Why Website Care Plans Matter More Than a One-Time Build

You just invested $1,000, $2,500, or $5,000 in a professional website. It looks great, loads fast, and everything works perfectly. You're done, right?

Not quite.

A website isn't a set-it-and-forget-it asset like a sign on your building. It's more like a vehicle—regular maintenance keeps it running smoothly and prevents expensive breakdowns.

Here's what actually happens when businesses skip website maintenance:

Month 3: A plugin update causes a conflict. Your contact form stops working. You don't notice for two weeks because you're busy running your business. Potential customers tried to reach you and couldn't.

Month 6: Your WordPress version is three updates behind. A known security vulnerability gets exploited. Your site gets hacked, displays spam, and gets blacklisted by Google. Recovery costs $1,500 and two weeks of stress.

Month 12: Your site loads slower than before. Google penalizes your rankings. Your hosting runs out. Your backup system failed months ago and you didn't know. A small technical issue becomes a multi-day crisis.

This isn't scare tactics—it's what we see constantly with businesses who built a site and assumed they were done.

Website care plans prevent all of this for less than you spend on coffee each month. Let's break down which level of care makes sense for your business.

What Website Care Actually Means

Before we get into packages, let's clarify what "website care" includes and why it matters.

Updates and Security

Your website is built on software (WordPress, plugins, themes, or modern frameworks). That software gets updated regularly to fix security holes, add features, and stay compatible with new browsers and devices.

Applying these updates sounds simple, but it isn't:

• Updates can break your site if incompatible with other components
• Some updates require testing before going live
• Security updates need to happen immediately
• Skipping updates leaves your site vulnerable

Care plans include safe, tested updates applied before they become security risks.

Backups That Actually Work

Your hosting company might offer backups, but "included backups" often mean:

• Stored on the same server (vulnerable to same problems)
• Only kept for 7 days
• Difficult or impossible to restore yourself
• Not tested to verify they actually work

Professional backups mean:

• Stored offsite in multiple locations
• Kept for 30+ days
• One-click restoration when needed
• Tested regularly to ensure they work

We've rescued dozens of businesses whose "automatic backups" didn't exist when they needed them.

Monitoring and Fixes

Websites break in invisible ways:

• Contact forms stop sending emails
• SSL certificates expire
• Hosting environments change
• Conflicts develop between plugins
• Pages load slowly or not at all
• Mobile display breaks after an update

Without monitoring, you only discover these problems when a customer tells you your site is broken—or worse, they don't tell you and just go to a competitor.

Care plans include:

• Uptime monitoring (we know within 5 minutes if your site goes down)
• Performance monitoring (we catch slowdowns before they hurt SEO)
• Broken link checking
• Form testing
• Small fixes included in your monthly plan

The Real Cost of Neglect

Let's talk money. A care plan costs $49-$149 per month depending on level. That seems like an expense until you calculate the alternative:

Emergency developer rates: $100-150/hour, often with multi-hour minimums

Typical emergency scenarios:

• Contact form broken: $150-300 to diagnose and fix
• Site hacked: $800-2,000 for cleanup and restoration
• Update broke site: $300-600 to identify issue and roll back
• Hosting expired and site offline: $200 emergency migration

A single emergency often costs more than a year of care plan coverage.

Plus there's the hidden cost: lost business while your site is broken, SEO penalties from downtime or security issues, and stress of dealing with technical crises.

Care plans convert unpredictable emergency expenses into predictable monthly investments—and prevent most emergencies entirely.

Essential Care Plan — $49/Month

Who This Is For

You have a straightforward website that doesn't change frequently. You built it, it works, and you want peace of mind that it stays that way without thinking about it.

Essential Care is perfect for businesses using our Essential Website package or simple sites that mostly stay static.

