WordPress Website Maintenance & Security (Non-Hosted)

The non-hosted maintenance package includes:

• Monthly WordPress, theme and plugin updates: These updates are extremely important for WordPress sites, in order to prevent attacks, broken functionality, and degraded performance.
• Additional proactive security-related WordPress, theme and plugin updates, as needed: If our security tools flag an update as necessary to fix a dangerous security flaw, we will prioritize the update of the affected tool, even if this month’s updates for the site were already completed.
• Staging websites for maintenance updates: Theme and plugin updates can often have unintended negative impacts on a website, so to prevent breaking the live website, we run all updates on a staging copy of the website and test each update thoroughly before updating the live website.
• Automatic website backups, for the ability to restore the site to a previous version in case of hacking, broken site, or other issues: We run automatic backups on your website once a month and store them for a year on a separate Amazon S3 storage account, for added security.
• Installation of a curated suite of security and performance optimization tools: We’ve curated a selection of top-rated and well-tested security and performance tools that we will install and configure on your website, to help keep the site running at it’s best.
• Uptime monitoring: We’ll receive a notification right away if your site goes down, so that we can notify you and prioritize fixing it.
• Premium web forms and spam filtering: These tools will help make sure you receive all the notifications you want, and reduce the ones you don’t.
• Visual regression testing: Our visual regression tool lets us take screenshots of your website before and after updates to check for any unwanted visual changes.
• Additional login security: We install reCaptcha on the login page and block a common backdoor login path to help keep hackers out.
• Basic performance optimization: We include a set of basic performance optimizations to help speed up your website.
• Website activity monitor: The activity monitor will keep track of updates that are made on the website, as well as which user made the updates. This helps prevent confusion when multiple people may be working on the website, and helps us to more quickly troubleshoot any issues that may arise.
• Custom dashboard plugin: Marketeering Group’s custom dashboard plugin will clean up the WordPress admin area, in order to make it less overwhelming and easier to work in.

If the website is hosted on WP Engine, on a plan level approved by Marketeering Group, and we are provided with full access to the hosting account, these additional maintenance service features are included:

• Malware clean-up, if your site is infected: If your site is infected by malware, we will work with WP Engine to run a security scan on the site and remove infected files.
• Support for website outages: If your site goes down during business hours (9am-5pm PST), just contact us and we’ll prioritize getting it back up. For after-hours support, you may contact WP Engine directly, to take advantage of their all-hours support team to get the website back up and running.
• Technical support for website issues that are caused by the hosting platform, maintenance updates, or attacks: If your site breaks unexpectedly due to hosting or maintenance issues, we’ll troubleshoot the issue for you.

For other hosting plans or platforms, website clean-up and/or troubleshooting, in the case of a malware attack or other server/hosting issues, is available for an additional hourly charge.

1. The Website Maintenance Audit service is required to onboard the website before we begin the regular ongoing maintenance service.
2. Once the audit is completed, we will begin monitoring the website security and performing regular maintenance updates, at least once per month.
3. You will receive automated monthly reports of the updates that have been completed, and the recent security scan results.
4. If we run into any issues with updates, such as expired plugin licenses, abandoned tools, or other security risks that require additional considerations, we will contact you with the details.
5. If you run into any hosting or maintenance related issues with your site, you can contact us for assistance, and we’ll help you troubleshoot the problem.

