> services/website-hosting-maintenance.dmg
Website Hosting &
Maintenance Care Plans
A website isn't a one-off job. Plugins need updating, certificates need renewing, backups need taking, and sooner or later something breaks. My care plans cover the lot for a fixed monthly fee. You deal with me, the person who actually does the work, and you can leave any month you like.
> what.txt
What a Care Plan Actually Is
A care plan is me hosting your website and looking after it, every month, for a fixed fee. Hosting is where your site lives. Maintenance is everything that keeps it working: updates, backups, security, and fixing things when they go wrong.
Most people only find out how much that matters the day their site goes down and they've no idea who to ring. On a care plan, you have my mobile number.
I look after sites I've built and sites I haven't. If someone else built yours, I'll have a look under the bonnet first and tell you honestly what I find, including if it needs more than a care plan to put right.
> included.txt
What's Included
The exact mix depends on your site, and I'll put it in writing before you start. This is what a plan covers.
Hosting
Your site on hosting I've chosen and manage, sized for what your site actually needs. Good hosting matters more than most people realise. Cheap hosting is usually slow hosting.
SSL Certificate
The padlock in the address bar. Set up and renewed automatically, so visitors never see a "not secure" warning, and neither does Google.
Backups
Regular automatic backups, kept away from the server your site lives on. If the worst happens, I can put your site back to the last good copy.
Updates
WordPress, your theme and your plugins kept up to date. I check the site afterwards, because an update that breaks your contact form is worse than no update at all.
Uptime Monitoring
Your site gets checked around the clock. If it goes down, I get an alert, so a lot of the time I know before you do.
Security
A firewall, login protection, malware scanning and sensible passwords. If something does get through, I clean it up and close the hole it came in by.
Small Content Changes
New opening hours, a price change, a new photo, a member of staff who's left. Send them over and I'll do them. Bigger jobs, like new pages, I quote for first.
Speed
Caching, compressed images and a regular check on how fast your pages load on a phone. Slow sites lose customers, and Google notices too.
> wordpress_vs_static.csv
WordPress vs Static or Custom Sites
Not every website needs the same looking after. Most of what I build is WordPress, but some sites are static or custom-built, and the work is different.
| WordPress | Static or custom-built | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A content management system with themes and plugins. Runs a huge share of the web. | Plain pages, or an app built for one job, like an online quote and booking system. |
| Updates | Frequent. WordPress, the theme and every plugin get regular updates, many of them security fixes. | Rare. Far fewer moving parts, so far less to patch. |
| Security risk | Higher, mostly from out-of-date plugins. That's what the updates are for. | Lower. A plain static site has no login page for bots to hammer. |
| Editing it yourself | Easy. That's the point of WordPress. | Usually through me, unless it has its own admin area. |
| Where the plan's time goes | Mostly updates, security and backups. | Mostly monitoring, backups and the changes you ask for. |
> broken.txt
What Happens When Something Breaks
Something will, eventually. A plugin update clashes with your theme, the contact form stops sending, or the site goes down on a Saturday morning. It happens to every website, big companies' included.
On a care plan, either the monitoring tells me or you ring or text me. I find out what's wrong, fix it, and tell you in plain English what happened and what I've done so it doesn't happen again. If one of my updates caused it, putting it right is part of the plan, not an extra bill.
If it's bigger, like a new feature, I'll tell you what it'll cost before I touch it. No surprise invoices. And because there are backups, the worst case is never "start again". It's "put it back to the last good copy".
I'm one person, not a 24-hour help desk, and I won't pretend otherwise. What you get instead is the person who knows your site, not a ticket number.
> move.txt
Moving Your Site to Me
Already got a website somewhere else? Moving it is less scary than it sounds. Here's how I do it.
Have a Look
I look at what you've got: how it's built, where it's hosted, who controls the domain and where your email lives. Then I tell you what moving involves, and the monthly fee.
Get the Logins
You'll need access to your domain and your current hosting. If a previous designer or agency has them, I'll help you get them back. This is often the slowest step.
Copy and Test
I copy your site to its new home and test it there, privately, while your live site carries on as normal.
Switch Over
I point your domain at the new hosting at a quiet time and check everything works, including your email. Moving a website shouldn't touch your email, but I check anyway.
Keep the Old One for a Bit
Don't cancel your old hosting straight away. Give it a couple of weeks so there's a fallback, then cancel it. Done.
> no_lock_in.txt
No Lock-In, Ever
Plenty of businesses come to me because they can't get their own website back from whoever built it. That won't happen here.
- Your domain is registered in your name, on an account you can log into. Whoever owns the domain owns your website's address, so it should be you.
- Your website is yours. The files, the words, the photos, the lot.
- Month to month. No contracts. If you want to leave, you can.
- If you move on, you get a full copy of your site and help getting it to its new home. No exit fees, no awkwardness.
- Full access from day one if you want it. If we part ways, you keep everything.
> pricing.txt
What It Costs
A fixed monthly fee, quoted up front, so you know exactly what you're paying before I start. No hourly surprises and no percentage of anything.
The fee depends on the site. A small static site needs a lot less looking after than a busy WordPress shop with 30 plugins, and I'm not going to charge them the same. Tell me what you've got and I'll give you a straight figure.
If you're working out the full cost of a website, build plus running costs, I've put the honest numbers in how much a website costs in the UK. And if what you need is a new site rather than a looked-after one, that's web design.
> faq.txt
Questions People Ask
Do you host websites you didn't build?
Yes. I'll look at it first and tell you honestly what state it's in. If it's sound, it goes on a care plan like any other. If it's held together with sticky tape, I'll say so, and tell you what fixing it would cost.
Is WordPress maintenance really necessary?
Yes. Most WordPress security holes are found in plugins, not WordPress itself, which is why keeping them updated matters. An unmaintained site can be fine for months, right up until it isn't. Updates, backups and monitoring cost far less than rebuilding a hacked site.
Will moving my website affect my email?
It shouldn't. Email is usually set up separately from the website, and moving the site doesn't touch it if it's done properly. I check your email settings before I switch anything over, and test them afterwards.
Can I still edit my own website?
Yes. If it's WordPress, you can edit it whenever you like, and I'll show you how. Or send me the changes and I'll do them. Small changes are part of the plan.
Do I need a care plan for a Shopify, Wix or Squarespace site?
Not for hosting. Those platforms host your site as part of their monthly fee and handle their own updates and security. What they don't do is check your site still works, keep your apps under control or make changes for you. If you want that, ask me, but I won't sell you something you don't need.
What if I want to leave?
You can, any month. Your domain's in your name, and you get a full copy of your site and help moving it. No contracts and no exit fees.
> ls ../
More Than Just Hosting
> new_message.txt
Want Someone to Look After It?
Tell me where your website lives now and what it's built on. I'll tell you what looking after it involves and give you a fixed monthly figure. No hard sell.
"Matt was really responsive throughout the whole process - no questions went unanswered and Matt was really engaged in the whole process."
Lizzie Hill · Abergele Golf Club