What Does It Mean When Clients Want An “Easy To Maintain” Website?

We’ve all been there. You’re going through all available jobs and see the perfect one… except for one thing. Your (potential) client wants an easy-to-maintain website. But what does it even mean?

What does it mean when clients want an “easy to maintain” website?

You might think that being a web developer/designer means being good at your job, but that’s only a part of it. Like any creative professional, a web designer must be able to speak with a client, and, which is even more important, to hear a client. Some might say that’s the hardest part.

Everybody wants a good-looking website. Everybody wants good SEO. But a lot of times they want maintainability, too. But what do they mean by “easy to maintain”?

The answer is… complicated because every client has a different thing in mind. But in our experience, this mostly means that they want you to get the job done and go away. Harsh, but true: some are ready to pay you for maintenance, but most people want to be self-sufficient. They want you out. They want to be able to post stuff and edit it themselves. They need templates and everything else done. 

Our advice? Listen to your client and ask the right questions. Most of the time they will be happy with your work as long as the site uses an easy-to-manage CMS. WordPress is the most obvious choice. After doing all work, you can leave them with an easy way of managing the content of their site. That’s what the most need anyways.