A response to Strategic Support Has Your Back (May 2023)
In May 2023 I wrote about the part of a website relationship that nobody sees during the sales process: support. A client can judge a site’s design and content. They can’t see what’s happening behind the scenes. And I made a point I’ve repeated for most of my career:
“However, once the site is launched, the real work commences.”
That was true then, and it’s every bit as true now. I want to be clear about that up front, because this is one of those cases where the agentic revolution changes a lot around the edges and very little at the center.
Millions of lines of someone else’s code
I opened that article by describing how much code sits underneath even a simple website:
“No matter how simple a website may be, their amazing capabilities are made possible by platforms built on extensive codebases.”
Browsers, WordPress, databases, server software, and plugins. In 2023, a typical site of ours added a page builder, its add-ons, and a stack of plugins on top. Each one was maintained by someone else, released updates on its own schedule, and could occasionally introduce a bug or a conflict. That’s why I recommended testing updates on a staging copy before touching the live site. It was good advice, and the reason it was needed was all those moving parts.
Here is what has changed. We now rebuild sites on our own AI-native theme, with the page builder layer removed and far fewer plugins. AI agents write and revise the custom code a site needs, under experienced direction. There’s less code from fewer sources, so fewer surprise conflicts when something updates. A focused codebase is simply easier to maintain.
That doesn’t mean maintenance disappears. WordPress itself still updates. Servers still need attention. Backups still need to run and recovery still needs a plan. Someone still has to stand behind the site.
New development without a rebuild
In 2023 I also wrote about how sites grow:
“Our flexible framework simplifies expanding site capabilities, avoiding the need to live with static sites for years or rebuild from scratch.”
The goal hasn’t changed. The method has. Back then, flexibility came from the page builder and its ecosystem. Adding a feature meant finding a plugin or configuring a framework that came close. Now, adding a feature usually means building exactly that feature, quickly, inside the site’s own code. A new content type, a new integration, a better event listing: these become far smaller pieces of work than they used to be.
That’s a real shift in what support means. It used to be mostly about keeping things running. Now it’s just as much about keeping things improving, at a cost that makes ongoing improvement realistic.
Strategic advice is still the heart of it
The last section of that article was about strategic advice: having an experienced partner who can hear a feature request and suggest a better or simpler way to reach the same goal. That’s still the most valuable part of support, and it’s the part agents don’t replace. Knowing which request to push back on, which one to simplify, and which one actually serves the client’s goals takes experience.
Clients still need help with their content, too. With Simply Edit, editing happens right on the page, and they can still use WordPress normally. But questions still come up, and someone should answer them quickly.
Today our base support retainer starts at $149 a month, with hosting included, and optional unlimited content update retainers for clients who want us to handle changes. Some details in the original, like specific hosting recommendations, reflect that earlier offer.
I said in 2023 that we place equal importance on support, design, and development. I’d say the same today. The site is leaner, the fixes are faster, and new features cost far less. But the relationship after launch still matters as much as the launch itself.
¡Viva la Revolución!