Maintenance
Updates, backups and security handled quietly in the background, so problems get dealt with before they become urgent.
Build your packageMost sites do not fail loudly. They rot quietly until something breaks on a Friday.
Plugins fall out of date, certificates lapse, a PHP version reaches end of life and one morning the checkout stops. Maintenance is the unglamorous work that keeps that from happening, and it is far cheaper than the emergency it prevents.
Updates and monitoring, so holes get closed early.
Ongoing tuning to keep load times down.
Taken regularly and tested, not just scheduled.
A real person when something is wrong.
Core, plugins and dependencies kept current.
We usually know before you do.
Build your package
Pick what you want covered and how you would rather pay. We will price the hours and come back to you, because the same task is a different job on every site.
Kyle, Luke and the team at Element Seven have been extremely helpful with the set up and maintenance of our new site. With a quick, efficient and proactive turn around from initial concept to implementation, the team provided us with a functional and aesthetic website that has performed extremely well for us.
How we deliver
A plan agreed up front, then the work happens quietly in the background every month.
Start from one of our set plans, which run on a monthly retainer covering the usual updates, backups and monitoring. If none of them fits how you work, we will build one around what your site actually needs rather than sell you hours you will never use.
We sit down and go through the plan together, along with what you are running, where it is hosted and anything that has been giving you trouble. That is where the retainer gets shaped around your priorities rather than a generic checklist.
Every month we carry out the tasks the plan covers. Core and plugin updates, security patches, backups checked rather than just scheduled, and the small changes you send us. You do not need to chase any of it.
An optional written report each month covering performance, how the site is doing in search, anything we fixed, and what we would suggest doing next. Some clients read every line and some would rather we just got on with it, so it is yours to switch on or off.
You get the approach, what is in, what is out, a timeline and a price before anything starts. No hourly rate quietly running in the background.
How much of it is bespoke, how many systems it has to talk to, and how much content needs moving across. We will tell you which of those is driving the cost.
A monthly plan covering updates, backups and small changes, priced separately so you can see exactly what the ongoing commitment is.
What does website maintenance actually cover?
Hosting, backups, software and security updates, uptime monitoring, and someone to call when something is wrong. It also covers the small changes that pile up: a price that needs correcting, a new team member, a page that needs adding. What it does not quietly include is a redesign, and we will tell you when a request has crossed that line.
Do you maintain websites you did not build?
Yes, and a fair number of the sites we look after started somewhere else. We review the site first and tell you what condition it is in, because taking on something with known problems without saying so helps nobody. If it is in poor shape we will say what it would take to put right before you commit.
What happens if the site goes down?
Monitoring tells us before most clients notice, and we start work on it rather than waiting for a ticket. Backups are taken regularly and tested, so restoring is a real option rather than a theory. You get told what happened and what stopped it happening again.
Do we have to be on a maintenance plan?
No. Some clients keep us on a monthly plan, others call when they need something. A plan is worth it when the site earns money or when nobody internally is going to remember to update anything. If ad hoc suits you better we will say so.
Does it include content changes?
Ordinary content changes, yes: text, images, prices, staff, posts, products. Larger pieces of work such as a new section, a new template or a redesign are quoted separately, and we tell you which one a request is before doing it rather than after.