Short Version:  WordPress sites require maintenance to keep the WordPress software, the site’s theme and the plug-ins all in sync. In addition, it’s very important to have a back up of your site that is stored off-site in case your site gets hacked.

Three years ago YCL started the WordPress Maintenance program. 

I felt this was so important that I offered it at my cost.  Many of you have taken advantage of the offer.

There have also been requests for a program for smaller, less active sites. I have it!!

$45 every 90 days

This maintenance is for sites with

• A simple theme (not Divi or Avada)
• Less than 10 plug-ins
• Less than 1 update (page edit, blog post, etc.) per week

You must agree to 1 year of service. Payment is made automatically by credit card every 90 days.

We will continue the standard offering.

$32 per month
as of September 1, 2019

This maintenance is for sites with

• Any theme including Divi and Avada
• 10 plug-ins or more
• Weekly or more frequent updates

Payment is made automatically by credit card every 30 days.

What Is Included in the
WordPress Web Site Maintenance Plan

Your Computer Lady has most of its clients on some type of maintenance plan. What began a few years ago as semi-annual software updates and monthly full backups of clients’ websites is no longer sufficient.

The malware and hacking issues now demand a full cycle maintenance service. Your monthly maintenance plan covers all the areas that keep your site safe. That includes:

• YCL will install monitoring software that reports your site performance, successful or unsuccessful intrusions, viruses, malicious code injections and vulnerabilities as well as changed files on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. When an alert is issued – on average once or twice a week – YCL will visit the site quickly to check for compromised functions.
• YCL will install software to block spam comments on your blog posts.
• YCL will install software to monitor your site’s uptime.
• YCL will update your WordPress software, theme and plug-ins at least once a month.
• Most updates are small security type updates. The YCL programmer follows the activity closely.  If the update is small, he will install the update and confirm that it went through smoothly.
• For major updates (big changes in function or features) YCL will do a full site backup that is stored off-site. A copy is installed on the development server. (A development server is a separate, un-connected server for testing.) This way we always have fully functioning and restorable backups. YCL will test the update on the development server to confirm that they are compatible with all other components on your site and that no unwanted changes occur. Only if the updates check out will YCL perform updates on your live site. If YCL discovers a problem with the update, you will be notified and given options and costs of how to proceed.
•  YCL will perform monthly scheduled full site backups, including the WordPress database(s) and core files that are stored off-site for a minimum of 3 months. Some malware is set to wait 2 or 3 months before injecting malware into your site.  Having off-site backups for 3 months gives you more insurance for being able to restore your site instead of re-building your site.
• YCL will install Google Analytics on your site. Each month 5 standard reports will be sent to you for your review.

I realize this is an expense you don’t want. It is better than the alternative! It is less than the cost of re-building an infected site. I’ve set up the same service for Your Computer Lady’s website.

Call me today to protect your website investment!

If you are not sure if this is worthwhile for your site, please read the following to get all the details and explanations.  I want you to be an educated website owner.

This article is a bit long and a lot technical. Not your favorite type of reading!  Please read the article anyway!  Hacking is becoming a critical issue for small business websites. I want to protect your websites. It is so critical that I am offering this service AT MY COST to make it as affordable as I can so that each of you will take advantage of it.

Mr. Buyna has 30+ years experience in programming. Though he began with software development, Joerg transitioned into web development early and focused his services on small businesses. He has been contracting with YCL since 2015.

Re-printed with Permission
From Joerg Buyna of JMB Virtual

Now my days start with evaluating numerous warning messages I receive from my website scanning software rather than evaluating my work progress for various projects.

So what’s happening? Well, we all have become unwillingly part of a new era of worms, viruses, malicious software and hackers.

For the longest time, hackers were only interested in breaking into websites of larger companies where they could steal sensitive data – credit cards to social security numbers. Now that has changed. Hackers are targeting more and more small websites. Through the implementation of malicious code, they gain control over a website and use it as part of a worldwide network to distribute spam or to hide themselves behind a hacked web site’s IP. In most cases, the legitimate owner of a hacked site doesn’t even know about it. Until they get blacklisted as a spam-site and experience problems while sending emails or, even worse, their site becomes completely unusable. Hackers control sometimes as many as 50,000 websites through injected malicious code. They even go into competitions where the winners are those who hacked the most sites within a given time.

But what can website owners do to protect themselves from intruders or “brute force” attacks? Website maintenance is the answer to that question. While it previously was sufficient to check on your website once or twice a month, it is now necessary to do so at least weekly. It should be done every two days in my opinion. But let’s be realistic. Most site owners don’t have the time or the technical knowledge for a check-up. And who would blame them; they have a business to run. But there are a few things everyone can do.

• Check your site’s public face once a day. Be alert if it takes an unusual time to load the content of your website. This might be an indication of malicious software running in the background and controlling the output. (YCL NOTE: Make your website the default opening page for your browser.)
• Check the back end of your website (WordPress Admin Panel) at least once a week. At the top of the screen you might see just notes about an upcoming or available update of one or more plug-ins or other software. Nothing you should be worried about. If you are uncertain about a message, ask for help immediately.
• If you see warnings – always in black lettering on white background – seek professional help. (Example: Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /homepages /4/d1238967521/domain/blog/wp-includes/user.php on line 660)  DO NOT ignore them just because your site looks OK from the outside on a browser screen! If you see a ‘red light’ on your car’s dashboard you wouldn’t ignore it, would you? Your car looks OK from the outside and might still be running. But a few miles down the road, it will stall.
• Make sure the components of your website such as core files, theme files and plug-ins are up to date. Serious software developers are aware that hackers are constantly trying to compromise their work. That is why we have so many unscheduled updates for system files, themes and plug-ins.

Sophisticated software makes it possible to monitor websites on a 24/7 basis. So you don’t have to worry and the job can be done as efficiently as possible. I consider anything less as recklessly taking chances.