What does website maintenance actually involve?
For a WordPress site: updates applied on a schedule with backups that have actually been test-restored, security monitoring, and small content changes. The real product is that nothing scary ever happens, and if it does, recovery is boring.
The longer answer
In practice.
The genuine work
Core, theme and plugin updates staged rather than clicked hopefully; backups
stored off the server and restored once to prove they work; uptime and security
monitoring; renewals watched so the domain never lapses. Twenty minutes of
discipline a month that prevents the four-figure emergency.
The padding to watch for
Vague "SEO monitoring", reports nobody reads, and retainers priced on fear.
Ask any maintenance provider two questions: when did you last restore a backup of
my site, and what exactly did you do last month. Short answers are telling.
A self-serve alternative
A lean site with few plugins barely needs a retainer: I set owners up with
staged auto-updates, tested backups and a checklist, and remain a phone call for
the genuinely scary. Ownership is the point; see
WordPress.
Same rabbit hole