Website Maintenance Services

Website maintenance is the ongoing care a site needs after it goes live. With Softscotch, it can include tested core, plugin and theme updates, backups with restore tests, security monitoring and malware cleanup, uptime monitoring, speed checks, broken link and form fixes, small content edits, SSL, domain and hosting renewal tracking, accessibility and SEO health checks and a monthly report. Your care plan lists exactly what's included and how often.

It depends mostly on the platform, the size of the site, the number of plugins or apps, whether it takes payments or bookings, how often it's checked, how much editing time you want and how quickly urgent problems must be handled. A small brochure site costs less to look after than a busy online store or a site with custom features. Outside costs, such as hosting, your domain, paid plugins or a Shopify plan, are separate. Request a quote and we'll send a scoped care plan.

Care plans usually step up in three ways: how often updates and checks happen, how much editing time is included and how fast urgent problems are handled. A basic plan suits a simple site that rarely changes. A middle plan adds more editing time and more frequent checks. A higher plan suits online stores and busy sites that need faster response and closer monitoring. We suggest a level after the free health check.

Yes. WordPress needs the most hands-on care, because you or your host look after the core software, plugins, theme, backups and security. Shopify handles the core software, hosting and security itself, so maintenance focuses on apps, theme updates, checkout tests, speed and content. For other platforms, such as Squarespace, Wix, Webflow or custom-built sites, we check what we can access and tell you honestly what we can look after.

If a site on our care plan is hacked, we take it offline or limit the damage where needed, find and remove the harmful code, close the way in, change passwords, ask Google to remove any warnings and restore from a clean backup if that's quicker and safer. If your site was hacked before you joined, we can clean it up as a one-off job first. No site can be made impossible to hack, but good maintenance makes it much less likely.

Urgent problems, such as the site being down, hacked or unable to take orders, are handled before routine work. Your care plan states how quickly we respond to urgent problems and to normal requests, and how to reach us. Higher plans include faster response for sites where downtime costs the most, such as online stores.

Most business sites need some care every month. Security updates should go on soon after they're released, backups should run at least weekly or daily for busy sites, and uptime should be checked automatically all the time. Forms, speed and links are worth testing monthly. Sites that change often or take orders need more frequent care.

Yes, small ones. Your plan includes a set amount of editing time each month for changes such as new hours, prices, photos, staff bios or blog posts. Bigger jobs, such as new pages, a new section or a redesign, are quoted separately before we start, so there are no surprise bills.

Yes. Your domain, hosting account, website files, admin logins, Google Analytics and Search Console stay in your name, and Softscotch is added only as a user. If you ever leave, you remove our access and keep everything. If an old designer holds any of your accounts, we help you move them into your name first.

You can, especially for a small, simple site. You'll need to run and test updates, keep off-site backups and test them, watch for security problems, check forms and links, track renewals and fix whatever breaks. Many owners start this way and hire help when the time, risk or stress gets too high, or after an update breaks something. A care plan makes sense when your site brings in real business and you'd rather not handle it yourself.

Yes. We start with a free health check and a full backup, then review how the site was built before taking over the care. If the site is very out of date or fragile, we'll tell you honestly whether fixing it or rebuilding it makes more sense.

It helps protect them. Regular care keeps pages loading fast, fixes broken links and errors Google reports, keeps the site secure so it isn't flagged as unsafe and catches problems before they hurt your visibility. It doesn't guarantee rankings, which also depend on your content, competition and reputation. For deeper work, we offer speed optimization and technical SEO as separate services.

Send us your website address and we'll check seven things: updates and software, backups and recovery, security, uptime and speed, forms, links and content, accessibility and SEO health, and renewals and ownership. You get a plain-English summary of what's working, what's at risk and what care plan level would suit you. There's no obligation to hire us.

Ask how updates are tested, where backups are stored and when they were last restored, what happens if the site is hacked, how fast urgent problems are handled and how much editing time is included. Make sure the domain, hosting and logins stay in your name, and that you'll get a regular report. Be careful with very cheap plans that don't say what they include, and with anyone who guarantees your site can never be hacked or never go down.