After Handover: What You Have to Look After Every Year

When we say a site needs no maintenance, we mean technical maintenance: there is no core to update, no plugins, no database for anyone to break into. That is true, and it is the main reason a site on Cloudflare costs nothing per month. It does not mean you can forget the site. A short list remains that someone in the company has to look at once a year. Skip it and the site goes dark one day, because of the domain, not the technology.

What does "no maintenance" mean, and what does it not?

With a conventional site the owner updates plugins, core and theme every month, keeps database backups and hopes the update does not break the layout. With our architecture that work does not exist, because there are no plugins, no database behind the public pages and nothing waiting for a patch. This site has run that way since day one; why that is also safer is explained on our secure websites page.

What remains is not technical. It is the domain, the accounts, the company details, the content and the mail. All of it is yours, and so is the responsibility.

Who renews the domain, and what if I miss it?

The domain is the only recurring cost of the site, usually between 12 and 20 € a year for a .si domain. The registrar sends a reminder to the email address recorded on the domain. If nobody reads that address, the reminder vanishes and the domain expires.

When a domain expires, the site and every mailbox on that domain go dark. With .si domains there is a short grace period in which you can still rescue it; after that anyone can register it. Three steps prevent this:

switch on auto-renewal at the registrar,
check that the card on file is valid (cards expire more often than domains),
point reminders to an address someone reads, not the mailbox of a former employee.

Which accounts are in my name, and what do I do with them?

At handover every account is on your email address: Cloudflare (hosting and DNS), the domain registrar, Resend (sending mail from forms), Google Search Console and Google Business Profile. Why we insist on this is on the You own everything page.

Ownership brings work. Once a year, confirm that you can still log in to each account, that two-factor authentication is on and that passwords live in a password manager rather than one person's notebook. When the employee who ran the accounts leaves, transfer them the same week.

When do I have to update legal pages and contact details?

Whenever something in the business changes: new address, new phone number, VAT registration, new responsible person, new service. The details must match in the site footer, on the Contact page, in the legal pages and in Google Business Profile.

Update the legal pages (privacy policy, cookies, terms) also when you start processing new data: a new form, a newsletter signup, bookings. Each page carries a last-updated date; if it is older than two years, someone has to read it. What the pages must contain under Slovenian law is covered in What your website must say by law (in Slovenian).

How often should I refresh the content?

Prices, references, team, opening hours, photos. Once a quarter, open every page and read whether it still holds. A site that says "new in 2024" in 2026 tells the visitor the company does not read its own site, and they assume the same about its inbox.

You edit it yourself in the admin editor, without us. A blog is optional. If you do write one article a month about a question customers genuinely ask, it is the cheapest SEO work there is.

Where do inquiries land, and who reads them?

The form sends a message to your email address through Resend on your own domain, and a copy stays in the site's database. Two things go wrong in practice: the message lands in the spam folder, or the mailbox is read by someone who changed jobs.

Once a year, send a test inquiry through your own form and check that it arrives and that someone opens it. A same-day reply is the biggest competitive advantage small businesses leave unused.

What should I check in Search Console?

Four times a year, five minutes: whether Google reports errors, whether every page is covered, which searches show you. If speed drops after you add large images, this report warns you first.

The yearly checklist (copy it)

Domain: auto-renewal on, card valid, reminders reach an address that is read.
Accounts: Cloudflare, registrar, Resend, Search Console, Business Profile; login works, two-factor on, the owner is a current person.
Company details: address, phone, email, VAT ID identical in the footer, on Contact, in the legal pages and in Business Profile.
Legal pages: last-updated date recent, new forms and services covered.
Content: prices, references, team, opening hours current; no stale years.
Form: a test message arrives and someone reads it.
Search Console: no errors, a look at the search queries.
Speed: PageSpeed still green after every image you added.

This list continues the handover checklist: that one checks you got what you paid for; this one keeps it that way.

If you would rather do the yearly review together, or you need a site that asks nothing of you after handover beyond this list, write to us.