Maintenance Plans for WordPress

These plans are designed to allow for the types of developer-driven tasks to a WordPress site that the client does not need to request.  These plans are mainly designed to allow your developer to keep your web site and its software performing optimally with up-to-date software and security measures while giving you a set monthly rate to cover those tasks.

Client-Requested Site Updates are not included.  There is limited time allotted in each plan dedicated to the regular maintenance tasks of software updates, security, backups, etc.  Therefore, any service requested by the client, which is not included (i.e. content changes or updates, adding photos, etc.) will be logged and billed separately.  Some plans offer a discount on any client-requested updates.

Email tech support, set-up, trouble-shooting, or anything to do with email accounts is not included in maintenance plans.

Web site tech support, how-to documents, how-to instructional videos, conversations, consulting, etc, are not included in maintenance plans.

Some updates are not available and therefore are not included in the monthly maintenance plans, such as:

• THEME UPDATES THAT ARE UNAVAILABLE OR INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE LATEST VERSION OF WORDPRESS: a theme can only be updated IF an update is made available by the theme’s author AND access to the hosting control panel is provided AND access to the theme source file is available AND the theme is compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
• OBSOLETE THEMES: Some themes become obsolete (are not updated or are not made available by the theme’s author). In those instances, developer will make recommendations for a redesign of the site with a new theme.  Theme changes are not included in any plan.

See the disclaimers section below for more info on what is not included.

Support Requests: The limited amount of time allotted for maintenance plans is dedicated to the regular maintenance tasks of software updates, security, backups, etc. or SEO.  However, there will be times when you will need or want to make changes on your site (i.e. add photos, change text, etc.) and we are here for you!  Client-requested tasks will be billed separately.

PREFERRED WAY TO MAKE REQUESTS: For the sake of time, efficiency and record-keeping, we encourage you to send all support requests or content changes via email whenever possible.  Phone calls and video conferencing can tally a considerable amount of time and are logged as client-requested updates.

Discounted Hourly Rate on Some Plans: clients on the Platinum, Emerald and Diamond Plans will receive a 5% discount off the normal hourly rate for client-requested updates.

Set-Up Fee: There is a one-time $99 set up fee for the Gold and Platinum Plans to ensure all needed plugins and site software are up to date at the outset and to create an initial backup of the server and to onboard the details for the client’s site.  There is a $199 set up fee for the Emerald or Diamond Plan to do the initial site backup and updates and to perform preliminary SEO reports and onboarding.

• FREE BONUS:  SITE INSURANCE. Platinum, Emerald and Diamond Plans include “Site Insurance” for free. See more info on this below.
• FREE BONUS: ANTI-SPAM. Platinum, Emerald and Diamond Plans include Premium WordPress Anti-Spam plugin to help snag spam on site forms and comments (a $99/year value).
• DISCOUNT: Clients on the Platinum, Emerald or Diamond Plan will receive a 5% discount off the normal hourly rate for client-requested updates.

SITE INSURANCE: comes with all Platinum, Emerald and Diamond plans – if your WordPress site is hacked, up to 4 hours of time to fix the site is included for free (a $400 + value). Please note: there is a 6 month waiting period for this feature to kick in IF YOUR SITE WAS NOT BUILT BY WEB IMAGE MEDIA.

INCLUDES HOSTING ISSUES: If there is an issue with hosting, developer will make contact with hosting company and handle issues (up to 1 hour per incident) on client’s behalf.

All WordPress maintenance subscription plan links above will open in PayPal.  Subscription plans can be canceled at any time through your PayPal account.  Subscriptions are paid monthly on an automated basis through PayPal on whatever payment platform you choose within your PayPal account. Paid subscriptions are non-refundable for the term paid but in some circumstances pro-rated amounts can be used toward other web site services.

Yes, you can cancel your plan at any time and there are no long term contracts.  Paid subscriptions are non-refundable for the term paid but in some circumstances pro-rated amounts can be used toward other web site services.  Log in to your PayPal account to cancel.  If you would like to change your plan, please cancel your current plan, sign up for the new plan and then kindly send an email to alert us to this change.

