WordPress Maintenance Plan
Apart from content updates, your WordPress installation needs regular maintenance to perform optimally. WordPress is increasingly targeted by hackers looking to wreak havoc. Last year saw 13 WordPress updates to fix vulnerabilities, and keep WordPress clean and safe. Theme and plug-in updates often occur in conjunction with WordPress updates.
WordPress Maintenance Plan Elements
WordPress
Backups
Additional backups are saved on secure cloud storage, and are available to restore from.
WordPress Security
Regular scans help identify security issues — including malware, blacklisting, malicious scripting, redirects, and more — before they become serious problems.
WordPress
Updates
Applying updates to WordPress, plugins, and themes to reduce the risk of security issues.
Technical Guidance
Help or advise when it comes to hosting, domain registration, SEO, functionality, social media, and other web-related technical questions.
24/7 Uptime
Monitoring
I’m notified and can investigate any prolonged or repeated instances, and take corrective action.
Website Updates
Changes or updates to design, navigation, plug-ins, and content (text, images, graphical elements, galleries, slideshows, photos, etc.).
WordPress Maintenance Plan Details
With a WordPress Maintenance Plan, you can rest assured that your website infrastructure will remain current, plus you’ll receive technical support and site updates to free up your time to focus on your business.
What's Included:
- Proactive updates to WordPress core files, themes, and plug-ins
- If an update breaks something on your website, I will work to resolve the issue
- Verify automatic backups are running weekly
- Restore from backup if there is an issue or the site is hacked
- 24/7 uptime monitoring
- Security monitoring and security scans, including proactive security adjustments
WP Maintenance Plan
$550 / year *
- Technical Guidance** - 30 min / mo.
- Site Updates*** - 1hr / mo.
- Save $100's over hourly rate
*** Site updates: Update existing content or add new content to existing pages, including text, forms, images, and video. Add new pages including new content and related navigational changes. Update CSS styling (colors, text size, fonts, backgrounds, etc.).
If requests fall outside this definition, or the time required goes beyond your plan, I will let you know the time impact and offer options to accommodate getting the work done, possibly with additional billing.
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Where can I find documentation of the complete Terms of Service regarding WordPress Maintenance Plan?
The FAQs below summarize the main points, but I encourage you to read the complete Terms of Service. At the time you sign up, you will be asked to agree to these terms.
In the Terms of Service document, you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. I’ve no desire to trick you into agreeing to something that you might later regret. What I do want is what’s best for both parties, now and in the future.
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I don’t want a Maintenance Plan. Will you still update my site?
It’s in your best interest to have a Maintenance Plan, to maintain the security and reliability of your WordPress website. If you choose to not sign up for the Maintenance plan all work will be billed at our hourly rate. The security and reliability of your website can not be guaranteed, because it is not being monitored and updated regularly. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
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Can I save money by getting just some features of the Maintenance Plan?
Sorry, no. This is an all-or-nothing deal. I would not include an item in the Maintenance Plan if I did not think it was required to keep your site as healthy as possible.
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What is your cancellation policy?
Maintenance plans may be cancelled at any time with 30 days’ notice in writing (email is fine). If it’s not working out for you, no problem! I’m happy to cancel the Maintenance Plan when needed, with just a little notice. Unused hours for that 30-day period will not be refunded after cancellation, but can be used up until the end of the period. If you’re canceling with more than one month left on the annual plan, you’ll get a pro-rated refund for the unused time (minus the 30 days’ notice).
In addition, if I need to cancel your plan, I will give you 30 day’s notice, and any appropriate pro-rated refund for unused time (minus the 30 days’ notice).
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What happens if I don’t use the allotted time in any given month?
Each Maintenance Plan includes a specified amount of time per month for Technical Guidance, and a specified amount of time per month for Site Updates. Technical Guidance time expires if not used within the month. Unused Site Update time is “banked” for up to 6 months, and then expires. If you cancel your Maintenance Plan, any banked time must be used before the plan ends (that is, within the 30-day notice window), and then will expire at the time the Maintenance Plan is ended. No refunds for expired time.
As an example, the plan includes an hour per month of Site Update time. In the first month, you use 30 minutes. In the second month, you’d have 1 hour + 30 minutes of Site Update time available. For clients who have few needs but occasionally have large projects, this is a good deal.
My goal was to create a plan that averages out appropriately over a span of several months, while providing a fixed-cost solution that facilitates budgeting and planning.
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Can I borrow ahead against future months if I run out of time?
Clients are permitted to exceed their plan by up to one month’s plan size before additional billing. In other words, there’s an opportunity to “borrow” against the next month’s allotment.
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Can I get a refund if I don’t use all of the time in any given month?
No refunds are issued for unused time, but unused time can be “banked” as described above.
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What if I need a significant amount of additional time in any given month?
Any additional hours over the plan hours available (which includes the potential one-month “borrow”) will be billed at our hourly rate.