Care Plan FAQs
KMS Website Care Plans are available to anyone, current client or not, but the site must be built on a self-hosted WordPress framework.
How to Sign up for a Care Plan
Simply call me with: which Care Plan, your credit card information, and the email address to send the monthly receipt to.
Why does WordPress need updating?
Technology evolves every week and software needs to keep up. This is just like any software that you have on your phone or computer. WordPress needs to be updated regularly. Updates may seem cumbersome, but it’s crucial to stay on top of this because if you don’t, vulnerabilities will occur that hackers or malware will take advantage of.
Can’t KMS just do an update when I periodically ask you to do something to my site?
I don’t recommend that. WordPress updates occur frequently and should be updated frequently. A few times a year is not safe. Plugin updates occur weekly, and out-of-date plugins are dangerous.
Don’t you already back up my site for me?
Unless there is a Care Plan in place, even if I designed your website, I am not contracted to provide backing up your website. However, if you've asked me to work on or update your site, I do create a backup for my purposes - as an insurance policy while I’m working on your files. However, I don’t keep them after I have performed the service.
Will you keep backups for me with your Care Plan service?
Yes. Your backups will be stored offsite and I will be monitoring the process to make sure they are occurring without error. I generally store 80-92 days' worth. My role is to make sure backups are happening and ready should we need to return to them for site restoration.
Wait, doesn’t my website hosting company provide backups?
Yes and no. Some do, and some companies do a better job at it than others (how long they keep them, how often they back up, how complete they are, how easy it is to get them to restore a backup, and how long they take to get it done). Hosting company backups usually need to be set up by someone; it's not automatic, and frequently, they are no longer free.
Can I use outside companies to do things for my site?
If you hire an outside company* to make changes to your site, you must advise me of the company, contact/phone number/email address. I will use this information to create a unique username/pw for their use. This provides for a major safeguard against untoward changes. If you don't advise me, as soon as they log in, I am notified electronically; will boot them from your site, and change that username's password. This is for your website's (and your) protection. From a security standpoint, as your Care Plan administrator, it's my responsibility to know who has permission to access your site.
*examples for third-party logins: Advanced SEO, Google Adwords, Special Projects.
I highly recommend you download this 1-page agreement and share it with the company doing the work; this prevents any surprises, and protects your website from future potential cleanup and other additional costs. I've got some ugly stories of when outside companies do work without the agreement.
Please note that if any clean-up is required after third-parties, this work shall be billable at my hourly rate (not covered by Care Plan Minutes).
Will a Care Plan guarantee my site won't get hacked or go down?
No. I can only offer you services that can keep your site updated, backed up, and alerted of any brewing problems with malware scans. This alone will go a long, long way to help keep hackers and malware out. Hosting can go down for many reasons and no hosting company will guarantee 100% uptime.
What if my website gets hacked (or I messed it up) and I am subscribed to your care plan?
I will do everything I can to get your site back up, and quickly! In some cases, an ‘under maintenance’ screen will be placed on your site while or until I can restore your files. Typically, restoring a backup is all that is needed but occasionally more work than that needs to be done. If this is the case, the backup restoration done by me is covered by your plan, but if something else is required, my hourly rates will apply. Occasionally, I'll need to submit your site to be professionally cleaned, and in that case, additional costs will apply. The good news is that YOU won’t have to handle it!
What if my website gets hacked and I'm not subscribed to your care plan?
I will do whatever I can to help you get your site back up! My hourly rates will apply. The best case is YOU have good backups to restore from. Worst case, we need to rebuild your entire site.
How much time and what does it cost to fix a hacked site?
Anywhere from 2 hours to 2 or more weeks, depending on the size of the site, what the problem is, if you have backups, etc. My hourly rate applies. This can cost anywhere from about $100-$2500 to fix. If I have to completely rebuild a site from scratch, it's like paying for it all over again.
Doesn’t your Care Plan just auto-update my WordPress site?
No. I’m going to review what needs to be updated FIRST, keeping in mind any factors I know about your particular website. Sometimes if I’m working on something, I might delay the update until I know it makes sense. Also, occasionally a plugin will come up as 'abandoned' or just stop working, and I do the work to find a compatible one to put in its place.
How will you manage all these updates?
I have invested in a product for website designers that allows me to keep an eye on client websites with more control than I’ve ever had before. I will install the KMS Care Plan plugin on your site which will allow me to see your site in a management tool that alerts me when you need updates, set and monitor backups, restore your site to an earlier date, run malware scans, and more.
What are my options to pay and can I cancel?
Every Care Plan requires me to set up an automatic monthly payment on a credit card (subscription thru my credit card processor, Stripe). You can cancel anytime; I just need 30-day notice via email. I found some people would rather pay for the year in advance. For the annual payment method, you can pay annually with a check or credit card. Annual payments get one month for free.
If I need pages or posts updated with content, is that included?
Yes, all plans include Site Update minutes. Refer to the table on the main Care Plan web page.
What does “Site Update minutes” mean?
Site Update minutes are allocated monthly minutes included in all Care Plans that you can use to give me tasks to update or change content on your site. Examples of this are: adding a blog post into your website's blog page (but not creating the blog post's content), adding social media links (but not creating the profiles), adding more reviews into an existing widget, adding a popup, replacing a PDF brochure, adding or changing text or images within a page, adding a photo gallery, changing out images in a slideshow. In essence, this includes adding or subtracting to existing pages. Minutes can roll over only up to 3 months, and then they expire. Occasionally, I must use your available minutes to fix something on your site, especially as related to security. If the requested work goes over the allotted minutes, I will invoice you via the credit card on file for the overage at the end of your reporting period, at my hourly rate of $68.
Is there anything NOT included in my monthly Update Minutes?
Yes, these tasks are doable but billable: Adding Google Tag Manager snippets (precise instructions required; I don't generate these), SEO Title Tags and Meta Descriptions, Domain Registration or Hosting provider changes, Google Analytics/Google Search Console, creating Social Media profiles, refreshing/designing a logo/business cards.
Note that tasks such as the following are considered special projects and are also not included in Site Update Minutes: Creating a new website, creating a refreshed version of your current website, creating blog post content, extensive image optimization for photo galleries, and specialty SSL installations. Special projects are charged at my hourly rate ($68).
Care Plans do not cover the costs of website themes or premium plugins, or hosting or domain purchases or renewals.
How do I request updates to my website?
There is no form to complete; just send me a regular email with what you want me to do, and where to place it - include the content, images, links, whatever is needed to complete the task. Content should be placed in a Word document if more than a line or two. Images should be separate attachments, not embedded into the email, in a jpg or png format. Please note that I do not accept requests via text.
Do I need to sign a contract?
No contract is required at this time.
Does KMS provide website hosting?
Not currently. I always felt it was safer to let my website account clients have direct access to their hosting provider. My current favorite host is MDD Hosting. I talk about them on my Websites page. Ask me about options for domain registration. There are many hosting companies I do not recommend; email me if you need to know. However, there is one I will mention here and now - please don't use Godaddy for domain registration or hosting.
How to Sign up for a Care Plan
Simply call me with: which Care Plan, your credit card information, and the email address to send the monthly receipt to.
Read full Care Plan Terms and Conditions here
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