Your website, quietly looked after.
Website hosting and maintenance, with a plain note of what we did
A website is a bit like a van. It runs happily for ages, right up until the day it doesn't, which is never a quiet Tuesday. We host it, back it up, keep the software updated, make the small changes you ask for, and send you a short note each month saying what we did.
Websites don't stay finished.
The day a website goes live is the day it starts to age. The software underneath it needs updates. The security certificate behind the padlock in the address bar needs renewing. The domain name has a renewal date that somebody has to remember. Meanwhile prices change, staff come and go, and the photo of the shop front still shows the old sign.
Most of it goes wrong quietly. A contact form stops sending and nobody notices for a month, because the enquiries simply dry up. A browser starts warning visitors that the site isn't secure. A domain lapses and takes the email down with it. That's what website hosting and maintenance is for: one person keeping an eye on all of it, so you can stop wondering.
What we do each month.
The work is regular and mostly invisible, which is exactly how it should be. Here's what it covers.
Hosting.
Your site lives on hosting we choose, set up and pay attention to, with its security certificate kept renewed. When something looks wrong, you have one person to ask, not a hosting company's ticket queue.
Backups kept somewhere else.
Regular copies of the site and everything on it, stored away from the server it runs on, so one problem can't take out both. Every so often we restore a backup to a test copy of the site, because the day you need a backup is a poor day to find out it doesn't work.
Security updates.
The software behind the site gets its updates, and afterwards we check the pages still look right and the forms still send. On WordPress, that means the core software, the theme and every plugin, plus clearing out the plugins nobody uses any more.
Uptime checks.
An automatic check visits your site through the day and alerts us if it stops answering. Plenty of blips sort themselves out. When one doesn't, we find out why and explain what happened in plain words.
Small changes.
New prices, holiday hours, a new member of staff, a fresh photo, a paragraph about a new service. Email them over, we make the change, and it's listed in that month's note.
Domain and email help.
We keep track of when your domain renews and make sure it's registered to your business. If your email runs on your domain, we sort the settings that help other people's inboxes trust it, and help out when it misbehaves.
Your domain, your email, your keys.
Your domain name is the address everything hangs off: the website, your email, the link on your Google profile and the lettering on the van. For a .uk address, the person or business named as the registrant is the owner. We make sure that's you, under your business's proper name and with a contact address that still works, rather than a web designer's details from years ago.
We also keep a simple record of where everything lives: which company the domain is registered with, where the site is hosted, who provides your email, and when each one renews. You get a copy, with your own logins. If you ever move on, the handover takes an afternoon rather than a detective.
Email gets the same attention. Google asks everyone who sends mail to Gmail addresses to authenticate their domain, and when those settings are missing, your quotes and your website's enquiry emails are more likely to end up in junk. We check them, fix them and tell you what we changed.
The note you get each month.
At the start of each month you get a short email. There's no dashboard to log into and no report full of graphs you didn't ask for, just what we did and anything you need to know. A typical one might read something like this.
Updated and checked.
Three plugins updated. Contact form, quote form and booking link all tested afterwards, and all sending.
Backed up.
Backups taken as usual. Test restore on the 14th, and everything came back as it should.
Changed.
Saturday hours now 9 till 1 on the contact page and in the footer. Photo of the finished kitchen added to the gallery.
Coming up.
Your domain renews in March and is set to renew automatically. Nothing for you to do.
Worth a look.
The services page still mentions last year's call-out charge. Shall we update it?
Taking on a site someone else built.
We're happy to look after a website we didn't build, including one whose builder has stopped answering the phone.
We start with a look under the bonnet: where it's hosted, who holds the domain, what it's built on, when it was last updated and whether any backups exist. You get a short write-up of what we found and what we'd suggest. Sometimes that's a straightforward move to our hosting. Sometimes there's a bit of rescue to do first, like getting the domain back into your name. Now and then the honest answer is that the site isn't worth keeping alive, and we'll tell you so.
When hosting does move, the switch is planned around keeping the site and your email running, and it's done at a quiet time for your business rather than on your busiest Saturday.
When you can skip the care plan.
Not every website needs us. If your site is on a hosted website builder, where the platform looks after the servers and software as part of your subscription, and you're comfortable changing your own hours and photos, you may be fine on your own.
The same goes for a simple site that hardly ever changes, on decent hosting with automatic backups you've actually checked. Note the domain renewal date, test your contact form every month or so, and you've covered most of what matters. Care earns its keep when the site does more: takes enquiries or bookings, runs on software that needs regular updates, or has quietly become the job you keep meaning to deal with.
Questions about website care and hosting.
How much does website care cost?
It depends on what your site runs on, how much it does and how often it changes, so we don't publish a price. We'll look at the site, agree what's included and give you a fixed monthly amount before anything starts. If you'd like to start small, hosting, backups and updates on their own are a sensible first step, with changes added later.
What happens if my website goes down?
Our checks will usually spot it, and we'll work out what's wrong: the hosting, the domain, the software, or something outside anyone's control. Once it's back, you'll hear from us in plain words about what happened and whether anything needs doing to stop it happening again. No website is up every minute of every year, and we won't pretend yours will be.
What counts as a small change?
Things like updating prices or opening hours, swapping photos, adding a new member of staff, posting a holiday notice or rewriting a paragraph. Roughly, if it changes what's on a page that already exists, it's a small change. New pages, new sections or new features, such as online booking, are bigger jobs, and we'll quote for those separately so the monthly amount stays predictable.
Can you look after a website someone else built?
Usually, yes. We begin by finding out how it's built, where it's hosted and who holds the domain, then tell you what we found and whether it's worth looking after as it is. If the site is in a poor state, we'll say so, and explain what putting it right would involve before you commit to anything.
What if I want to move away later?
Then you move. The domain is registered in your name, you have your own logins, and we'll hand over a copy of the site, the latest backup and the record of where everything lives. We'd rather you stayed because the work is good than because leaving is awkward. It's your website, after all.
Can you help with my business email?
Yes. We can set up email on your own domain with a well-known provider, bring your old messages across where that's possible, and sort the settings that help your emails reach inboxes rather than junk folders. If enquiries or quotes have been going missing, those settings are one of the first things we check.
Do I need to do anything myself?
Very little. Send us changes when things change, and read the monthly note, which takes about a minute. Now and then we'll ask for a decision, such as whether to renew the domain for longer or replace a feature that's showing its age. The rest of the time, you can forget about the website and get on with the actual job.
Website care and hosting for your trade.
Some of the trades we build for. Or see everyone we help.
Got something that's slowing you down?
Tell us what's eating your time, in your own words. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and what it would take.