WordPress Care Plans: why websites need maintenance

Frequently asked questions

• What would happen if I don't update my website plugins, theme and WP core?

  There are 3 main issues to worry about when your site isn’t kept up-to-date:

  1. Security: just like on your mobile phone, plugin updates include security patches. Leaving plugins out-of-date can lead to security vulnerabilities that leave you open to hackers.
  2. Functionality fails: if the site is left just sitting there, eventually some of the components will stop working. If this isn’t maintained regularly, the failure could go unnoticed for a long period of time, possibly losing you credibility, trust and  sales.
  3. Expensive fixes: when you do finally get around to updating your site after a long period of time between updates, you are at a high risk of running into plugin conflicts and technical problems that will be time consuming (and costly) to resolve. Most people will have experienced a similar issue with a phone or computer — if you ignore the updates it eventually dies on you.

• Can I do these website updates myself?

  Yes! You absolutely can! Here’s what you need to do:

  • We recommend updating all plugins on a staging site to be sure that any conflicts during updates don’t affect the live site.
  • Go to your site every week or month (the schedule will vary depending on the urgency of the required updates—e.g., security updates should always be completed as soon as possible) and update each plugin one at a time.
  • Check your site for any problems between each plugin update. You may want to use testing tools to help with this.
  • You’ll also need to update your site theme and the WordPress core.
  • Once you are sure everything is working properly, push the staging site to live.
  • Check for any functionality or display problems between each update so you know what action caused the problem if something goes wrong.
  • If there are any problems, you’ll need to troubleshoot to resolve them, but if you have a Bulk Hourly Pack, you can contact us for help.

  We also provide training on how to make these updates to your specific website. Book a Clever Consult for training on how to update a website you want to manage yourself.

• Does Clever Care include adding new content to my WordPress website?

  Maintenance in this realm doesn’t refer to adding new content to the site or changing the way things look (although you can book in additional website support for that). Website care is the basics of keeping your site alive and functional so your business can operate effectively.

• What happens if there is a serious plugin conflict while I'm on a Clever Care plan?

  All of our updates are managed via the staging site, so your live site will never be impacted by a plugin conflict, giving us time to fix the issue in test mode before we push the updates live.

  Each month, we go deep with AI regression testing for code inconsistencies down to the pixel. So we are aware of every issue and can pinpoint precisely where problems are occurring.

  If a plugin suddenly isn’t compatible, we’ll liaise with the plugin developer on your behalf. In most cases, the plugin developer will resolve the issue. In the event that additional work is required by us to help fix the problem, we’ll liaise with you regarding the best and most economical solution for your setup.

• My site is hosted somewhere else — can I get a discount as I'm not using your hosting?

  There may be all sorts of reasons why your site might not be hosted on our setup. Maybe you have a custom self-hosted database connected to your website that can’t run on a WordPress-dedicated server. Or maybe you love your existing host and don’t want to move. We get it!

  We can’t offer a hosting discount for sites hosted outside of our setup. Liaising with third-party hosts takes more admin time, and I can’t control server quality or response time in the way that we can with the systems we use all the time and with which we have really great relationships built over many years.

  We don’t add to the price for admin incurred when dealing with third-party hosts, so it all comes out in the wash!

• Can you also help me make changes to my website?

  Of course! We don’t include time for these sorts of changes in our base plans as we don’t want to charge you for time you may not need. Additional maintenance hours for content, design and development updates can be purchased as an add-on (so you’re only paying for what you use). You can book a Clever Consult for an hour of help/advice/training, a Clever Day for Website Help in a day or a bulk hourly pack for on-demand help whenever you need it timed in small, 15-min increments. We can work with you via Zoom to make live changes to your site (simultaneously training you for next time), or get under the hood and sort it all out on your behalf.

• Can you train me to make changes to my website?

  Of course! If you’re a client of ours, you’ll have received training specific to your scope of work for your web design project. Extra training is not included in your care plan, however, you can book additional training via a Clever Day for Website Help in a day or a Clever Consult help session where we can either work with you via Zoom to make live changes to your site, or get under the hood and sort it all out on your behalf.

• What if my website gets hacked?

  Our Clever Care site maintenance plan includes server-level security baked in to optimise performance and keep your site secure. If you do get hacked, our premium hosting includes free malware removal to sort the problem out.

• What premium host do you use?

  We host all of our sites on Wordify’s WordPress-optimised Australian servers. Premium hosting includes blazing-fast site speed, CDN, SSL certificates, hacker-free security, free staging (test) site, and best of all, 24/7 customer support from real humans.

• Can I use another web host?

  You can move your website to your own host, but we generally only provide Clever Care to sites hosted with us. There are some exceptions, talk to us if you have questions.

  Most hosts will transfer your site for free and we can provide assistance if needed. If you have any questions about hosting, feel free to ask. No, GoDaddy is not a quality host. Avoid at all costs!

  We can recommend quality WordPress-optimized hosting based on your specific needs.

• Are the license costs for my website plugins included?

  Yes! Unless your setup requires a specific plugin that is unique to your business, we cover the cost of common premium plugins. We have agency plans for all of the tools we use regularly (including Bricks Builder, ACSS, Gravity Forms Elite, Crockoblock unlimited, including JetEngine, Bricks Extras, and can pass on the savings from these discounted rates to our Clever Care clients.

• You include quick Q&As via email, what does that get me?

  This means a quick answer to a quick question. If we can answer off the top of our heads, then you can ask as many small questions as you like! If we need to log in to your website, do research/testing or troubleshooting, or create tutorial videos/instructional guides, that will be extra. It can be hard to know what a quick question is when you aren’t used to running a website, so we’ll always point you in the right direction so you can find more info. Our Bulk Hourly Packs are a good add-on service for when you need us to properly give something dedicated time—our clients love these because they last for ages and give you unlimited training, advice and done-for-you support for all those times you just need help pronto.