What's Included

Proactive maintenance:

• Monthly WordPress and plugin updates
• Weekly security scans
• Daily offsite backups (30-day retention)
• Uptime monitoring (5-minute checks)
• SSL certificate management

Support allocation:

• Up to 1 hour per month of small fixes
• Emergency support response
• Contact form and functionality testing
• Minor content updates (text changes, image swaps)

Performance:

• Monthly speed checks
• Basic optimization recommendations
• Broken link monitoring

Peace of mind:

• You're notified before we make changes
• We handle technical issues before they become problems
• Someone is watching your site 24/7

What's NOT Included

• Major content updates or page rebuilds
• Design changes
• New feature development
• Extensive troubleshooting (moves to hourly)
• Marketing or SEO work beyond basic maintenance

When Essential Care Makes Sense

Choose Essential if:

• Your website is relatively simple (5-10 pages)
• You rarely need to update content
• Your site mostly serves as digital credibility
• You want security and backups without thinking about it
• You can't or don't want to handle technical maintenance yourself

Real Essential Care Example

A Washington, NC accounting firm has a 5-page Essential website. They update their phone number once a year and occasionally swap out a photo. They don't blog or frequently change content.

Essential Care means:

• Their site stays secure and backed up
• Updates happen safely without their involvement
• When their contact form briefly stopped working after an update, we fixed it within the hour (no additional charge)
• Their annual hosting renewal is handled automatically
• They've never had downtime or security issues

They've paid $49/month for two years ($1,176 total). In that time, we've performed 24 monthly update cycles, fixed three small issues, and prevented what would have been two security vulnerabilities. The peace of mind alone is worth it—they've never had to think about their website technically.

Essential Care: Set It and Forget It

Keep your site secure, backed up, and running smoothly for less than $2 per day. Perfect for simple sites that don't need frequent changes. Learn more about Essential Care or sign up today.

Growth Care Plan — $89/Month

Who This Is For

Your website is active. You blog regularly, add new service pages, update content, and use your site as a marketing tool. You need more hands-on support than Essential provides.

Growth Care is perfect for businesses using our Growth Website package or anyone actively managing content and needing regular help.

What's Included

Everything from Essential, plus:

Expanded support allocation:

• Up to 3 hours per month of updates and fixes
• Priority support response (same business day)
• Content updates (blog posts, service pages, images)
• Minor layout adjustments
• Form modifications

Enhanced monitoring:

• Weekly performance reports
• Monthly SEO health check
• Conversion tracking verification
• User experience monitoring

Proactive optimization:

• Image compression and optimization
• Cache management
• Database cleanup
• Plugin audit and recommendations

Content support:

• Help formatting blog posts
• Embedding videos or media
• Creating new basic pages
• Updating service information

When to Choose Growth Over Essential

Upgrade to Growth if:

• You blog weekly or bi-weekly
• You frequently add or update service pages
• You serve multiple cities and add location pages
• You update content yourself but need occasional help
• You want monthly check-ins on performance
• You've maxed out Essential's 1-hour allocation multiple months

Real Growth Care Example

A Greenville law firm publishes 2-3 blog posts monthly, updates case results quarterly, and occasionally adds new practice area pages. They write content themselves but need help formatting, optimizing images, and ensuring everything looks professional.

Growth Care means:

• We format and publish their blog posts (saves them 30 minutes per post)
• Monthly performance reports show which pages drive leads
• When they wanted to add a new practice area, we built the page within their monthly allocation
• Their site loads faster than competitors because we proactively optimize
• They've never worried about technical issues

They pay $89/month ($1,068/year). The time savings on formatting blog posts alone is worth it—they're billing $250/hour for legal work, not learning WordPress formatting. Plus the proactive optimization has kept their site ranking well locally.

The Sweet Spot for Active Businesses

Growth Care is the sweet spot for businesses who:

• Are past survival mode and actively marketing
• Create content but don't want to manage technical details
• Value their time more than $89/month worth of DIY effort
• Want a partnership, not just emergency coverage

Growth Care: Active Website Partnership

For businesses that treat their website as a marketing asset. Get regular support, proactive optimization, and peace of mind for $89/month. Learn more about Growth Care or schedule a consultation.

Premium Care Plan — $149/Month

Who This Is For

Your website is mission-critical to your business. Traffic directly generates revenue. Downtime costs you thousands. You need immediate response, strategic optimization, and a true technical partner.

