Peace of mind that your site is well maintained, supported and secure
Why do I need a Care Plan?
Your website is an important part of your work. In the 21st century it’s essential to have an online presence, and your site is frequently your ‘public face’ on the web. It offers a central location for people to find out more about what you do and then (hopefully) get in touch with you. That also means it’s vital for potential clients to arrive on a site that works correctly, loads speedily and where all the many elements that make up its functionality operate exactly as they should.
Second, websites aren’t static and unchanging – or at least they shouldn’t be. The content of your site may need to be edited if aspects of your work alter. You may need new pages added, text altered, different images uploaded or new features introduced.
Websites are complex
Your site is made up of lots of code – there’s the content management system, WordPress, the code that controls every single design element, and a number of plugins that provide additional functionality. And that’s before we even mention the vital ‘behind the scenes’ features like caching to speed up loading time, security to help prevent hacks and SEO to ensure your site can be found better on the web.
WordPress and the plugins used on your site are frequently updated, and it’s important to action those updates in good time so that your site keeps working smoothly. Sometimes, however, those updates can cause their own issues too, and it’s crucial to fix them as soon as possible.
Websites can be vulnerable
In designing and building a site for clients, Pilcrow + Pixel takes every possible precaution to ensure it will be safe from infections and malware – and obviously we hope that such problems never occur. But it’s impossible to guarantee 100% protection. If your site is infected, it can visibly break. Frequently, however, these hacks are completely invisible to visitors, but can signal to Google that your site should be blacklisted – something that will quickly damage your online reputation. Alternatively, visitors might be directed to spam sites instead of yours.
In the event of a hack, your site needs to be cleaned of the problem as swiftly as possible and, if necessary, a complete backup restored.
Can I take care of my site myself?
Yes, there’s nothing to stop you doing so. But keeping your website up to date, maintaining WordPress and its plugins, ensuring your site is secure and working correctly, plus taking regular backups – all these tasks are time consuming and (just between ourselves) often rather tedious. Carrying out such duties yourself takes you away from your work and all the things you should be doing. Plus, the technology used by your site continues to evolve and it’s important to keep abreast of all the latest trends and developments.
What the Care Plan includes:
- Daily backups: your site is backed up every night to two different cloud services, so it can be speedily restored if any problems do occur
- WordPress updates: ensuring your site is using the latest version of the content management system
- Plugin updates: these are actioned quickly, with plugins monitored to ensure they're functioning correctly
- Uptime monitoring: we're automatically notified within 60 seconds if your site goes offline so we can investigate promptly
- Performance optimisation: monitoring that your site is loading speedily thanks to comprehensive caching (pleasing visitors and Google)
- Security monitoring: our sites have an effective firewall installed and if any infections or malware occur we remove them as quickly as possible
- Website consultancy: we can provide advice and assistance with any of your web strategy or support queries
What the Care Plan includes:
- Daily backups: your site is backed up every night to two different cloud services, so it can be speedily restored if any problems do occur
- WordPress updates: ensuring your site is using the latest version of the content management system
- Plugin updates: these are actioned quickly, with plugins monitored to ensure they're functioning correctly
- Uptime monitoring: we're automatically notified within 60 seconds if your site goes offline so we can investigate promptly
- Performance optimisation: monitoring that your site is loading speedily thanks to comprehensive caching (pleasing visitors and Google)
- Security monitoring: our sites have an effective firewall installed and if any infections or malware occur we remove them as quickly as possible
- Website consultancy: we can provide advice and assistance with any of your web strategy or support queries

Fee
Every Pilcrow + Pixel project includes a generous one month of inclusive support and maintenance once the site launches. At the end of that period, if you wish to sign up to our Website Care Plan, prices are as follows:
Basic Site
£40 / per month
- Payable by Direct Debit
Advanced Site
£50 / per month
- Payable by Direct Debit
Should you choose to opt out of the Website Care Plan, then responsibility for your site will switch entirely to you.
How do I get the Care Plan?
You'll receive initial information about the Website Care Plan in the contract to design and build your site. We will then contact you about signing up for it formally towards the end of the one-month period of inclusive support and maintenance.
Web Hosting
You will need hosting for your website - the faster and more reliable the better to ensure your site is delivered smoothly and speedily across the web, with minimal interruptions to service. We can give advice on who to choose based on our extensive knowledge of hosting providers. If you subscribe to our Website Care Plan, we can also offer our own client hosting via a suite of Pilcrow + Pixel cloud servers we hold with Cloudways. We then manage the hosting of your site on your behalf, monitoring uptime and increasing server resources if necessary, but with the assistance of the Cloudways team if and when required. Our very reasonably priced hosting fee is charged annually, entirely separate from the monthly Website Care Plan. Pricing varies depending on the size of your site and the resources it needs.
Web Hosting
You will need hosting for your website - the faster and more reliable the better to ensure your site is delivered smoothly and speedily across the web, with minimal interruptions to service. We can give advice on who to choose based on our extensive knowledge of hosting providers. If you subscribe to our Website Care Plan, we can also offer our own client hosting via a suite of Pilcrow + Pixel cloud servers we hold with Cloudways. We then manage the hosting of your site on your behalf, monitoring uptime and increasing server resources if necessary, but with the assistance of the Cloudways team if and when required. Our very reasonably priced hosting fee is charged annually, entirely separate from the monthly Website Care Plan. Pricing varies depending on the size of your site and the resources it needs.