Service Terms PDF

• This service may not be available for websites on all hosting platforms. Access to this service will be dependent on a successful audit of the current hosting system.
• Before the maintenance service begins, our Website Maintenance Audit service is required. If the audit uncovers additional complexity in maintaining the website, the monthly maintenance cost may increase. We will notify the client of the additional costs, and request approval, before moving forward with the service.
• Marketeering Group must have full access to your hosting account in order to perform site updates. If you make changes to the hosting account password or user access, please send us the updated credentials within 1 business day.
• Marketeering Group will run WordPress, theme and plugin updates on your site at least once per month to maintain site security and performance. We test all updates on a staging site before they are made live.
• Marketeering Group may decide not to update certain tools or plugins, if it is deemed that the update will negatively affect the website.
• We will be unable to update any paid themes or plugins where the client does not hold a valid, up-to-date license for the tool. If we notice any missing or out-of-date licenses, we will notify the client, and it will be their responsibility to pay for the license in order to receive the latest updates for that tool.
• At times, a theme or plugin may be abandoned by the author, and no further updates will be provided. Abandoned tools may lead to security or functionality issues on the site. If this is the case, we will contact the client with a recommendation for a replacement. The client will be responsible for any fees associated with purchasing the replacement tool, as well as the additional hourly rate for the development time required to install and configure the new tool. We will provide a quote for these costs and request approval before additional work is started.
• The client must not change or deactivate the Marketeering Group WordPress users, as we will need full admin-level access to keep the site secure and up to date.
• The client must not remove any of the security plugins on the site. (These could include WordFence, Sucuri, Google ReCaptcha, MailGun, UpdraftPlus, or others. We can provide a full list of the security plugins on the client site by request.)
• Strong passwords are required for all users (a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols).
• Marketeering Group must have access to your domain registration so that we can update or troubleshoot DNS issues that may arise. If you update your domain registration password or user access, please send us the updated credentials, within 1 business day.
• If requested, the client will be given WordPress dashboard access, to make updates to their website.
• If the client makes any updates to the website theme or plugins, including adding or removing themes or plugins, editing theme files, or updating to newer theme or plugin versions, Marketeering Group must be notified of the change as soon as possible, so that we can prevent conflicts with our ongoing maintenance work. The fixing of any issues with the site, which are caused by client-run updates, will be quoted at hourly development rates. Please contact Marketeering Group before making updates to the website, if you are concerned about this.
• If additional tools or functionality are added to the website, either by the client or by Marketeering Group or another third-party, at the request of the client, the complexity level and cost of the maintenance service may increase. We will notify the client of any potential increase, and request approval before further work is done.
• We do not provide email services with our maintenance plan. As such, any email set-up or troubleshooting for email issues is not included in this product.
• We are not responsible for any spam messages you may receive through your email or website contact forms. We will install tools to mitigate spam coming through the website, but offer no guarantees that spam will be blocked before it reaches you. As we do not provide email services, we are unable to configure your personal email inbox for spam prevention.
• We are unable to provide troubleshooting or configuration support for issues on personal computers, mobile devices or networks. If an issue seems to be relegated to a specific device or network, we can recommend a third-party tech support company for further diagnostics.
• If your site goes down or you see an issue while Marketeering Group is maintaining the site, please email siteupdates@marketeeringgroup.com or call 206-327-9627.
• Marketeering Group does not monitor website downtime notifications or provide support outside of normal business hours (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm PST). If your website is hosted on WP Engine, you may contact WP Engine’s support team directly for major website issues, such as site outages or malware attacks, outside of business hours. WP Engine’s support does not provide help with website editing, such as changing content or design.
• Troubleshooting for website issues outside of Marketeering Group’s standard monthly maintenance updates, including, but not limited to, malware attacks, server performance issues, domain/DNS issues, and broken styling or functionality due to a client or user error, will be charged at an hourly rate.
• Marketeering Group is not responsible for any security, performance or other issues caused by your hosting environment. If the hosting environment seems to be responsible for issues, we may provide recommendations for moving the website to an alternate hosting company or upgrading to an alternate hosting plan.
• This product does not include updates to website content or design. If you would like to change the way your website looks or functions, those edits can be purchased through our Developer Access Pass service.
• Due to the sometimes unpredictable nature of technology, including websites, servers, and hosting platforms, Marketeering Group does not take responsibility for any issues that may arise with your website while maintained with us. This includes any website hacks or malware attacks that happen while your website is hosted with us, as well as any issues caused by failures in the hosting platform or conflicts caused by website updates. We strive to keep your website up and running well at all times, but cannot guarantee that the site will not break or go down. We will do our best to fix any maintenance related issues in a timely manner, but can not be held accountable for any negative consequences to your business that may arise from such issues.
• It is the client’s responsibility to assure that the website is compliant with all applicable laws, rules and regulations for your industry, audience, and location. Marketeering Group does not guarantee any specific compliance as part of the website maintenance package.