WordPress maintenance that
prevents the emergency
Most people call a developer the day the site is already down. A maintenance plan is the boring alternative: updates tested before they break things, daily backups, and someone watching so you hear about problems first.
What quietly goes wrong on an unmaintained site
Nothing happens for months — and then several things happen at once, usually on a weekend. These are the four I get called about most.
Out-of-date plugins get exploited
Most hacked WordPress sites are running a known vulnerability that was patched months earlier. The fix existed — nobody applied it.
An auto-update breaks the layout
Hosts happily push updates straight to your live site. When two plugins disagree, you find out from a customer, not a test.
Backups that were never tested
Plenty of sites have backups. Far fewer have backups that actually restore. You only discover which kind you have on the worst day.
Licences silently expire
A premium plugin quietly stops updating when its licence lapses — so it sits there, unpatched, looking like it works fine.
Pick the level your site needs
Same care either way — the difference is how much is at stake if the site goes down, and how much editing you want included.
Essential
- Tested core, theme & plugin updates
- Weekly off-site backups
- Security scanning & hardening
- Uptime monitoring
- 30 min of edits per month
- Licence renewal tracking
Store
- Everything in Essential
- Daily off-site backups
- Checkout monitoring & test orders
- Staging-first updates
- 1 hour of edits per month
- Extension licence management
Priority
- Everything in Store
- Same-day priority response
- Emergency fixes included
- Monthly speed & health report
- 3 hours of edits per month
- Direct line for urgent issues
Free for the first 30 days on any site I build. Multiple sites? Message me for agency pricing.
What you get regardless of tier
What actually happens on your plan
Backup & snapshot
A full copy is taken and verified before anything is touched, so there’s always a clean point to roll back to.
Update on staging
Core, theme and plugin updates go onto a copy first. If something conflicts, it breaks there — not in front of your customers.
Check & push live
Key pages, forms and checkout are checked, then the updates go live. Anything that can’t be updated safely gets flagged to you with options.
Your edits & a summary
I run through your requested changes and send a short plain-English note of what was done and anything worth knowing.
Frequently asked questions
My host says it does automatic updates. Isn’t that enough?
Not really. Hosts apply updates straight to your live site with nothing testing whether your particular combination of theme and plugins still works afterwards. That’s how a site goes down at 2am with nobody watching. The difference here is staging, checking, and a person who notices.
Does this include hosting?
No — and that’s deliberate. You keep your own hosting in your own name so you’re never locked to me. If your host is the actual problem I’ll say so and help you move, but I’d rather not be your landlord and your handyman.
What counts as “edits”?
Content and small visual changes: text, images, prices, adding a page, swapping a banner, updating opening hours. New features or design work are quoted separately — I’ll always tell you which one something is before doing it.
What if my site gets hacked while on a plan?
On Priority the cleanup is included. On Essential and Store I’ll restore from the most recent clean backup at no charge; a full forensic cleanup, if one is needed, is quoted separately. Either way you won’t be left dealing with it alone.
Can you maintain a site you didn’t build?
Yes. I’ll do a free look over it first and tell you honestly whether it’s in a fit state to maintain, or whether something needs fixing before a plan makes sense. I won’t take a monthly fee for babysitting a site I know is about to fall over.
How do I cancel?
Send a message. No notice period, no cancellation fee, no retention call. You keep your backups and your site carries on exactly as it is.
Other services
Not quite what you need? One of these may be a better fit.
WordPress Design & Development
Custom WordPress sites designed and built from scratch — fixed prices from $250, speed-tuned and handed over fully in your name.
See packages →WooCommerce Development
A store built to actually sell — from $800, payment-ready, fast and owned entirely by you.
See store packages →Hire a WordPress Developer
Work directly with the developer writing the code — fixed-price projects from $250, $25/hr, or a monthly retainer.
See how it works →WordPress Speed Optimization
Fix what is actually slowing the site down, from $80 — with measured before-and-after numbers you can check yourself.
See speed packages →WordPress Migration
New host, platform or domain, moved from $60 — rankings, email and content intact, with no visible downtime.
See migration pricing →Emergency WordPress Fix
Site down, hacked or locked out? Free diagnosis and a fixed price before any work starts, from $70.
Get it looked at →SEO, Blogging & AdSense Websites
A done-for-you site built to rank and earn — $70 one-time setup plus $70/month keyword-targeted blogging.
See how it works →Stop worrying about your website
Tell me your site address and I’ll take a look before you commit to anything.