Maintenance Guide

GUIDES & INSTRUCTIONS

Client Maintenance Guide

Welcome to the Alt Creative family!

This page is your quick-start guide to how your maintenance plan works, what’s included, and how to get the most out of it. Bookmark this page for easy reference.

Getting Started

We’ll need the following logins to begin maintaining your site:

Hosting login (GoDaddy, WP Engine, Bluehost, Network Solutions, or other host)

Many hosts require 2-factor authentication. In order to give Alt Creative access without having to forward verifications codes to us, please add access@alt-creative.com Click to copyas a user on your account.

Here are instructions on how to add a user for common hosting accounts:

WordPress Admin login (Administrator access)

This is the login to your Wordpress site. You should set this up using as the email address access@alt-creative.com Click to copy

Google Analytics access (Optional)

This is only needed if you’d like analytics included in your reports. You should set this up using as the email address access@alt-creative.com Click to copy. Don’t have Analytics? We can set it up for you, just let us know, but submitting a request.

IMPORTANT: For security reasons, please do not send credentials by email.
Instead, use your exclusive Client Info Folder on Google Drive. Inside it, you’ll find a Password File where we’ll store any credentials needed for the maintenance system and for your requests. You can also use this folder to securely upload any large files you’d like us to have.

Can't find the link to your Project Folder?
Email us at requests@alt-creative.com or submit a request and we'll send you the link again.

What to expect

Once we have gathered your website information, we’ll set you up on our monthly maintenance system, including uptime monitoring, automated backups, daily security checks and more.

  • Initial Benchmark Report: Within 7–10 days after setup, you’ll receive a benchmark report showing site performance, security, and update status.
  • Ongoing Maintenance: We update WordPress core, plugins, and themes, run backups, and perform security checks on a regular basis.
  • Monthly Reports: You’ll receive a summary of updates, backups, and performance metrics by email each month.
  • Priority Requests: As a maintenance customer, if your plan includes allotted labor hours, your updates take priority over non-maintenance customers.

Sending Requests

Need something updated? You have two options:

We’ll reply within 1 business day to confirm your request and timeline. We recommend starting with the preferred option of submitting your request via the request form. Using the form ensures we get all the important details up front so your request can be handled quickly and accurately. Any follow-up questions, confirmations, or discussions about your request will happen via email.

Tip: Not sure what to send? Many clients start with:

  • Adding/editing team members on the about page
  • Updating homepage images or seasonal text
  • Publishing a blog post

FAQs

Feel free to submit a request if you have any other questions.

As many as you want! We don't restrict the amount of requests that can be sent, however we do restrict the amount of hours required to perform the update request. If the request falls within your plan's allotted maintenance hours, then we'll perform the maintenance task and alert you when it is completed.

If we believe a task will take longer than the allotted hours in your plan, we'll let you know so you can choose to be billed separately for the additional requests. Our hourly overage rate for maintenance customers is $150/hr and we will always give you a guaranteed quote for your approval before starting any work.

Please note that your allotted maintenance hours do not include phone consultations or trainings. Those will be billed separately at our rate of $150/hr.
The point of having a maintenance plan in place is to prevent issues like this, but no site or plugin is fail-proof. In the event that this occurs and we don't catch it, contact us immediately and we will work quickly to resolve it.
As a Proactive Maintenance customer, we will fix any issues with malware for free. Our security checks are in place to prevent hacking incidents, but hackers are smart! If we can't fully remove the malware manually, we will get your approval to restore the site from a backup if necessary.
Of course! Your site belongs to you and we are here to support you. Should you have trouble making any updates on your own, don't hesitate to reach out. We're also here for you if you decide you don't want to mess with updating on your own. Just send us your request and we'll get to work.
We track the hours you've used each month, but at the moment we don't have a way to hook that data into our portal. We are working on it! In the meantime, if you're unsure how many hours you have left, submit a support request and we'll be happy to let you know.
We know that website updates don't always follow the calendar. On our plans, unused labor hours roll over to the next month, however they expire after the month after that. For example, if it's August and you did not use your July hours, you can use them during the month of August (along with your August hours, of course). However, once September comes around, your July hours will have expired. This helps you bank some hours for some of those larger updates.

Pro Tips for a Smooth Partnership

  • Bookmark this page! It’s your one-stop reference for everything maintenance-related.
  • Keep your hosting and domain billing info up to date to avoid downtime.
  • Let us know before you install new plugins—we’ll check compatibility.
  • Use the support form for requests whenever possible (it ensures nothing gets lost in email threads).