Website maintenance
Here to support you beyond the launch of your site.
My support plans
WordPress website
£160 per year OR £15 per month
Priority Technical Support
Software Updates
Offsite Backups
Shopify website
£100 per year OR £10 per month
Priority Technical Support
This would be in addition to the direct support services provided by Shopify as part of your plan.
Compared to annual payments, monthly payments carry an additional £20 cost over the course of a whole year.
Monthly payments must be made by direct debit.
Technical Support
Applicable to : WordPress support plans and Shopify support plans
The support plan provides you with priority access to a developer for the speedy resolution of any issues that might occur in relation to the operation or functionality of your website after it has gone live.
It covers: resolving problems with the operation of your website (such as pages not appearing, forms not working), resolving problems with the functionality of your website (ie, bugs discovered in parts of your website), and answering your technical questions.
It does not cover issues with your Hosting account – if you refer an issue which turns out to be a Hosting issue then I will instruct you to contact your Hosting provider for a resolution.
Changes to your website are not covered under this contract, such as building new functionality or adding content. Where such requests are made I will provide you with a quote for the work and delivery will be subject to my schedule at that current time.
Where I am taking over support for a website that I did not build myself then please note that any pre-existing issues on the website would not be covered under the cost of this plan.
Software Updates
Applicable to : WordPress support plans
I will ensure that the software that your website is running on is kept up-to-date with all the latest security patches, bug fixes and new features.
If you don’t keep your website software up-to-date then you could be leaving your site vulnerable to malicious hackers and malware. And the longer you leave it the worse the risk becomes.
It’s a sad fact that websites come under regular attacks. I have seen the damage that can be done and the recovery costs involved can be substantial. So I encourage all my clients to be proactive about their site software and take measures to protect the initial investment in their website.
Minor updates to the core WordPress software will happen automatically as they are released.
Major updates to the core WordPress software will be applied monthly.
Minor updates to plugins will happen automatically as they are released.
Major updates to plugins will be applied monthly.
Other scripts and libraries will be updated monthly, or sooner if urgent.
Note for Shopify site owners: software updates happen automatically so no manual updates are normally required.
Backups
Applicable to : WordPress support plans
This facility ensures that your website database and files are backed up on a regular basis. This is a safeguard measure against the possibility of disaster and losing your website.
Backups are automated and stored on a different server to where your website is hosted. This is important because if you are backing up to the same server that your website is hosted on then what happens if your server completely fails or your hosting company goes out of business? You could lose your website and not be able to recover it. Having off-site backups gives you a measure of protection against such eventualities and means you will always have the reassurance that should the worst happen then your website can be restored.
Storage costs are included in the price subject to my terms of service.
Your site database is backed up daily. This is the most critical part of your website as it holds all of your website content and settings.
Website files are backed up weekly.
Note for Shopify site owners: backups are included in your Shopify plan.
Custom Support Plans
Applicable to : WordPress support plans and Shopify support plans
Do you need a support plan customised to you?
I am happy to discuss customised plans, so please get in touch if you this is something that you need.
For example, perhaps you want content updates included in your plan too.
Terms & Conditions
The fee covers one website only (ie, a single domain name).
Response times for technical support will depend to some degree on what the request is, but in relation to technical issues that might be affecting the operation, or visibility, of the website I aim to respond within 24 hours where possible.
For less critical items then I aim to respond within 3 working days. Please note that I cannot ‘guarantee’ turn-around times but if you have a support contract then you can be assured that you will receive my best possible service.
Note that some hosting providers do not allow automatic software updates. Where this is the case then updates will be applied manually once a month (WordPress plans).
The fee excludes the cost of updating commercial plugins that carry a license fee of their own.
Major WordPress updates may affect plugins adversely. This can stop some plugins working. This is very rare, but if this happens and no update is available for the plugin then you will be notified of the issue. I am not responsible for third-party plugins, so compatibility issues must be addressed by the original plugin author.
In the event that your website backups consume more storage space than I consider is fair and reasonable then I reserve the right to raise the subscription fee (to cover my extra costs) or cancel the service.
Do you need some changes or updates made to your website?
Regardless of whether I originally built your website or not, I can provide you with a service to carry out updates. This could be something as simple as updating content, or making layout changes, or something more complex like building new functionality.
You do not need to have taken out one of my support plans to use this service. Though it is recommended.
This work would be charged on an hourly basis, which ranges from £35 to £43 per hour depending on the type of work required.
Need support?
Telephone: 07539 228460
Email: hello@garycottington.co.uk
You can contact me any day between 8:30am and 7pm.