Eleventy in a Box
A premium Eleventy starter kit for designers and developers who want to spend less time setting up the same project structure and more time designing distinctive websites.
I’ve never understood website “maintenance” plans. Websites don’t need oiling. They do need attention, though.
After I finish a design project and hand a website over to a client, there’s rarely much technical support to do. Sometimes there’s the odd CMS question, a small bug fix, or a reminder about how something works, but if the site has been built well, it shouldn’t need constant tinkering just to stay upright.
That’s one reason I like building with Eleventy. There are no plugin updates to babysit, no theme framework to wrestle with, and far fewer moving parts than in a typical WordPress setup. The site can be fast, stable, and simple to host. But stability isn’t the same as success.
A website can be technically fine and still go quiet. No new case studies. No fresh project pages. No useful updates. No idea which pages are attracting attention, where enquiries are coming from, or what people are looking for before they get in touch. That’s the part I want to help with.
Launching a website is a milestone, but it’s not the finish line. The best websites keep moving after they go live, with small improvements, useful publishing, and a clearer understanding of what attracts attention and enquiries.
There’s usually a burst of energy before a new website goes live. Then, after the site launches, the momentum often disappears. That’s understandable. Clients have businesses to run, customers to look after, music to write, and products to sell. Updating a website doesn’t feel like a priority unless something breaks or a new opportunity appears.
But a website works best when it’s regularly updated. So when a composer finishes a project, they should show it off. When a business completes a piece of work that would make a strong case study, they should publish it. Services change. Products develop. A newsletter needs writing, or a campaign needs a landing page.
I’ve started separating technical support from post-launch momentum because bug fixes are one thing, but helping a website keep earning attention is another. Post-launch momentum is about asking better questions:
Those questions are easy to ignore when there’s no structure around them. So I’ve started building that structure into my process. When I quote a new website project now, I include two ways to keep things moving after launch.
The first is a 90-day visibility starter. Once a site is live, we spend 90 days helping it settle in, understand how people are using it, and make small improvements based on what we learn.
This starter phase includes basic analytics and enquiry tracking, a monthly review of what’s happening on the site, and one focused improvement each month. That might be a content update, a small design refinement, a portfolio addition, a service page change, or another useful adjustment to help the site attract better attention and enquiries.
By the end of the 90 days, the client has a clearer picture of how their website is performing, which pages are attracting interest, and what could help it work harder next. It includes:
This isn’t meant to be a huge ongoing commitment. It’s a sensible next step after launch, especially when the site is still new, and we’re starting to see how people respond to it.
The second option is a website momentum plan. This is for clients who want their website to stay active with planned updates, useful publishing, and regular recommendations based on what the site needs next. Each month, we agree on one substantial website update to create and publish. That might be a case study, portfolio page, service page improvement, landing page, product page, blog/news post, email newsletter design, or homepage refinement.
The plan includes a short strategy session, interview booking, asset gathering, content shaping, publishing, and a monthly report. It’s designed for clients who want their website to keep earning attention, building credibility, and attracting enquiries after launch. It includes:
Larger additions, campaigns, or more involved publishing work can be quoted separately, but the point of the plan is to make regular progress without turning every small improvement into a separate project.
I don’t want clients to think of launch as the moment a website is finished and forgotten. A good launch gives us a strong foundation. It puts the right structure, design, content, and technology in place. But the real value often comes from what happens next. Not because it needs fixing, but because there’s more to build on.
Keeping momentum going means making sure the website continues to reflect the business, the work, and the people behind it. It means sharpening messaging, improving pages, and learning from what visitors actually do. To me, that’s not oiling; it’s making sure a website doesn’t go quiet after the excitement of a launch.
A premium Eleventy starter kit for designers and developers who want to spend less time setting up the same project structure and more time designing distinctive websites.
Contract Killer is plain and simple and there’s no legal jargon. It’s customisable to suit your business and has been used on countless web projects since 2008.
Free compound grid and modular grid layout generators, plus a set of HTML/CSS layout templates you can call on to make more interesting layouts, available to buy.