Premium Care is for businesses whose websites are business-critical infrastructure, not just marketing tools.

What's Included

Everything from Growth, plus:

Maximum support allocation:

• Up to 5 hours per month of updates, fixes, and improvements
• Immediate emergency response (under 1 hour)
• After-hours and weekend critical support
• Complex troubleshooting and fixes

Strategic optimization:

• Monthly strategy call
• Conversion rate optimization
• Advanced speed optimization
• A/B testing setup and monitoring
• SEO performance review and recommendations

Priority development:

• New feature implementation
• Integration setup and troubleshooting
• Custom functionality development
• Third-party tool connections

Comprehensive monitoring:

• Real-time uptime alerts
• Performance dashboards
• User behavior analysis
• Conversion funnel monitoring
• Monthly detailed reporting

Proactive improvement:

• We identify opportunities before you ask
• Regular recommendations for improvement
• Competitive analysis
• Trend monitoring in your industry

When Premium Care Is Worth the Investment

Choose Premium if:

• Your website generates significant revenue directly
• You have booking systems, e-commerce, or complex functionality
• Downtime costs you thousands in lost business
• You need integration with CRMs, email platforms, or other tools
• You make frequent changes and updates
• You want strategic partnership, not just maintenance

Real Premium Care Example

A Wilmington vacation rental management company runs a website with 50+ properties, live availability calendars, direct booking, payment processing, and integration with their property management system.

Premium Care means:

• When a payment gateway update broke checkout at 7 PM on Friday, we had it fixed within 45 minutes
• Monthly strategy calls identify opportunities (adding features that increase average booking value)
• We proactively monitor for seasonal traffic spikes and optimize performance before issues arise
• Integration with their PM system is maintained and updated as both platforms change
• Monthly reports show conversion rates by property type, booking source, and season

They pay $149/month ($1,788/year). Their average booking is $1,200. One prevented outage during peak season pays for three months of care. The conversion optimization work increased bookings by 8%, adding $40,000+ annual revenue. The strategic partnership is worth far more than the cost.

The Premium Care Difference

Premium isn't just "more hours"—it's a different relationship:

Essential Care: We keep your site secure and running Growth Care: We support your content and marketing Premium Care: We actively improve your site's business performance

Premium Care: Strategic Partnership

For businesses where the website is mission-critical. Get immediate response, strategic optimization, and true partnership for $149/month. Learn more about Premium Care or book a strategy call.

Comparing Care Plans Side-by-Side

Still deciding? Here's a quick comparison:

Monthly Cost

• Essential: $49/month
• Growth: $89/month
• Premium: $149/month

Included Hours

• Essential: 1 hour
• Growth: 3 hours
• Premium: 5 hours

Response Time

• Essential: Next business day
• Growth: Same business day
• Premium: Under 1 hour

Best For

• Essential: Simple sites, rare updates
• Growth: Active content, regular marketing
• Premium: Mission-critical, revenue-generating

Support Scope

• Essential: Basic fixes and updates
• Growth: Content help and optimization
• Premium: Strategic partnership

Choosing Your Care Plan Level

Start with Your Update Frequency

Rarely update (quarterly or less): Essential Update monthly or weekly: Growth Update constantly or need immediate response: Premium

Consider Your Revenue Risk

Site down = inconvenient: Essential Site down = lost opportunities: Growth Site down = thousands in lost revenue: Premium

Think About Your Time Value

How much is your time worth per hour?

If you're billing $100+/hour for your core work, spending 2 hours per month wrestling with WordPress updates costs you more than Growth Care.

If downtime or technical issues could cost you a $5,000+ customer, Premium's immediate response pays for itself.

The Upgrade Path

You're not locked in. Most businesses start with Essential and upgrade as they grow:

Year 1: Essential (site is new, traffic is building) Year 2: Growth (actively marketing, publishing content) Year 3+: Premium (site drives significant revenue)

We make upgrades seamless—often at the end of your annual term.

What Happens Without a Care Plan?

Let's be honest about the alternative to care plans: paying as you go for fixes and emergencies.

