WordPress maintenance: Updated on a
copy first.
WordPress is the one platform that needs somebody. Core and plugins ship updates most weeks, PHP moves under it once a year, and an update that goes wrong takes the site with it. WordPress care plans go by a few names; this is the job itself, done on a staging copy before it touches the live site.
Core and plugins·Staged updates·Backups that restore
Start a plan
Start it here,
not on a call.
Pick a plan for wordPress maintenance, tell me where the site is, and send it over. If I did not build the site, it starts with a take-on check, £200, so I know what I am looking after before I promise to look after it. You'll hear back within 12 working hours.
Three months minimum. Any plan stops with a month's notice once that is up. Hours are for use that month and do not carry over. A WordPress maintenance contract is three months and then a month's notice, not a year. A shop adds £37.50. Invoiced on the 1st, with everything else that month. No VAT charged.
WordPress maintenance plans, month by month: What happens
without you asking.
Step 1
Every week
Updates, on a copy
Core, plugins and the theme are updated on a staging copy of the site and clicked through before anything reaches the live one. Most weeks that is quiet. The week it is not is the reason it happens this way.
Step 2
Every day
A backup that restores
Taken daily, off the server. A backup nobody has restored is a file, not a backup, so one gets restored onto staging and opened.
Step 3
Every month
The logins and the locks
Who still has an account, what role they hold, and whether anybody left. Administrator accounts from an old developer are the most common way in.
Step 4
Once a year
The PHP version
WordPress runs on PHP and old versions stop getting security fixes. Moving up is tested on staging first, because a plugin that has not been updated since 2019 will not come with you.
This is for you
WordPress maintenance is for you
if any of these sound familiar.
- WordPress, and nobody has updated it
- An update broke it once and now nobody dares
- Plugins bought years ago, licences unknown
- A developer who left with the logins
It is not, if
- Squarespace, Wix or Shopify, which self-update
- You update it yourself and enjoy it
- A rebuild rather than upkeep
WordPress website design: Not built
yet?
This page is for a WordPress site that exists and needs looking after. If it does not exist yet, the build is priced separately and comes with the first months of upkeep already arranged rather than bolted on afterwards.
WordPress website design- Built, then kept updated
- One person for both
- The logins in your name from day one
WordPress maintenance questions: The questions
everyone asks.
If yours is not here, ask it on a call. Thirty minutes, and it is free.
01 What does WordPress maintenance include?
Core, plugin and theme updates applied to a staging copy and checked before they reach the live site, a daily backup, restored to prove it works, the PHP version kept current, logins and roles reviewed, and hours set aside for the changes you ask for.
02 Why update on a copy first?
Because a plugin update is somebody else's code arriving on your site. Most weeks nothing happens. The week a plugin changes how it renders, or drops a function another plugin was using, you want to find out on a copy rather than on the site a customer is looking at.
03 How much do WordPress maintenance packages cost?
Manage is £300 a month and Grow is £675, the same two plans as any other platform. With hosting here they are £350 and £725, because the updates and backups come with the hosting rather than on top of it.
04 Can I get WordPress hosting and maintenance together?
Yes, and it is the usual way here. WordPress hosting, maintenance and the hours for changes are one plan and one bill, rather than a hosting invoice from one place and a care plan from another. It is also cheaper that way, because the updates and the backups are already part of the hosting rather than sold on top of it.
05 Is a WordPress maintenance contract a year?
No. Three months minimum, then a month's notice. A year is how a plan stops being something you can judge on whether it is working.
06 What happens if the site gets hacked?
It is taken off the internet first, then cleaned from a backup taken before the break-in rather than patched in place, then the way in is closed. On hosting here there is also a firewall in front of the site, and the host scans for malware in real time and patches it. Without a backup that restores, the honest answer is often a rebuild.
07 Is a WordPress care plan the same thing?
Yes. WordPress care plans, care plans and maintenance plans are the same job under different names, and the names vary by who is selling it. What matters is what is in it: who applies the updates, whether they are tested first, how often a backup is taken, whether anybody has restored one, and how many hours of changes come with it.
08 Do I have to move my hosting to you?
No. WordPress maintenance services work on your host wherever it is, and most of the sites looked after here are UK hosted rather than moved. Hosting here bundles the updates, backups and monitoring into one monthly price, which is usually cheaper than buying them separately, but it is not a condition.
09 What about a site somebody else built?
A take-on check first, £200 for half a day: what it runs on, what is out of date, what the plugins cost, and who still has access, in writing, whether or not you carry on.
Want WordPress
maintenance you can forget?
Tell me what the site runs on and when it was last updated. Thirty minutes, and you leave knowing whether it needs a plan or just one afternoon.
Or email hello@adamroe.co.uk
- Within 12 hoursA reply
- Within 2 working daysThe plan that fits, and its price
- If I did not build itA take-on check first, £200