What Does a Website Care Plan Actually Cover?
A website is not finished the day it launches — it is more like a premises that needs the locks checked, the insurance paid and the windows cleaned. This page explains, in plain English, what the monthly care fee actually buys an Irish small business and why it exists at all.
This is an explainer, not a price list. The full plan details, inclusions and exclusions are set out on the pricing page, and the terms behind them are in the Terms of Service.
The Six Jobs a Care Plan Does
Whether you buy care from us or from someone else, these are the six things that have to happen to keep a business website healthy. A care plan simply bundles them into one predictable monthly cost.
Hosting, SSL and domain connection
The site needs somewhere to live and it needs to load securely. Care covers managed hosting, the SSL certificate that keeps the padlock in the browser bar, and help keeping your domain connected correctly.
Security, backups and platform updates
The software behind a website ages. Technical platform care, website version history and database backups where applicable mean a problem can be rolled back instead of rebuilt, and the site is not left exposed to known vulnerabilities.
Fault support when something goes wrong
Contact forms stop sending, pages display oddly after a browser update, something breaks at 9pm. Care means there is someone whose job it is to fix it, rather than you searching for help mid-crisis.
Minor content changes
Prices change, staff change, seasonal offers change. A monthly allowance of minor text or image updates keeps the site accurate without you learning an editor or paying a project fee for a five-minute change.
Analytics and reporting
Google Analytics and Search Console set up properly, with a readable monthly report. You can see whether people are finding the site and making enquiries, instead of guessing.
Ongoing SEO and content growth
At the top level, regular SEO-focused articles built around your services, locations and customer questions — the slow, steady work that gives a website more chances to appear in search results over time.
“Why Am I Paying Every Month?”
It is a fair question, and most business owners have asked it about something — the alarm monitoring, the accountant, the van servicing. Here are the four most common versions of the objection, answered honestly.
“It’s just a monthly fee for nothing.”
It can feel that way in months when nothing visibly happens — the same way insurance does. The value shows up in the months when the form stops sending, the certificate expires, or an update breaks a page. Those are the months where having care in place costs far less than finding emergency help.
“My cousin set it up, I’ll just ask him.”
Fine when he answers. The risk with informal arrangements is that they are nobody’s priority, and nobody is watching the site between problems. A care plan is a defined responsibility with a name on it.
“I’ll deal with it when something breaks.”
That is a real option — but compare like with like. Emergency website help is charged at emergency rates, at emergency times, while enquiries are being lost. Care plans exist to make those months boring instead of expensive.
“I can update the site myself.”
For simple text changes, absolutely. What owners usually mean by ‘updating the site’ stops short of security updates, backups, monitoring and fixing faults — and that is the part that matters most when something goes wrong.
A Quick Map of the Three Levels
Our care plans run at €29, €49 and €99 per month plus VAT. This is a plain-language map of what sits at each level — the full feature lists, exclusions, minimum term and cancellation conditions are on the pricing page and in the Terms of Service.
| What is covered | Included at |
|---|---|
| Managed hosting, SSL and technical care | €29 / €49 / €99 + VAT / month |
| Help resolving technical faults | €29 / €49 / €99 + VAT / month |
| Analytics, Search Console and monthly reporting | €49 / €99 + VAT / month |
| Priority support and annual review | €49 / €99 + VAT / month |
| Minor text or image updates each month | €99 + VAT / month |
| Regular SEO-focused articles and content growth | €99 + VAT / month |
All monthly plan prices exclude VAT. New pages, redesigns, substantial content rewrites, advanced SEO campaigns and new functionality are quoted separately at every level — care plans keep the existing site healthy and growing, they are not a cover-all for new projects.
Related Reading
- Full pricing and care plan details
Setup packages and all three monthly care plans in full.
- What a website costs in Ireland
The wider cost picture, including the running costs above.
- Local SEO for Irish businesses
What the ongoing search work at the €99 level supports.
- General FAQ
Questions about process, ownership, timelines and support.
Care Plan Questions
Do I really need a care plan if my site is already live?
Nothing forces you to have one — but a live site without hosting, security updates and backups is like a van without tax and servicing. It runs until it doesn't. A care plan bundles the essentials into one small monthly cost so the site is not quietly degrading in the background.
What is the difference between hosting and a care plan?
Hosting on its own is just the space the website sits on. A care plan includes hosting but also the ongoing work around it: SSL, technical updates, backups, help with faults and, depending on the level, reporting, content changes or SEO articles. Hosting alone leaves all of that to you.
If my website breaks, is fixing it covered?
On our Website Care and Business Growth Care plans, help resolving technical website faults is included. What is not included is new work — new pages, redesigns or substantial content changes are quoted separately so you always know before agreeing.
Can I make my own text and image updates instead?
Of course, and many owners do for simple changes. The practical question is time and consistency — if updates keep slipping to next month, a small allowance of done-for-you changes each month keeps the site current without it living on your to-do list.
What do I actually get from the reporting?
Analytics and Search Console data turned into a readable monthly picture: how many people visited, where they came from, which pages they used and whether enquiries are trending up or down. It exists so you can see whether the website is earning its keep, not as decoration.
Is ongoing SEO part of a care plan?
On the Website Care + SEO Growth plan, yes — that plan adds regular SEO-focused articles and content around your services, locations and the questions customers ask. The lower plans cover technical care only; active content growth is the difference between them.
Am I locked into a long contract?
The minimum term and cancellation conditions are stated in your written quotation and in the Terms of Service before you agree to anything. You will know the exact commitment up front — there are no hidden lock-ins.
Can you take over a website you did not build?
In most cases, yes. We would first look at how the existing site is built and hosted to confirm we can support it properly. If it is on a platform we cannot responsibly maintain, we will tell you that rather than take your money and hope.
More general questions are answered on the FAQ page.
Want Care Sorted for Your Website?
Tell me a little about your business and your website — whether we built it or not — and I will come back with a straight recommendation on which level of care, if any, actually makes sense for you.