We use the most highly regarded security plugin from the leader in WordPress security.  For security reasons, we do not post this information publicly but will privately send the details of this service upon request.  Installation and monitoring of your site’s security is included in all plans.  There is an upgraded Premium version of the security plugin that can be added for an extra annual fee.  The main benefit to the Premium version is that we can block entire countries with high hacker activity from seeing your site at all… so instead of monitoring their hacker attempts, we block them from even being able to see the site to even try to hack in.  If you would like to add the Premium security version, please let us know and we will send you a discount link to add that to your plan for $99/year with no setup fee.  Regardless whether you use the regular or Premium version, maintenance and monitoring of either version is included in your plan.

Contact Form Data Archive: Ever wonder if you are getting all of the submissions customers make on your web site’s contact forms?  The Platinum, Emerald and Diamond plans include a spreadsheet of all form submissions so that you can ensure you received all emails via your web site’s forms and have an archive of all such enquiries.  This service is only available if you have a form on your web site and if access is given and maintained to the WordPress admin area.

Emerald and Diamond Plan Details: these plans combine the regular monthly maintenance and security tasks with search engine optimization.  The difference between these plans is the amount of time spent on SEO: 1 hours for the Emerald Plan and 2 hours on the Diamond Plan.  Most businesses would like to work toward better search engine ranking and these plans work toward that goal!  If your WordPress web site was built by Web Image Media, you already have the foundation for great SEO!  But SEO shouldn’t stop once the site is built!  SEO is a constantly evolving set of tasks that requires strategy and constant tweaks to work toward the client’s ranking goals (i.e. to rank in Google for given keywords).

Each month will feature an SEO topic/task such as site tweaks, meta tags, image tags, ranking, reports, Google Business Listing, sitemaps, keywords, keyword pages, backlinks, site suggestions, webmaster tools, Google Search Console and more!  All efforts are focused toward better performance and search ranking without client request – get better search rank on autopilot!

To work toward that goal, the developer will spend dedicated time on a specific SEO topic / task each month at developer’s discretion such as:

• site tweaks (both in the code and visible on the site),
• meta tags,
• heading, title and html tags
• image tags (title, alt and link tags),
• ranking,
• reports,
• sitemaps (creation, update and submission),
• keywords,
• keyword pages (creating extra pages on your site dedicated to each keyword),
• backlinks (who is linking to you and are they good sites? if not, we will ‘disavow’ them because bad links can hurt your ranking),
• site suggestions (what else can we do to improve?),
• webmaster tools,
• social media sharing optimization,
• Google Business Listing,
• Google Search Console
• and more!

All efforts are focused toward better performance and search ranking without client request – get better search rank on autopilot!

The Emerald and Diamond Plans are a great option for clients who want to let the developer make SEO tweaks without the client having to think about it.  There is a $199 setup fee for either plan, which includes keyword strategy and preliminary ranking reports, as well as site backup and software updates, if needed, to get us started on the right foot and lay out a strategy for what keywords we want to focus on.

• BACKUPS: server / database backup can only be performed if access is given and maintained to hosting AND WordPress admin area.
• PHP VERSION UPDATES: PHP version can only be updated if access to the hosting account is provided AND PHP upgrade is available AND compatible to your particular web site and hosting server.
• PLUGIN INSTALL / UPDATES: Recommended plugins can only be installed and maintained as long as they are compatible with the site’s current configuration (theme, other plugins, server, etc.).
  • OBSOLETE PLUGINS: Some plugins become obsolete if the author of a plugin stops maintaining it.  In the instance where a plugin is not compatible or becomes obsolete, developer will recommend alternatives.  If an obsolete plugin will require design changes due to stopping the use of that plugin, a quote for services to remedy that issue will be presented.
• THEME UPDATES: a theme can only be updated IF an update is made available by the theme’s author AND access to the hosting control panel is provided AND access to the theme source file is available AND the theme is compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
  • OBSOLETE THEMES: Some themes become obsolete (are not updated or are not made available by the theme’s author). In those instances, developer will make recommendations for a redesign of the site with a new theme.  Theme changes are not included in any plan.
• LIMITATIONS: Please be aware that Web Image Media (developer) is not the author/creator of WordPress software, plugins, themes or hosting and that all updates to those parts of a web site require that the makers of those items continue to provide the updated files (much like a car mechanic can install a new part or fix a recall only if the fix is made available to the mechanic). Developer cannot update software, plugins or themes if the author/creator of those things either stops updating the item or does not make it available.  Similarly, while developer can assist with any issues with hosting, developer is not the hosting company and is at the host’s mercy as much as the client is.

The services provided in each tier of maintenance plans may change at any time and client will be notified promptly to any such change.  All plans may be canceled at any time – there are NO long term commitments.