Website Maintenance

Invoicing for Hosting & Maintenance (H&M)

Keith Paul December 4, 2023
  • Unlike other services, such as site content updates, social media management, blogging, SEM management, etc., H&M fees are charged in advance. This is a standard industry practice.
  • H&M fees are typically charged quarterly.
  • Invoices for H&M are sent out 30 days before the quarter in which they cover and are due before the start of that quarter.
    • 1st quarter H&M invoices are sent out on December 1st of the previous year.
    • 2nd quarter H&M invoices are sent out on March 1st.
    • 3rd quarter H&M invoices are sent out on June 1st.
    • 4th quarter H&M invoices are sent out on September 1st.
  • Failure to pay H&M fees will result in the removal of the website from our servers.
    • Once a site has been removed from our servers, there will be a fee of two hours at the Electric Bricks current hourly rate to restore it (paid in advance) once the account has been brought up to date.

What’s Included with Hosting & Maintenance (H&M)

Keith Paul January 11, 2023
  • Hosting on high-performance virtual private server (VPS)
    • This is not the typical “shared hosting” available at most hosting providers, which is significantly slower and less secure
  • Administration of website hosting account & environment
  • Administration of WordPress, including ongoing updates
    • Includes installation of monthly patches and updates for the core system, as well as any 3rd party plug-ins
  • Monthly backups (more frequent options available) and 90 days of backup storage
  • SSL certificate
  • Cloudflare account setup and maintenance
    • Includes DDoS (distributed denial of service attacks) and other protections
    • Includes a global CDN (content delivery network) for faster load times
  • Web application firewall (WAF), anti-hacking, anti-bot, anti-virus, and anti-malware protection
  • Zero-cost troubleshooting in the event of a malware or virus attack
  • Software licenses for the following (not used on all sites):
    • WPBakery Page Builder
    • Slider Revolution
    • UberMenu/Mega Main Menu
    • and possibly others
  • One (1) “simple” content update per month at no cost (see H&M Monthly Allowance)
    • Does not roll over month-to-month
  • Priority website support
    • Advanced troubleshooting for any 3rd party software issues
    • There could still potentially be charges for the time spent troubleshooting any issue that is not directly related to development provided by Electric Bricks
  • Unlimited* no-cost professional consultation
    • The staff of Electric Bricks is available for scheduled calls to answer any questions relating to:
      • Digital marketing strategy
      • Website upgrades and functionality
      • Domain name and DNS issues
      • Most email issues
      • And much more
    • Access to Electric Bricks’ extensive network of strategic partners
      • Electric Bricks has long-standing relationships with many highly qualified, professional service providers in a variety of adjacent industries, such as:
        • IT (information technology)
        • App development
        • Photography and videography
        • Commercial printing
        • Signage
        • Financing
        • Other marketing professionals
    • *Within reasonable limits

Website Backups

Keith Paul January 8, 2023
  • Monthly website backups are provided free of charge for all clients who host their site(s) with Electric Bricks.
  • Backups of all site files and databases are included in all backup plans.
  • Website backups will be saved for 90 days.

There Are Three Website Backup Options:

Basic Backup – For Infrequent Content Updates

For most sites, we will backup all site files and database once per month. These backups are stored in the cloud, and we can quickly restore a site directly from the backup should the need arise.

  • There is no additional cost to your hosting & maintenance (H&M) to stay with this backup routine: H&M + $0

Backup Plus – For More Frequent Content Updates

For busy sites (websites where there are weekly blog posts or other content updates) we can offer more frequent backups – weekly or as often as once per day.

  • Weekly or Daily Backups: there is an additional $10/month charge for this routine that would be added to your current H&M fee: H&M + $10

Backup Power – For E-Commerce & Heavy Bloggers

For even busier sites (e-commerce sites where customer orders need to be protected, or sites where there are daily blogs or other frequent content updates), we can perform updates every 12 hours, every 6 hours, or even every hour.

  • 12-Hour Backups: H&M + $12
  • 6-Hour Backups: H&M + $15
  • Hourly Backups: H&M + $20

Hosting & Maintenance (H&M) Monthly Allowance

Keith Paul January 7, 2023

Clients who take advantage of our Website Hosting & Maintenance (H&M) are entitled to a monthly allowance of one (1) simple content update at no charge. The question of what exactly is a “simple content update” comes up often. This policy article is here to clarify this.

Simple Content Updates Include One (1) of the Following:

  • Minor type changes
  • Minor price changes (for e-commerce sites)
  • Adding, changing, or removing one photo from a standard page or post
  • Minor navigation changes
  • Minor header or footer content edits
  • Adding one page or blog post if all written content is supplied and has no more than one supplied image
  • Removing a page

To be clear, this allowance is meant to be for small, simple updates for clients who don’t frequently update their site, don’t have the time to do it themselves, and/or are uncomfortable making these changes themselves.

If any of the above exceeds 15 minutes, there will be a charge for the balance at the current hourly rate. Upon request, we will estimate the time for any content update request and determine the time and cost.

Services That Are NOT Covered By the H&M Monthly Allowance:

  • Extensive content edits (determined at the time of request)
  • Content writing
  • Content editing
  • WordPress website training
  • Programming or development
  • Template or theme edits
  • Slider edits
  • Domain name, DNS, or registry account edits
  • Email or Office/Microsoft 365 account edits
  • Graphic design, such as:
    • Logo edits
    • Brochure design or edits
    • Business cards design or edits
    • PDF edits
    • Anything else not on a website
  • Photo retouching
  • Email blasts
  • Anything on social media
  • Anything on Google (Ads, Analytics, Search Console, Business, etc.)

Website Backups – A Critical Line of Defense for Your Website

Keith Paul December 23, 2022
As part of your website hosting and maintenance package (H&M), Electric Bricks regularly backs up your site files and database as an important safety measure. These backups are a critical part of your website management service and help ensure your site stays safe and can be restored in the event of a hacking attempt, malware attack, server crash, or user error. We did extensive research and testing, and an issue that we’ve discovered is that most WordPress backup software (including the software we were previously using) can have an adverse effect on server and site performance due to the way they work. They use up a lot of server resources and can sometimes slow a site down or cause other issues. Because of this, Electric Bricks is changing (and improving) the software and methodology we use to manage the backups we do for you.
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