Services
Hosting and Care Plans
We host the site, back it up, patch it, and watch it. After launch this is how the site stays current instead of becoming a file nobody will touch.
- Managed hosting
- Staging
- Automated backups
Overview
What this is
The short version, before we get into what is included and how it runs.
A site that has launched still needs somewhere to live, a security certificate, backups that genuinely restore, and someone applying updates before an old version becomes a way in. Care is that work, on a plan, so it happens on a schedule rather than after something breaks.
Three shapes of plan, with prices kept on the plan itself rather than this page. Hosting is the platform: your site online, secured, backed up and checked regularly. Care adds software updates, security scanning and a monthly allowance for small edits.
If you leave, you take the backups, the domain notes and a full copy of the site. Nothing important lives only on a machine you cannot name.
Deliverables
What you get
Everything below is part of hosting and care plans as standard, rather than something added to the invoice later.
- Managed hosting
- Your site on a platform we run ourselves, secured, kept on supported software, and matching the environment it was built in, rather than the cheapest shared server available.
- Staging
- A place to try an update or a large edit before it is public. Production is not the test bench.
- Automated backups
- Regular copies of the files and the database, kept off the same disk as the site. A backup that sits next to the thing it is protecting is a souvenir.
- Tested restores
- We restore onto staging on a schedule and write down that it worked. An untested backup is a story you tell after an incident.
- CMS and dependency updates
- Core, plugins, and the libraries the site actually uses, applied on staging first. We do not click “update all” on production on a Friday.
- Uptime monitoring
- Checks from outside the server. If the site fails, we get the alert. You get told if it lasted long enough to matter, not a screenshot of a green week.
- Security scanning
- A regular check for known vulnerabilities, changed files and the common malware patterns. It is monitoring rather than a full penetration test, and we would rather describe it accurately.
- Monthly content edits
- A set number of small changes: a phone number, a staff photo, a paragraph. A new service line or a layout change is a project, and we will say so.
- Support response
- A target for when we first reply. Hosting-only is slower. Care is measured in business hours. Care plus is for when the site is down, not for a comma.
- Incident notes
- If something broke, you get what happened, what we did, and what we changed so it is less likely next time. Silence after an outage is not professionalism.
- Access and ownership
- DNS, registrar, and repo documented. You can walk the site to another host. That is a condition of the work, not a threat we wait to use.
Process
How it works
In order. Each stage starts once the one before it is signed off.
- 01
Provision or Move
A new environment, or a migration from the current host with DNS TTL dropped in advance. We do not move a live shop on a four-hour TTL we forgot to change.
- 02
Prove Backups
The first restore onto staging happens before we call hosting “done.” If it fails, the plan is not live.
- 03
Baseline
Updates, scans, and monitors turned on. You get the URL for staging, the edit request path, and who to call if the site is down.
- 04
Cadence
Updates on a schedule, edits against the monthly allowance, a short note of what we patched. Quiet months still get the patches.
- 05
Review
If the edit pile is always a rebuild in disguise, we say so and quote the rebuild. The care plan does not absorb it.
FAQ
Questions we get asked
If yours is not here, use the contact form and we will answer it directly.
Can we stay on our current host?
Sometimes, yes. If we cannot get a tested restore, a staging site, or software that is still supported, we will recommend moving. Saving a few dollars a month on a host that cannot actually restore your site is not really a saving.
What is a tested restore?
We take a backup and we bring it up on staging until the site answers. Then we write down the date. A folder of zip files you have never opened is not a restore.
Who owns the domain?
You do. We will ask for access to the registrar, not a transfer into an account we keep. If a former vendor still holds it, recovering that is the first job.
What counts as a monthly content edit?
Copy, images, a new block on an existing template, a staff change. A new template, a new section of the site, or a shop is a project. When it is unclear we will say which bucket it is in before we start.
What are the response times?
They sit on the plan, not on this page. Hosting-only is for platform issues. Care includes a business-hours target for the site and for edits. Care plus is the shorter target when the site is down. We will write the hours on the proposal.
What happens if we cancel?
You get a full backup, the domain records and a sensible window to move things across. Everything is yours to take. We just cannot keep running the hosting once the plan ends.
Is this the same as the launch snagging window?
No. Snagging is the two weeks after a new site ships, against the list we both signed. Care starts after that, as a separate agreement, even if it begins the next day.
Tell us what you need built.
No pitch deck and no discovery fee. Most engagements start with a single site, and we add the rest only when it earns its place.
- Send a short brief, or just a link to the site you have now.
- We reply within two business days with questions, or a time to talk.
- You get scope, sequence and a price range in writing before anything starts.