A lot of website projects are scoped as if launch day is the finish line, which sets up a bad surprise a few months later when something breaks and there’s no plan for who fixes it.
After launch, a website still needs security updates for its platform and plugins, monitoring for uptime and broken links, periodic backups that are actually tested, and someone available when a form stops sending emails or a page starts loading slowly.
None of that requires a large retainer — it requires deciding upfront who’s responsible for it. Some businesses handle it in-house once trained on the platform; others add ongoing support because nobody internally has the time or expertise to own it.
Either way, ask this before a project starts, not after something breaks: when this goes live, who is the first call if it stops working correctly?