WordPress Care Plans & Website
Maintenance in London

A WordPress care plan is a service that provides regular maintenance, updates and security measures for websites built on the WordPress platform. It includes services such as plugin and theme updates, automated backups, vulnerability scans and malware removal. With a WordPress care plan, website owners like you can ensure that their websites are secure, well-maintained, and running smoothly.

Maintaining a WordPress website can be relatively easy once all the initial setup is complete. However, technical knowledge and regular upkeep are needed to ensure that your WordPress website runs smoothly. But it’s not easy to look after your website yourself – hiring a professional to take care of your website has many benefits. They can help keep your website up-to-date with the latest versions of plugins, themes and WordPress core. They can advise on security measures, monitor for malware and vulnerabilities, and provide maintenance services to ensure that everything is running smoothly. Finally, they can provide faster troubleshooting for any technical issues that arise.

Website hosting is the service that provides the physical server space for your website’s files and data. This usually requires an annual or monthly fee, depending upon the provider. Website care plans are typically a package of services that provide additional maintenance and support for your website beyond basic hosting. Services provided can include updates to plugins, backups, security scanning, regular maintenance checks and consultations. At Somer Design, our plans include both hosting and maintenance in one convenient monthly fee.

As a small business, website care plans can provide many benefits. They can help keep the website up-to-date, improve the security of the site to protect against malicious attacks, and support in troubleshooting technical issues quickly. They can also ensure a smooth user experience with regular backups and maintenance checks that minimise potential downtime. As a small business, you want your customers to have the best possible experience – and a slow or poorly maintained site could negatively impact your visitor experience.

We have three website care plan solutions on offer so there is a plan to suit you! If you’re not sure which plan is right for you, simply get in touch with our team today and we can recommend the right website maintenance plan for you! 

Anything that takes 30 minutes or less to resolve and that can generally be handled within the admin panel of your WordPress site.

For example: Adding or editing content like blog posts, WooCommerce products, pages, etc., editing menus and widgets, installing and activating plugins, and much more.

Have more complex issues? No problem! We’re happy to troubleshoot more complicated issues and then discuss what kind of resolutions we can offer to best fit your needs.

Content Edits 

• Publishing blog posts and new pages from provided Word or Text documents
• Adding/Removing/Editing text on posts, pages, products, etc.
• Uploading provided JPG and PNG images and adding to pages
• Cropping/Resizing images within the WP Dashboard
• Adding provided Yoast keywords, titles, snippets, etc
• Adding/Removing/Editing menu items
• Configuring popups, notification bars, and slide-in features based on provided text, images, and examples
• Create image galleries
• Edit page slugs
• Adding/Removing/Editing users
• Upload PDFs
• Adjust widgets

Settings Adjustments

• Updating theme options
• Adding redirects
• Add/Remove/Edit form fields
• Edit templates made from visual editors (such as Beaver Builder, Elementor, and Divi Builder)
• Installing simple plugins from the WordPress repository (i.e. “Duplicate Post” or “WordPress Zero Spam”)

We can also take care of the following requests, but they may take a bit longer than our usual turnaround time

• Simple Custom CSS / JS
• Performing search and replaces
• Adding code snippets through WP hooks
• Installing more complex plugins (i.e. a caching plugin or free WooCommerce add-on)
• Performance / Page-speed related adjustments based on GT Metrix reports
• Minor troubleshooting involving plugin and theme compatibility
• Installing tracking codes (i.e. Google Analytics)
• Testing contact forms and checkout workflows

Here are some requests that the Unlimited Content Edits Plan does not include

• Graphic design changes (Things like creating graphics or editing images beyond simple resizing/cropping)
• SEO and Analytics strategy, review, or consulting
• Writing or providing copy for posts, pages, products, etc. (Including Cookie Permissions and Privacy Policies)
• Build-outs and plugin/theme development, including the build-out of new major functionality on an existing site (i.e. setting up an online store, rebuilding existing content through a different page builder, or custom-coding a new plugin to provide new functionality)
• Host-related optimization
• Interacting with third-party vendors, including the host, email provider, a plugin/theme’s support team, etc.
• Purchasing plugins, license keys, or extensions

Just remember, it never hurts to ask. No matter the request, we’ll help point you in the right direction!

Whenever we receive a request, the website care team evaluate it to make sure it fits within our scope of service.

If we think a task will take more than 30 minutes, we’ll provide a quote for approval.

Occasionally there are requests that our website care team cannot do because it falls completely outside our scope of service. Once we troubleshoot the issue, we’ll let you know what your best options are.

Below are some of the best ways to communicate what you’d like us to do. That way we have absolute clarity on the task in hand.

Include screenshots

This is super helpful for our technical team. When you send images of exactly what’s wrong, we can nail down exactly what needs to be done.

UNHELPFUL: “I need the attached image added to my blog post!”

HELPFUL: “Please add the attached image to my blog post (yourdomain.com/this-specific-blog-post/) and see the directions below to put it in the right place. Thanks!”

Our favourite screenshot tools are:

• Lightshot (Windows/Mac, Free)
• Snipping Tool (Windows, Free)

Use Loom

This Chrome extension allows you to take quick videos if a written email or screenshots just won’t cut it.

Add a descriptive subject line

It’s best to include high-level details in your subject field so that we’ll know exactly where to go to make the changes you want.

UNHELPFUL: Subject – (No subject)

HELPFUL: About Us page needs realignment

Be as specific as possible

Include as many details as you can when you’re giving us edits or tasks to complete. That way, we know exactly what needs to be done.

UNHELPFUL: “My website has some spelling mistakes. Please fix them all ASAP!”

HELPFUL: “My About Me page has the word “WordPress” in it but it should be “WordPress” with a capital P. Please change that when you can!”

Include the browser or device you’re using

This will help us to troubleshoot the issue and fix it faster. If we’re looking at your website on Chrome but your issue was on Firefox, that’s something we need to know.

UNHELPFUL: “My website’s header looks funny! Please fix it!”

HELPFUL: “The background colour of my header looks a little off. I’m using Google Chrome on a tablet. Please fix this when you can!”

Include links to where changes need to be made

This way, we know exactly what page you’re referring to and can go right there when making any necessary edits.

UNHELPFUL: “One of my blog posts needs a featured image. Please add one!”

HELPFUL: “This blog post needs a featured image. Please add the attached one: yourdomain.com/this-specific-blog-post/”

Be nice 😄

This one is really underrated, but please remember that we are real people helping you, not just magic WordPress robots. We like to have fun running our business, and that means not dealing with intolerable customers. Being mean or overly-demanding probably won’t get you very far.

UNHELPFUL: “Here are 50 edits I need done on my website within the next hour. If you don’t get it done, I’m leaving you a 1-star review!”

HELPFUL: “Here are a few changes I need to my site. If you could get to them as quickly as possible, I’d really appreciate it. As always, appreciate you guys and thanks for helping out!”

Our website care team runs during business hours, Monday-Friday. We strive to complete all tasks within 24 hours but our website care team usually gets them done much faster!