If you need help configuring your new hosting package, the best approach is to get some technical support. Most hosting companies provide support that is typically limited to troubleshooting, this means adding new features or changing existing setup may not be covered without additional fee.
This is where I may be of help with my Remote Technical Support services described below.
Whether it’s a one-time configuration or a long-term support, I’m sure I can help you with technical aspects of managing your website.
WordPress Maintenance
WordPress is a very popular software with a dynamic development and release cycle.
In addition to planned releases, WordPress is well known for promptly responding to any security threats by releasing mini-updates that you must deploy as soon as possible to prevent possible security breach.
WordPress Maintenance service I provide includes making a backup of your WordPress directory and database, updating WordPress to the latest version and installing the latest versions of plugins used on your website.
A once off review/update is most popular with my customers, however for a small fee I will gladly support your blog on the on-going basis – for example updating it to the latest WordPress release within 48h (usually much sooner!) of a release.
Backup and Recovery
You never know when you will need a backup of your website and data, but you can be certain such a day will come.
The most basic approach is to work with you to arrange for regular automated backups to be created on your hosting so that you can download them to your home PC. Such backups include not only files but also database backups, this helps us get a complete copy of your website backed up.
Next step would be to have your backups created and automatically uploaded to cloud storage (Dropbox is very popular if you need to frequently access individual files from your backups).
If and when something bad happens to your online project, I will assist with restoring it to the last backed up state.
As with any other service I provide, I’m quite flexible when it comes to suggesting and implementing solutions. If you already have backup and restore strategy configured, I may limit my services to just reviewing and testing your existing setup.
Log analysis
Most website owners only look at their website logs for two reasons: troubleshooting development issues and collecting/generating website traffic stats.
If you are not familiar with logging setup on your hosting, I should be able to help you get comfortable with finding where and what exactly is logged.
This said, the most benefit you may get from my Log Analysis service is when it comes to investigating performance or security issues.
You should also know that brief log assessment is done as part of my SEO Healthcheck service.
Webserver monitoring and stats
Once your website functions and looks exactly the way you want, it is time to establish some basic monitoring and logging.
Depending on your hosting plan, I can either guide you through a self-hosted setup or suggest a number of free online tools for monitoring your website availability.
If you are serious about your website’s performance though, you would have to consider a paid service which will provide extensive availability metrics and do basic alerts (most likely by email).
In addition to showing you all the most popular options and choices you have, I can work with you to establish a tailored monitoring for your Internet facing services – my server farm will be checking your website for specific content and alert should your web server or database server fail.
Non-blog software install
Although it’s entirely possible to deliver and support even complex projects using only WordPress and its vibrant plugins collection, there are specialised products that may give you better quality or flexibility to implement your idea.
With more than 20 years of working with various operating systems and software packages, I’m sure I can assist you with researching available products and getting a software of your choice deployed on your hosting. Naturally, you best bet would be to find an expert specialised in the software package you’re interested in, but I should be able to present you options and to help you pick the one that suits best.
If you require additional non-CMS software to be installed, chances are we can find packages standard for your OS or even compile software from source.
Dedicated hosting setup
Dedicated hosting is still a valid solution for services where fixed performance is important. Dedicated server is a natural progressing from a shared hosting because you end up with full access and control of hardware resources on the server.
Whether you’re just considering this as a way forward or need assistance with configuring your physical server to the point where it serves your pages correctly, I’ll be glad to discuss your situation and provide support.
Don’t be afraid to have your website limited by the available physical configurations though: the moment your service grows to be really big you’ll need to move into the cloud and embrace cloud based services like that offered by Amazon. Once the time is right, I’ll show you the way to do it.
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