Everything a WordPress site needs to stay healthy
Maintenance
WordPress and plugin updates, tested on a copy of your site before they go live.
Security
Wordfence set up and configured, holes patched, hacked sites cleaned and closed off.
Old sites made safe
Out-of-date WordPress, PHP or servers brought up to date without losing what works.
Speed
Slow or heavy sites tuned so they load quickly and use less.
Servers
Advice on hosting and upgrades, or a new server set up in your own account.
Training and advice
Learning to run your shop or members' area, or talking through your options before adding one.
Nothing reaches your live site untested
I learned this the hard way. Years ago, a raft of plugin updates on a client's live site set off a clash. Working out which plugin was clashing with which, and which versions would stop it, took me two days under pressure while the client lost business. It wasn't good for either of us. It hasn't happened since, because I changed how I work.
Every site I look after now has a full change history: every change is recorded and can be undone. Updates go first to a staging site, a private copy of your site that the public never sees. If a plugin clashes, I find and fix it there, and your visitors never know. Only tested changes go live, in one step.
You still edit pages, posts and images in the WordPress admin, exactly as before. Plugins, updates and code are the changes that can break a site, so I look after those and test each one before it reaches yours. If you want a new plugin, just ask.
| Topic | The usual way | My way |
|---|---|---|
| Updates | Clicked in the live site and hoped for the best | Tested on a copy, then deployed |
| If something breaks | Restore a backup, if there is one | Roll back to the last working version |
| Record of changes | None | Every change logged |
| Editing pages and posts | In the admin | In the admin, exactly as before |
| Installing plugins and updates | Anyone with admin access | Done by me, or another developer |
| If you change developer | Anyone can pick it up | They need to know this setup, or I switch updates back to the admin |
The trade-off is real: plugins and updates go through a developer, not a button in the admin. That button is the risky part, though. Plugins do clash, sites do break, and on a live site there's often no easy way back. You won't need to do updates at all, because that's my job.
If you ever want to run updates yourself again, I can switch the button back on in a few minutes, and your site keeps working. From then on the change history no longer applies, so you'd be back to the usual way, with its risks.
If your site runs on a server I've set up, deployments are fastest and most reliable. If you'd rather stay where you are, that's fine. I'll still work this way and deploy to your existing hosting.
You own everything
I work inside your accounts. You can take it all elsewhere whenever you like.
- Hosting
Your hosting account is in your name. I have access, and you can remove it at any time.
- Backups
Your backups are kept in your hosting account.
- Code
Your site's code lives in a repository you own, such as your own GitHub account.
- Leaving
You get every login, the full history of changes, and a short note on how it all fits together. Then I remove my access.
Where AI fits in
I avoided AI tools for a long time. Slowly I've come round to them, for the parts of the job where they help: getting through routine code faster, and testing more thoroughly than I'd have time to by hand.
The decisions stay mine. I read and check everything before it goes near your site, and nothing goes live untested. Your passwords and keys never go into an AI tool.
The human parts stay human: talking with you, understanding what your site is for, and anything creative. When you email me, you get me.
Start with a health check
I look through your site's files, plugins, speed and server, and send you a written report of what I find and what I'd fix. The report is yours to keep, whatever you decide.
Ongoing care
£65 a month
- A full maintenance session every quarter, tested on a private copy first
- Urgent security patches between sessions
- Uptime and security monitoring
- Priority help at my normal hourly rate
£85 a month if your site stays on hosting I didn't set up, because deploying there takes longer. Content edits and new features are billed hourly. Monthly rolling, one month's notice.
- Site health check
- £195
- Fixed price. Very large sites quoted.
- Setup
- usually £65–£195
- Putting your site into my setup, depending on its condition.
- One-off maintenance session
- usually £65–£195
- For sites not on a plan.
- Moving to a new server
- quoted
- Needed about every four years as server software reaches end of life. Priced after the health check.
- Hacked-site recovery
- quoted
- Priced after a first look.
- Hourly work, training and advice
- £65/hour
- One hour minimum.
A WordPress and server specialist on call
I work as a subcontractor or under your brand: WordPress, Bedrock and Trellis, server work and security clean-ups.
£65/hour · £390/day
For developers
Sites run on Bedrock, with WordPress and plugins managed by Composer. Servers are provisioned and deployed with Trellis. Everything is in Git. These tools from the Roots team changed how I work with WordPress, and I'm grateful to them. A change travels like this:
- 1 · Local
My copy
A virtual machine matching the live server.
- 2 · Git
Your repository
Every change committed, in your account.
- 3 · Staging
Test server
The update is checked on a full copy of the site.
- 4 · Live
Your site
Deployed in one step, on your hosting.
Rob Record
I spent eight years at a WordPress agency before going freelance. I also have a background in sound engineering. I live and work in Midhurst, West Sussex. Fairly decent human being.
Recent work
- Site name and linkOne line on what was done.
- Site name and linkOne line on what was done.
- Site name and linkOne line on what was done.
Tell me about your site
Answer what you can. "Don't know" is a fine answer.