Service: care and maintenance
Website care and maintenance, from $99 a month
Anyone can build you a website. Fewer are still there in year three. For a monthly fee, I keep your site updated, backed up and fixed, and I manage your email, domain and hosting, so you have one person to call.
What the plan covers
- Updates, so the site and everything it runs on stay current and secure.
- Backups, so nothing is ever lost for good.
- Fixes, when something that worked stops working.
- Email, managed for your team.
- Your domain and hosting, renewed, managed and kept in your name.
Why sites need someone after launch
Nearly a third of small companies report something going badly wrong with whoever built their site. Almost none of those stories are about bad code.
- Month four: “It launched. Then he stopped answering emails.”
- Year one: “Nobody here can edit it. It was all set up under his account.”
- Any Tuesday: “When it goes down, everyone looks at whoever sits nearest the router.”
None of that is a code problem. It is a nobody-is-there problem, and a care plan is the fix: one person who knows your site, holds nothing hostage, and answers.
For sites I built, and sites I did not
If I built your site, I already know it. I also take over sites someone else built: first I find out who holds the accounts and get them back to you, then I tell you plainly whether the site is worth keeping. I do the same for the websites of Elements Hospitality, where I also run the rest of the IT.
What it costs
Care starts at $99 a month (about AED 365) for a typical business site. Larger sites, online stores and web apps are quoted after I have looked at them. New features are quoted separately, at a fixed price, before they start. If you also need your laptops, accounts and office network looked after, see IT management for small businesses.
Questions people ask
What counts as a fix, and what is new work?
A fix is something that used to work and stopped. New work is anything the site did not do before, such as a new page or a new feature. New work is quoted separately, at a fixed price, before it starts.
Why does the price start at $99 and not a flat $99?
A five-page site and a busy online store are not the same amount of care. $99 a month covers a typical business site; larger sites and web apps are quoted after I have looked at them.
How quickly do you respond when something breaks?
We agree up front what counts as urgent and how quickly I respond, and it is written down. You contact one person, who already knows your site.
Can you take over something someone else built?
Often, and it is a good part of my work. First I find out who actually holds the accounts and get them back to you. Then I read the code and tell you plainly whether it is worth keeping or whether you are better off rebuilding.
What happens if you disappear?
Everything lives in your accounts, documented, with access you control. If I vanished tomorrow, another developer could pick it up on day one. That is the standard I would want if I were paying.