Once your site is live, keep its maintenance regular too.

What to watch for in website hosting and technical maintenance

Website technical support is the regular management of a live site's hosting, domain, SSL, backups, software updates, security and email settings. The aim is to keep the site accessible, secure and fast, and to be able to return quickly to the previous state when a problem occurs.

For many companies, technical matters are forgotten after the site is built. The software is not updated, nobody knows where the backup is, and nobody remembers which email address the domain is registered to. The problem is usually noticed when the site does not open, when emails do not go out or when the browser shows a security warning. Regular maintenance aims to prevent most of these situations before they happen.

What is hosting and how is it chosen?

Hosting means keeping your site's files and database on a server open to the internet. There are options such as shared hosting, virtual servers and cloud servers. When choosing, you should look not only at price but at the following:

• Support for the versions the site's software requires,
• Automatic backups and easy restoring,
• Free or easily installed SSL support,
• The server's location and closeness to your target visitors,
• Availability of the support team and the ability to upgrade resources as needs grow.

The needs of a small corporate site and of an e-commerce site with thousands of products are not the same. We recommend the package that suits your site's structure and visitor volume and help you open the account in your company's name.

Domain and account ownership

The most basic rule of technical maintenance is that the domain, hosting and corporate email accounts are registered in your company's name and with an email address your company can access. Accounts registered in the name of an agency or developer can lead to serious access problems when the business relationship ends. For maintenance we do not ask for your administrator password; it is enough for you to define a separate authorized user for us in your accounts. Removing this access when maintenance ends does not affect your control over your site.

When we take over maintenance, we draw up a list of all accounts: the company the domain is registered to, the expiry date, the hosting package, the email provider, the SSL type and who has access to these accounts. This list stays with you as well. Knowing which access to close when an employee leaves or when you change a service provider is the most overlooked part of security.

Backups, updates and security

A regular maintenance plan rests on three legs:

1. Backups: Automatic backups of files and the database are taken, and backups are also stored in a place separate from the server. What matters is not only that a backup exists but that it can be restored; so restoring is tested at set intervals.
2. Updates: The content management system, theme and plugins are updated regularly to close security holes. A backup is taken before updating; major updates are tried first on a test copy where possible.
3. Security: Unused plugins are removed, administrator accounts are simplified, strong passwords and two-step verification are required, login attempts are limited and file changes are monitored.

If the site has been hacked, we first look for a clean backup of the site; if there is none, the malicious code is cleaned out piece by piece. Cleaning done without finding the source of the hole is not lasting. After cleaning, a review request is prepared for security warnings in Google Search Console. If the site has forms holding personal data or a membership area, in the event of a possible data breach we recommend contacting your legal adviser about obligations under KVKK; on the technical side we help you identify which data may have been accessed.

SSL, speed and availability monitoring

An SSL certificate encrypts the connection between the visitor and the site and makes the secure connection indicator appear in the browser's address bar. When the certificate expires, visitors encounter a security warning; so renewal dates are tracked. In addition, the site's availability is monitored and a notification is received in case of an outage. Because content and plugins added over time can slow the site down, Core Web Vitals values are checked at set intervals; cache, image and database optimization is done as needed. Every page of the site should be redirected to the secure connection, and old image and script links that cause a mixed-content warning should be fixed.

Corporate email and DNS settings

Email addresses you use with your company's domain matter for trust. But if DNS settings are incomplete, the emails you send may land in the recipient's spam folder. For this, the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records must be defined correctly. When the site or email provider is changed, updating these records must not be forgotten. Because DNS changes can take time to spread across the internet, we plan migrations in advance and let the old and new systems run together for a while. Before migration we back up the emails in the existing mailboxes, and we explain step by step to your team how to update the account settings on phones and computers. That way situations such as an email arriving on the day of the switch being lost or an employee being unable to log in to their account are avoided.

On-site and online support

Most technical support is done remotely; we serve companies across Turkey online. You can report problems through our 24/7 online support channel and get a quick reply in critical cases. For companies in Sakarya, Adapazarı, Serdivan, Sapanca, Düzce and around, we can also do jobs on site, such as email setup in the office, account setup on devices or a short security briefing for the team.