Website Maintenance Services

The first and most important way to keep your website safe from hackers is keeping the software updated to the latest version!

The websites that we design are built on a content management system. That simply means that you have an admin area where you can update common areas of content yourself, if desired. Outside of content, every website still needs maintenance of the website platform (Joomla) and all of the third party components that are installed that add a variety of the features within your website.

Hackers are constantly creating new ways to break into websites. Therefore the developers of the platform and components that make up the foundation of your site constantly work on their code to stay ahead of the hackers. Part of monthly software maintenance involves checking all components and plugins for any updates that are available and installing those.

NOTE: This does not make the website hack-proof! After all, if large corporations such as Sony Pictures, Target and even the US Government can be hacked, a small, single website on a shared hosting server with hundreds of other websites is not immune. But it does greatly reduce the odds compared to the code becoming outdated and more vulnerable to automated hacking.

Not only do the component updates provide better security, they also add new features, bug fixes and changes to keep up with the latest developments in web browsers.

Monthly Software and Security Update Services

Virus Scanning

Once a month your site is scanned to detect any hacking and malware injections that may have occurred. NOTE: Some scanners may detect a virus that others might not catch. For a more robust virus scanning solution, a third party service that performs daily scans is recommended. Securi.net is a good solution for this. Their service also includes firewall, malware removal, reputation restoration and more. Their cost is about $200 per year.

Uptime Robot

If your website goes down for more than 5 minutes, we are notified via email to be able to check the site and see if your hosting company needs to be contacted. We contact your hosting company for you and engage them in the areas that involve your hosting server.

Off-Site Backups

Although your hosting company makes daily backups of your site, they only keep them for up to one month. Hacks can be dormant for much longer. Once per month we create a backup of your website files and database and store them away from your server on an Amazon server for safe keeping. In the event your site is hacked, a backup restoration can be a great solution to get you back up and running.

What is NOT Included

Content and design updates. We certainly are available to provide these types of updates when needed but they are not considered “platform maintenance”. With the wide span of complexity for content updates, that is better billed per request. Content and design updates are $75 per hour with a half hour minimum per request. Any stock photo expense or cost of new components (plugins) would be additional. When you decide to give your site a “cosmetic overhaul” (typically every two years), that will be quoted on an individual basis.

Malware removal. Monthly platform maintenance will greatly reduce the chances of a hack, but it does not make it impossible. In the event that your website would be hacked, our first option would be to restore a backup from a date old enough to likely be before the hack occurred. If that does not bring the site back to a clean state, a third party malware cleaning service may be required at their cost.

How much does it cost?

$60 per month

Discounted to $50 per month if using an auto-pay subscription or annual payment.

Discounts available for multiple websites per client.

Content and design updates billed separately at $75 per hour with a half hour minimum per request.

Subscribe and Save!

Subscribe to monthly auto-pay subscription and pay only $50 per month.

Click an option below to subscribe. From that point, the same card (or PayPal account) will be billed on the same day each month.

No PayPal account required. Just choose the pay with credit card option.