Making a living as a web designer or developer can be very exciting and rewarding. However, it is also not very financially stable. You are going to have to go through frequent boom and bust cycles. You might have a couple of big clients that both need a new website at once, so you might get paid a lot of money for it. Then you may have a month or two long period where you can’t find work at all.

Many web designers have discovered that they can stabilize their cash flow by offering ancillary services to their customers. Offering website maintenance, troubleshooting and other support services can be a good way to earn a steady cash flow. You can offer these services on a monthly retainer, which will help you pay your bills if you have an extended period where you can’t find clients.

Isometric data concept v2 by Dmitrii Kharchenko

However, offering website maintenance and support services requires different skill sets from being a web developer. You will also need to choose the right tools to offer these services reliably.

Here are some important tools that you will need if you plan to start offering web support services to your customers.

Data recovery tools

Data loss is a serious problem that web developers must actively work to prevent. The average data loss incident costs the affected business $3.5 million. Of course, that figure is usually smaller for small businesses, but they are also going to have a harder time absorbing the cost.

You need to work tirelessly to prevent data loss as a website manager. You need to have reliable backup tools to make sure data is carefully stored on the cloud. Unfortunately, that I can still be lost even if it is stored on the cloud, so you should also make sure that it can be recovered. Fortunately, there are a number of dependable data recovery tools on the market. Tools like R-Photo are great for protecting visual creatives that are stored on a client’s website.

Security tools to thwart hackers

Providing security is one of the most important parts of maintaining a website. Unfortunately, hackers have become much more brazen and sophisticated. This means that you will have your work cut out for you if you are maintaining a large or controversial website that could be targeted by hackers.

You can’t overestimate the importance of good website security. Over 60% of small businesses are forced to file for bankruptcy within six months after a security breach. Having the right tools at your disposal will be very important.

You are going to need a number of tools at your disposal. These may include:

• A content delivery to redirect traffic to another server if the site is targeted by a DDoS attack
• Traffic monitoring software so you can identify suspicious activity on your servers
• Up to date malware protection tools
• HTTPS encryption to safeguard data that is exchanged between customers and the website

Security breaches increased nearly 30% in 2017. That figure is likely to rise even more in 2019 and 2020. You need to take all possible precautions to prevent against them in the coming year.

Invest in the right tools before offering web maintenance services

You can make a steady stream of income by offering web maintenance services to your customers. However, you need to be able to deal with the challenges that you are going to face. Make sure that you invest in the right tools.