The Pay-Per-Problem Approach

Hourly rate: $125/hour (3-hour minimum for emergency work)

Typical emergency costs:

• Security breach/hack cleanup: $1,200-2,500
• Update broke site: $375-750
• Contact form not working: $250-375
• Performance issues: $375-625
• Hosting migration: $500-1,000

Annual unpredictable costs: Typically $800-2,400

Hidden costs:

• Stress of dealing with technical crises
• Lost business during downtime
• SEO penalties from security or speed issues
• Time spent coordinating fixes instead of running your business

The DIY Approach

Some businesses try to handle maintenance themselves:

Reality check:

• Updates take 1-2 hours per month if done properly
• You need technical knowledge to test safely
• Security monitoring requires constant attention
• You're responsible when something breaks
• Most DIY attempts result in neglect, not proper maintenance

If your time is worth $50+/hour, you're spending $50-100/month in time anyway—and probably not doing it as thoroughly as a professional service.

Common Care Plan Questions

"Can I pause my care plan when I don't need it?"

Care plans are ongoing—like insurance, the value is in consistent coverage. However, we're reasonable: if you need to pause for a month or two (business slowdown, budget constraints), let us know. Extended pauses (3+ months) may result in additional setup fees when resuming.

"What if I don't use my full monthly hours?"

Hours don't roll over month to month—they're allocated for that period. However, if you're consistently not using your allocation, you might be on the wrong tier. We'll recommend downgrading to save you money.

Conversely, if you consistently exceed your hours, we'll track overage at a reduced hourly rate or recommend upgrading.

"Can I upgrade or downgrade plans?"

Absolutely. Upgrade anytime (effective immediately). Downgrade at the end of your current monthly or annual billing cycle. We want you on the right tier for your needs.

"What's not included in care plans?"

Care plans cover maintenance, updates, monitoring, and small fixes. They don't include:

• Major redesigns or new site builds
• New feature development beyond small additions
• Content writing (we'll post your content, but we don't write it)
• Marketing services (SEO, ads, social media)
• Training or consulting beyond basic support

Those services are quoted separately or combined into larger packages.

"Do I need a care plan if I have a new site?"

Yes, from day one. New sites need:

• Ongoing security updates
• Backups starting immediately
• Monitoring to catch any launch issues
• Support as you learn to use your site

Most of our website packages include several months of care specifically because it's essential from launch.

What Your Care Plan Includes at Every Level

Regardless of tier, every care plan includes:

Technical maintenance:

• Software updates applied safely
• Security monitoring and patching
• Daily offsite backups
• Uptime monitoring

Support:

• Email and phone support
• Help desk for questions
• Small fixes within your monthly allocation
• Emergency response when needed

Peace of mind:

• Someone watching your site 24/7
• Proactive issue prevention
• Predictable monthly cost instead of surprise bills
• Technical expertise when you need it

The difference between tiers is allocation and response time, not quality of care.

Ready to Protect Your Website Investment?

You invested in building a professional website. Protect that investment with a care plan that prevents problems, saves you time, and gives you peace of mind.

Choosing Your Plan

Essential ($49/mo): Sign up for Essential Care

Growth ($89/mo): Sign up for Growth Care

Premium ($149/mo): Schedule a Premium Care consultation

Not Sure Which Plan Fits?

Book a free 15-minute consultation and we'll:

• Review your current site and maintenance needs
• Recommend the right care level
• Answer questions about what's included
• Get you set up with proactive protection

Schedule your free care plan consultation and stop worrying about your website.

Already Have a Site Elsewhere?

We provide care plans for websites built by other developers. If your current site needs better maintenance and support, we can take over care regardless of who built it.

Transfer your site care to us:

1. We audit your current site (free)
2. Recommend the right care level
3. Take over maintenance seamlessly
4. You get better support at competitive pricing

Request a site audit and care plan quote

Your website works for your business 24/7. Make sure someone's working to keep it secure, fast, and effective. Choose the care plan that matches your needs and budget—and stop worrying about technical problems.

Questions about care plans? Contact us and we'll help you find the right fit.