On request from customers we have formulated a WordPress Maintain & Monitor service.
This service offers extreme value for those who rely on their website.
Check the list of services below.
Support ticket from customers
Subject: website not working
"I haven't changed anything on my site for a long time but it's broken and not working. I don't know how long it's been down. I'm losing money and customers. Please fix ASAP."
You don't want to be sending these types of emails.
1) Your site needs regular maintenance work.
2) You need to know your site is online.
3) You don't want to lose customers.
95% of the time the cause is due to third party WordPress plugins and themes related to:
Incompatibility between plugins, themes, WordPress core software and PHP versions.
Bugs introduced in updates or outdated software.
Exploited plugin vulnerabilities ie. hacked websites.
The other 5% is related to domain name registration expiration or domain DNS settings and other random issues.
Vulnerable websites can pose a threat to your whole hosting account. Serious vulnerabilities can allow hackers to inject code into your site which can create and delete files and folders in other areas of your hosting account compromising more than just your website.
Keep your WordPress website up to date, online and supported with our Maintain & Monitor plan below.
Hostmate Monthly
WordPress Maintain & Monitor
clean & optimise database to boost page speed & performancecheck website is online 24/7internal and external linkscheck all images, scripts etc are using SSLcheck SSL exists, is active & validcheck website for malicious codemaintain compatibility between PHP and plugins/themesto help identify possible causes of unintended changes or failuresdaily backups included for customers using our hosting plansno contractDetails and Scope of the Services
WordPress Core Software Update
We will keep the WordPress core software updated. Ensure compatibility between WordPress, plugins, themes and PHP settings. The frequency of these updates are monthly.
Plugin Updates
We will keep the WordPress plugins updated and remove plugins not in use. We will advise and remove plugins when necessary if the plugins are not required, no longer in development or pose a security threat to your website and hosting account. The frequency of these updates are monthly. Customisations previously made to any plugin files are not included in these updates.
Theme Updates
We will keep the WordPress themes updated and remove themes not in use. We will advise if themes are no longer in development or pose a security threat to your website and hosting account. The frequency of these updates are monthly. Customisations previously made to any theme files are not included in these updates.
Database Optimization
We will optimise your WordPress database which will clean the database to boost page speed and performance and reduce disk space usage. The frequency of this optimisation is monthly.
The optimisation will include optimising database tables, remove all but the last 2 post revisions, remove all auto draft posts, remove all trashed posts, remove spam and trashed comments, remove unapproved comments, remove expired transient options, remove pingbacks, remove trackbacks, clean post meta data, clean user meta data, clean comment meta data and remove orphaned relationship data.
This will keep your database at optimal performance. Databases can fill up quickly with unused data and orphaned data from related deleted records.
Uptime Monitoring
We will set up an uptime monitoring service that will email you if your website goes offline. The frequency of this check is every minute.
The default method for checking uptime will be checking for a text string on your site. The text string will be taken from your home page content, eg. "Welcome to My Shop". If a 2xx HTTP response and the text string is found, the check passes.
The primary location of the monitor will come from Sydney. If the monitor is reporting your site is down a secondary server location will be used to confirm the site is down. Then an email notification will be sent to you.
We use an external third party provider for Uptime Monitoring that will send the notification.
Broken Link Monitoring
We will set up a broken link monitor to scan your site for broken links. The frequency of this monitor is daily. It includes internal and external links.
It will scan for links to pages that don't exist which include HTTP status codes not in the HTTP/2xx or HTTP/3xx range, or the page took longer than 5 seconds to load. If broken links are found an email notification will be sent with attached spreadsheet and CSV file with the broken links to reference so you can fix the broken links. If the same broken links still exist in subsequent scans, a reminder will be sent after 7 days.
When the next scan detects all the broken links have been fixed an email notification will be sent to confirm there are no more broken links.
It's important to note that many external links will return false positives because of various reasons but mainly from blocking by the external domain servers. If you have links or pages that you need excluded from the scan you can send them to us to add to the exclusion list. There are some external links which are excluded by default because they will trigger false positives.
We use an external third party provider for Broken Link Monitoring that will send the notification.
Mixed Content Monitoring
We will set up a mixed content monitor that crawls your site and emails you if your site contains mixed content. Mixed content is when your webpage is using SSL (ie. https) but there are resources on the page such as images, scripts or css that are not using the SSL https in the URL. If mixed content exists web browsers will show the site as insecure. The frequency of this check is daily.
When your site uses SSL ie. https not http, all your images, css and javascript files also need to use SSL https. Otherwise the web browser will report the site is not secure. This checks all images and scripts on your site to ensure they are using SSL https in the URLs.
If mixed content is found an email notification will be sent with attached spreadsheet and CSV file with a list of the mixed content to reference so you can fix the mixed content. If the same mixed content still exists in subsequent scans, a reminder will be sent after 7 days.
