WordPress support & maintenance

What is WordPress Support and Maintenance, and why do I need it?

WordPress is a great CMS, but it must be kept up to date to avoid errors and potential security issues. Most of the time, updating WP is easy, but occasional things can go wrong, so it’s worth getting the experts to sort it. On top of this, our maintenance plans include support time, so you can ask us to do any form of work on your site, from content to SEO.

What specific tasks are included in our WordPress maintenance service?

WordPress updates, theme updates, fixes, debugging, plugin installs, general development work, SEO and more. We’re a full-service agency, so unlike other WordPress support and maintenance services, we also offer design, copywriting, strategy, planning, Google Ads help, and all services connected to your website.

You can use your support time for any of our services, it’s not limited to WordPress maintenance alone.

How often will you perform maintenance on my WordPress site?

Our support services are reactive, no proactive, and there is a good reason for this. Appart from updates to your theme and plugins, the remainder of your time will be used at your request. We do this to avoid using your time on things you might not want it used on.

If you want a more proactive service, we can create a list of monthly tasks we’ll agree to do every month without being asked.

What measures do we take to ensure the security of your WordPress site?

Like everyone else, we take security seriously. We’ll keep your install, theme and plugins up-to-date to ensure no security issues.

We also install Sucuri on client sites to protect and harden your installation against threats, and we use other plugins, such as WordFence, to provide an additional layer of protection.

We also recommend hosting your DNS on Cloudflare to benefit from their advanced firewalls and anti-DDOS services.

How do we handle WordPress core updates?

We back everything up first! We’ve found that different clients have different requirements for core updates. Some are happy for us to back-up and install, others prefer the site to be tested in a staging environment and pushed to live once the core updates have been completed.

We are happy to work in whichever way works best for your business, but it should be noted that some methods take longer than others.

Will you update my themes and plugins, and how often?

Yes! These are done every month, but the same goes for the core updates above – you may have a process where the live environment can’t be updated ‘live,’ so in these cases, we can migrate to staging, update plugins, test and push live.

If you want your updates done more often, we can do that.

If you are happy with auto-updates, we can do that too; we have software that checks your site pre and post-update and lets us know if there have been any issues. Automatic updates do save time on your plan for other things.

What backup solutions do we offer, and how often are backups performed?

If you host with Toast, your site is backed up every night, with 30 days’ worth of backups restorable at the click of a button.

If you host your own site, we can look at backup options that your host provides or suggest offsite options for you.

How do we monitor and address downtime or site issues?

We have accounts with Uptime Robot that we use to monitor sites. All our sites are pinged every minute to check that the server is available and working.

Should your site go down during office-hours, we will get on that immediately.

If your site goes down outside of office hours, we have options for how you’d like us to react. This tends to vary from site to site so that we can discuss these options with you.

Can we help improve the speed and performance of your WordPress site?

Yes, in fact, a lot of our clients have us work on technical optimisation very frequently.

As plugins and themes update and change, this can slow down sites over time, and Google Page Speed Insights reporting is in a constant state of flux, so we are experts in making sites faster.

Do you provide SSL certificate installation and maintenance services?

Most hosts provide an SSL install service. If you choose to host with us, you’ll get a free SSL included in the hosting. We’ll also get that all set up and running for you.

How do we handle website migrations or transfers if needed?

We migrate WordPress sites all the time, so if you want to move to our hosting, the migration is included in the charges. If you want us to move your site to a third-party host, we can do that, too, for a small fee.

Do you offer SEO-related services or guidance as part of support and maintenance?

As mentioned above, you can use your support time for any of our services, and that includes SEO. We can do the work for you, provide guidance so you can produce the content and optimise it, or simply do some keyword research for you.

How do I contact the support team if I have questions or encounter issues?

We work via support tickets, email or phone, and you can use whichever works best for you.

Often, if the issue is complex, a phone call is the best way – you can reach us on 01295 266644.

What is the policy for handling emergencies?

If your site goes down during office hours, we drop everything and fix that immediately.

If your site goes down outside of office hours, we have an optional plan for out-of-hours support. We don’t build this into our base plans as it would increase the costs for something clients rarely use.

We advise clients that 7 p.m. on a Friday is not the best time to install new plugins or run updates; this helps mitigate the need for out-of-hours service.

If the worst happens and your site goes down over a weekend when you’ve not made any changes, it’s 99% likely to be hosting, not a WordPress issue, so your hosting company is your best place to start. If you host with Toast, you can log into your hosting control panel anytime to raise tickets or start live chats directly with server support.

Can I cancel or change my maintenance plan, and what is the cancellation policy?

We don’t have long contract terms, so all hour support and maintenance plans are on a rolling monthly contract.

If you would like to cancel at any time, you need to give us one month’s notice.

How do we charge for WordPress Maintenance and Support?

We have a range of core WordPress Support packages:

• SiteCare 40 – 40 minutes per month
• SiteCare 80 – 80 minutes per month
• SiteCare 120 – 120 minutes per month
• SiteCare 250 – 250 minutes per month

We usually ask clients to set up Direct Debits for the monthly payments, and we send automated invoices each month.

All support work is done by the minute, so if a task takes 15 minutes, we simply take 15 minutes off your time for the month.

When you place a request, we’ll let you know roughly how long it will take and when we can do it.

It will then be scheduled, and you’ll be notified when the work is done.

Can I top up my time?

Yes, you can top up your time in 30-minute increments at £30 ex VAT per 30 minutes. This means that if you have a busy month working on the site, you can simply buy more time as you need it.

Can I get larger development projects done with my time?

If you have a larger piece of work or a more complex request, you can certainly top-up your time to cover it, or we can provide a separate proposal and costs outside of your SiteCare plan. Whatever works best for you.

What happens if I don’t use all my time each month?

Time does not roll month to month, so if you are not using your time each month, we’ll suggest how we can help you with that or suggest that you downgrade your plan. We monitor all plans on a rolling three-month basis for usage.

If you are not a frequent user but need something extra in one month, we’ll look back at your usage, and if you’ve not used your time, we’ll provide a solution.

We employ a common-sense approach to managing unused time so you won’t be left out-of-pocket.

How big and where is the team?

We have 17 staff at Toast, all based in our studio in Oxfordshire, England. We work with clients all over the world to provide support for their WordPress Sites.

All our team are full-time staff, with no freelancers, no zero-hour contracts and nothing outsourced.