy statement and business details current.
• If you filled in opening hours yourself under SEO, change them there too.
• Changes only go online after Publish changes; with Versions you can go back.
• A fixed routine per month, quarter and year prevents an outdated site.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise D8.1: Your maintenance plan. Make a maintenance plan for your own site and put the fixed moments in your calendar.

Checklist:

• [ ] a list of what on your site can go out of date (offer, prices, hours, photos, posts, reviews);
• [ ] for each item, who keeps it up to date and when;
• [ ] a monthly test message through your form scheduled;
• [ ] a yearly check scheduled (prices, details, privacy statement, reviews, photos);
• [ ] the expiry date of your domain and package looked up in your account;
• [ ] checked that your opening hours on the contact page and under SEO are the same.

Questions:

1. Which three parts of your site go out of date fastest, and why?
2. How often do you schedule a check, and at what moment in your calendar?
3. Where are your opening hours on your site, and were they the same everywhere?
4. What do you do if you raise your prices next year? Name every place.

After "done" you'll see a sample answer: prices, opening hours and the news on the homepage go out of date fastest; 10 minutes on the first Monday of every month and an hour in January; opening hours were on the contact page and under SEO, with a difference on Saturday that has now been fixed; for a price increase, the Pricing page, the prices in posts and the VAT sentence, then Publish changes.

Further reading

• Cancelling products and domains, withdrawing a cancellation, and what happens next
• Free WordPress course 9.4: A fixed maintenance rhythm
• Sitebuilder and AI Builder: which one should you choose and how do you open it?