When the next scan detects all the mixed content has been fixed an email notification will be sent to confirm there is no more mixed content.
We use an external third party provider for Mixed Content Monitoring that will send the notification.
SSL Certificate Monitoring
We will set up an SSL certificate monitoring service that will email you if your domain does not have a valid SSL installed. The frequency of this check is every 5 minutes.
The monitor will check if a certificate is present, covers the right domain, is currently active and has not expired. It will also email you 7 days before expiry, however no action is required because our SSL's are set to auto renew for free.
We use an external third party provider for SSL Certificate Monitoring that will send the notification.
Security Checks
We will check if any malicious code has been injected into your website. We will check the virus scans to see if any malicious code has been identified and removed and remove any code if not yet cleaned. This frequency of this check is monthly.
Emergency Website Recovery from backup
We will restore your site from backup if a problem arises from incompatible updates or malicious activity. This service will be performed on demand if necessary.
Emergency Debugging
Issues can arise with software updates. If problems arise from updates from WordPress, plugins or themes we will attempt to identify the cause and provide a solution where possible.
Manage PHP Version
We will check the correct and latest version of PHP that can be used for your site is installed to keep your site functioning and secure after updates. The frequency of this check is monthly.
WordPress, plugins and themes require a minimum version of PHP to be used to remain secure and will use new PHP functions and remove old deprecated PHP functions from their software. These requirements change on an ongoing basis and demand monitoring and adjusting when necessary, most often when WordPress itself or a plugin or theme updates its code which can break a site. A particular PHP version and or PHP extension is required for the updates to continue working otherwise the website can break on updates.
60 day WordPress System Event log
We will install software to auto log actions and events over a 60 day period in your WordPress admin to help track and identify possible causes of unintended changes or failures if required for debugging.
3 months of Website & Database Backups
Free daily backups are included with our hosting plans. Backups include all website files and databases. These backups can be used to restore a website if necessary. Only available if the domain is using our web hosting services.
Coverage
The service is for 1 domain name ie. 1 website for a period of 1 month with recurring monthly billing cycles.
Service Setup Time
After ordering the service please allow 2 days for us to setup the service. Once setup we will email to let you know and provide further information regarding the service.
Billed
Billing of this service is on a prepaid monthly basis via our standard auto credit card or PayPal Subscription billing, or by manual payment by the customer via credit card or PayPal in our website account login.
Cancellation
Cancellation can be requested any time by the customer via the Cancellation link in our website account login on the Services page. There is no ongoing contract for the service. Cancellation will happen at the end of the current prepaid billing cycle.
Important notes to consider:
This is a monthly renewing service. You can cancel any time in your Hostmate account login. There is no contract. The fee for this service is non refundable.
The service is per domain. Only 1 domain name per service.
We will create our own administrator user in your WordPress to implement the service.
We will need to install a couple of essential plugins in your WordPress to successfully implement the service.
The service doesn't include any website content editing or fixing broken links or fixing mixed content.
Any maintenance requested outside the scope of the service is subject to our regular half hour block rate of $35.
If your WordPress is currently set to auto update WordPress core, plugins or themes we will disable the auto update settings unless you wish to leave them enabled. The reason for disabling auto updates is so we can monitor the website with every update and take immediate action if a conflict arises after an update.
The email notifications sent to you for Uptime Monitoring, Broken Link Monitoring, Mixed Content Monitoring and SSL Certificate Monitoring are sent by our third party provider. It is important to note that the emails will be branded by them, will not reference Hostmate in the email sender address or the email content and the emails will contain links to our own account with the provider which will not be accessible by our customers. However, the emails will contain the essential information required to address any issues with your website including spreadsheet and CSV attachments with Broken Link URL's and Mixed Content URL's.
Services listed and price are subject to change at any time.
We cannot make any guarantees that there are no security vulnerabilities now or in the future in any website but we can do our best to prevent them and take appropriate action to restore a website from backup in the case of a compromised website. Website software is always changing and software developers or web developers or customers may make changes to the website at anytime which may introduce a new vulnerability such as installing a new plugin or theme.
Outside the scope of the service
Website Design and Content Editing
The service doesn't include any website design or content editing or updates to customised plugins or theme files or plugins or themes which are no longer supported and require a new plugin or theme installation. If support is required for this type of work or work outside the services listed above we can offer our regular half hour block rate of $35.
Fixing Broken Links and Mixed Content
Fixing broken links and mixed content is classed as "Website Design and Content Editing". We set up the service to notify you of any issues but we don't edit the content of the site which includes broken links and mixed content. If support is required for website work we can offer our regular half hour block rate of $35.
Comprised websites that cannot be restored
It should be noted that if a compromised website has not been attended to for some time after the compromise took place it's possible all the backups may also contain the compromised website. In such a case other action may need to be taken by the customer which is out of the scope of this service and options can be discussed at the time. An example when this situation may arise is if the compromise existed for some time before our Maintain and Monitor service was ordered and set up.