What a website care plan should include

A care plan is the monthly fee that keeps a website online, secure and current after launch. Some are excellent. Some are hosting with a new name. Here is how to tell.

The minimum

• Hosting. Where the site runs. A server that is kept up to date, with someone who looks when it fails.
• SSL. The certificate behind the padlock, renewed before it expires.
• Backups. Copies you can restore from, taken on a schedule, with a record of when.
• Uptime checks. Something checks the site regularly and someone looks when it fails.
• Quick edits. Prices, opening times, a new photo. Done without a quote each time.
• A reply time. A stated number of business days, not “as soon as possible”.

Worth paying more for

• Staging. A private copy of the site where changes are checked before they go live.
• Included change time. A set amount of work each month, so steady improvements actually happen.
• Tickets. A written record of requests and replies, with files attached.
• Performance checks. Real measurements, such as Lighthouse runs, not a green badge.

Questions to ask

1. Can I see the last backup date and the last uptime check?
2. What counts as a quick edit, and what gets quoted?
3. If I cancel, what do I get? The answer should be: everything you need to host it elsewhere.
4. Who owns the domain? It should be you.

Our two plans

Care is $54 a month (no VAT charged): hosting, SSL, backups, uptime, quick edits, reply in two business days. Care Plus is $110 a month: everything in Care plus staging, up to one hour of changes and support tickets. In your portal you see health checks and performance runs as they happen, with dates. If a number has not been measured, the portal says so instead of showing a guess. More on the care page.