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More and more businesses are seeking professional support for their WordPress websites. This support can come in a long-term maintenance plan or WordPress emergency support. However, the scope and quality of these services can vary widely between providers and their plans. With that in mind, choosing the best WordPress support service for your needs is vital.
In this easy-to-read guide, we’ll assess the problems that require professional support and explain the key features to look for when choosing between WordPress maintenance plans or repair services.
Why Do I Need Support?
Whether you rely on your WordPress website to sell products internationally or to bring in calls from local clients, it’s vital to your success. That’s why the prospect of a glitch, hack, or human error leading to extensive downtime is the stuff of nightmares.
Common Problems with WordPress Websites
WordPress is way ahead of the pack as the world’s number-one content management system. However, despite its robust credentials and worldwide popularity, it isn’t flawless, and several common problems make WordPress support services vital.
1. Hacks: WordPress is a very secure system, but its sheer popularity makes it a tempting target for hackers who constantly search for software vulnerabilities. Hosting Facts recently reported that 90,000 websites are hacked daily; alarmingly, 83% are WordPress websites.
2. WordPress plugin errors: The WordPress system’s core is feature-rich and capable, but a breathtaking variety of plugins supplements it. Some of the top WordPress plugins power contact forms, chat widgets, e-commerce functions, and more. But as essential as plugins are, they also increase hackers’ attack surface and the chances of software conflicts and other glitches.
3. Bad updates: Applying WordPress updates is one of the best ways to secure the system. Beyond simply updating the core WordPress software, updating WordPress plugins and your theme is essential. The security benefits of updating WordPress are undeniable, but these updates can occasionally cause unexpected problems.
4. Human error: While human error isn’t a WordPress-specific issue, it is a significant cause of problems. WordPress is easier to use than rival content management systems like Joomla or Drupal. Even so, an inexperienced user may misconfigure the software or delete important files and data. The loss could be permanent if that same user fails to create backups.
WordPress Repair Services
In some cases, the need for a professional repair service is straightforward. In other cases, you may be tempted to try a DIY repair. However, before taking this path, you should honestly assess your ability level and the amount of time you can commit.
Professional WordPress repairs often represent a faster, safer, and more efficient solution than a DIY fix. This becomes especially important if your website suffers from a severe problem that has made it inaccessible to visitors.
Some WordPress repair specialists charge by the hour – an approach that can quickly prove costly. Others apply a simple flat fee for their repairs – offering greater peace of mind for you as the client.
Hacks and Malware
If your website has been hacked, attempting to resolve the problem yourself is risky. Hackers are often subtle in their approach and may deliberately weaken your website from within – perhaps creating a ‘backdoor’ to make future attacks easier.
The hackers could discreetly implant malware to undermine the integrity of your website. That malware could do anything, from stealing login credentials to infecting visitors’ home computers. As the website’s owner, your response to the crisis could determine its severity. With your business’ reputation at stake, a professional WordPress repair service is the only viable solution.
Unfortunately, repairing a hacked WordPress website can be complex. The appropriate fix depends on the extent of the hack and the hackers’ actions. It’s best to get a personalized quote for this kind of service, as this will ensure that the repair is conducted comprehensively, without any corners being cut.
WordPress Maintenance Plans
Many business owners are motivated to take out website maintenance contracts to prevent problems before they occur. But there’s much more to choosing the best WordPress maintenance plan than searching for the lowest monthly fee. Instead, you should look at the services provided and ensure that these cover the critical maintenance tasks below.
WordPress Maintenance Tasks
1. Initial WordPress repair services: Too many business owners only realize the importance of WordPress maintenance when faced with a problem. Your maintenance contract should ideally cover the cost of an initial repair if necessary.
2. WordPress health check: Whether new or old, WordPress websites often have undetected issues. These may undermine their stability or performance over the long term, so a thorough health check at the outset of a maintenance plan could avoid problems later on.
3. Security tweaks: Hackers prey on easy targets, so applying simple security tweaks hugely reduces the chances of a breach. We recommend installing a malware scanner, firewall, and brute-force attack blocker while hardening the login system, which also makes sense.
4. Cloud backups: Accidents happen, but the consequences can be costly when they involve vital files and data. The best WordPress maintenance plans should include the creation of routinely scheduled backups as standard.
5. WordPress updates: The core WordPress system receives steady updates. It is important to ensure these updates are applied correctly and without compatibility issues.
6. WordPress plugin updates: Plugin vulnerabilities can undermine the system’s security, giving attackers an easy entry point. WordPress maintenance should include plugin updates to mitigate these threats and address performance issues.
7. Security scans: Early identification of vulnerabilities is the best way to prevent a breach. Running WordPress security scans on a routine schedule is the surest way to identify vulnerabilities before hackers exploit them.
8. Regular reports: It’s your website, and while you might want to outsource your WordPress maintenance, you still deserve to be kept informed. A good plan will include regular reporting.
Beyond the Basics
Many WordPress support plans for SMEs focus on the basics listed above, and many small-business owners will find that these plans cover their needs perfectly. However, owners of larger businesses and e-commerce websites may require a broader range of WordPress support services. (These advanced services can also benefit small-business owners who are willing to invest more money for total peace of mind.)
1. Live uptime monitoring: More advanced plans often include 24/7 uptime monitoring. This is especially valuable for those businesses that rely on their website as their primary sales channel or point of contact with clients.
2. WordPress theme updates: Your theme determines your website’s visual and user-experience aspects. Keeping it updated is a valuable extra step for optimal performance and security.
3. Website changes: Your website may need to evolve to stay fresh and reflect changes in your business. The best WordPress maintenance plans will include a set time allocation for regular tweaks.
4. Tune-ups: Slow page-load speeds aren’t always a sign of a serious fault, but they are a turn-off for visitors and search engines. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get a faster-loading WordPress website, and a simple tune-up is often all it takes to remedy this annoying issue.
5. SEO: WordPress Search Engine Optimization is optimizing a website to boost its appeal to search engines. If your content is presented well and your site works optimally, search engines could reward you with a better position in their search results pages.
WordPress Emergency Support
There are many cases where an emergency WordPress repair service may be needed. This is especially true if your website has gone down entirely or if essential functions like your contact form or e-commerce store are unavailable. With this in mind, it’s worth checking whether your support provider offers WordPress emergency support.
One-time emergency fixes should always be available for a fee, but you may wish to take out an advanced WordPress maintenance contract that covers emergency repairs. Although maintenance plans are designed to prevent problems, access to professional on-demand help is reassuring if an issue slips through the net. Finally, it’s essential to check the details carefully here since some providers limit their WordPress emergency support to a fixed number of repairs.
Next Steps
This guide should have clarified how to choose the best WordPress support services. Here at WP Tech Support, we offer a diverse range of maintenance plans and repair options for businesses of all shapes and sizes. We can provide anything from a one-time fix to a comprehensive website maintenance contract. These contracts have been carefully tailored to cover the critical aspects of WordPress maintenance, with options for various levels of support.
To give your website the TLC it deserves, explore our WordPress support plans and WordPress emergency fixes, or contact our team to discuss any questions you may have. We look forward to working with you.