Overview

Websites need regular maintenance and review to ensure they are secure, fast, and easily discovered by those you wish to reach. Site maintenance can be performed by anyone with the time and training to complete it. The cost of services on this page will be calculated based on the time required at the current hourly rate. [Rates]

Basic Essential Maintenance (30 min to 1 hr / Month)

Regularly scheduled site maintenance and management is available and typically includes the items listed below. The cost depends on the amount of time needed to perform the tasks. A typical site may require 30 minutes to one hour. Larger sites may require more time.

  • BACKUP. Some hosting companies make regular daily backups, and retain a few backups to roll back to a previous version in the event of a site failure or other issue. If your hosting company doesn’t offer this, plans should be in place to have backups made.
  • BROKEN LINK SCAN. Your site may have links to sites and pages that no longer exist. Too many of these broken links can cause your site to rank lower in search results. Regular scanning and fixing these is important. Frequent scanning results in a manageable list of repairs.
  • SEARCH DISCOVERY. If you are trying to sell or promote something, it is important to periodically test your website for how well it is discovered on certain search phrases. Some websites are simply an online reference made available to people as needed. In some cases, a site owner doesn’t want to be easily discovered, inundated with spam, random inquires, or the target of hackers.
  • SECURITY SCAN. Websites can sometimes get infected. Regular scans can identify malicious code or security threats. Keeping a site updated can make it more secure. 
  • SPEED REPORT. Slow site load times can usually be resolved by making efficiency corrections such as caching your site pages and providing efficient code. Site speed should be checked regularly. Speed optimization is an optional service listed below.
  • SSL. When a site is properly setup with SSL, it should automatically load with HTTPS in the address and produce no security alerts in browsers. It is important to periodically confirm that site SSL configuration is working properly.
  • UPDATES. Websites built with WordPress will need periodic updates and review of plugins, themes, and the WordPress software.

The services listed above are available for any websites regardless of where they are hosted or who initially designed the site.

Premium Scheduled Services (1 – 3 hours / Month)

Some important but non-essential services are available for an additional fee. Any combination of these can be selected. The estimate of one to three hours assumes that a few of these would be addressed each month.

  • ACCESSIBILITY SCAN (1 hour). Websites are evaluated by search engines for accessibility by those with visual impairments. Having accessibility issues repaired is important. This typically needs to be done once after a site is launched or redesigned, and after any significant additions or changes. The initial scan and report is billed as one hour and includes the initial scan and repairs that can be done within one hour. Additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • ADVERTISING (30 min). Periodic inexpensive advertising can help build awareness of your website. The greatest impact can be with monthly ads running just a few days each month. The time to place an ad, review ad performance, and make necessary changes is approximately 30 minutes. Additional time spent is at the normal hourly rate. 
  • BROKEN LINK REPAIR (1 hour). When a site has a large number of broken links, usually discovered in an initial site scan, it can be time consuming to repair all the links. This service is billed by the hour. This typically needs to be done once after a site is launched or redesigned, and after any significant additions or changes. The initial scan and report is billed as one hour and includes the initial scan and repairs that can be done within one hour. Additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • CONTENT (1 hour). Written posts at regular intervals of your choosing such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. Posts can be short written articles on topics relevant to your site or curated relevant videos from YouTube. Websites that are actively updated, even once per month, are ranked better. The time to create an article or post is approximately 1 hour. Longer articles or additional posts are charged at the normal hourly rate.
  • COPYRIGHT (1 hour). The media used on your site should be your own creation, or licensed for use by the person or entity that created it. You should have receipts and license documentation available in the event a question arises about content use. The time required for a review of your media will depend on the size of your site.
  • FEATURED (1 hour). This practice is similar to the task of periodically adding new Content described above, but utilizes existing content. The site is fresh, updated, and changing regularly simply by changing what the current featured item is. This can be done when regular site updates are performed.
  • NEWSLETTER (1 hour). A newsletter sent out quarterly or monthly can be a helpful way to stay in touch with supporters and customers. A simple newsletter can be created and distributed in about an hour. This includes review of past performance of previous month’s newsletters, and list maintenance. Additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • GRAMMAR (1 hour). If your site contains errors, it can look less professional. Typos, grammatical errors, or poor writing style can also give visitors a poor impression. These problems can also give your site a poor search ranking. An initial check for typos, grammar, and writing style ensures your content is polished and professional. Subsequent checks on new or changed content are important. A simple site can be reviewed and corrected in about 1 hour. Additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • SECURITY REPAIR (1 hour). Cleaning up an infected website can be time consuming. Sometimes restoring from a backup can solve issues, but other situations may require additional time to cleanup. This service is billed by the hour. A typical site infection can be repaired in an hour or less. For a more involved cleanup, additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • SOCIAL MEDIA (1 hour). Management of social media accounts can require daily monitoring. Responding to questions and comments is important. Posting announcements of events and news helps keep supporters, readers, and customers informed. A minimum of one hour per month would usually cover a basic account that doesn’t get much traffic. For a more involved and active account, additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • SPEED OPTIMIZATION (2 hours). Once optimized, a site will typically continue performing well. However, problems with your hosting company can cause slowdowns unrelated to your site design. Outdated PHP versions, overloaded shared web servers, and overloaded SQL servers can slow down sites. A content delivery network (CDN) can help site speed, but CDN outages can cause problems. For these reasons, a regular evaluation of site speed is important. Fast sites attract more visitors and encourage repeat visits. Also, search engines favor fast sites. Two hours would usually be sufficient to help diagnose and resolve speed issues. For more complicated problems, additional time is billed at the normal hourly rate.
  • STATS REVIEW (1 hour). A review of site visitor stats can reveal popular pages on the site that may deserve a remodel or a more thorough review for any needed corrections. Site states can also show if visitors are landing on incorrect links within your site. If this is caused by typos or old links within the site, the problem can be resolved fairly easily. If large number of people are landing on old or incorrect site links from other sources, you could try contacting the referrer. An automatic forwarding HTML code can be used to forward people from ‘dead links’ to the correct page or a page best suited for the visitor’s request.