WordPress rescue from a failed agency: a senior developer checklist
Rescuing a WordPress site from a failed agency starts before any code is touched. This is the checklist a senior developer works through to take over an inherited site cleanly.
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Maintenance and reliability
Articles on keeping websites stable: what maintenance actually includes, what site rescues involve and how to spot trouble before it costs you.
Maintenance is the dullest line item on a web budget and the one that pays back the most. Sites that get a small amount of regular attention almost never fail in expensive ways. Sites that are left alone for two years tend to fail in the same week as a product launch.
These posts are about what regular attention actually means. What a maintenance retainer should include if it is worth the money. How to tell whether your current developer is doing maintenance work or just being on standby for emergencies. How to budget for the things that are not visible: dependency updates, server upgrades, plugin renewals and the occasional database tidy-up. How to spot a site that is drifting toward a rescue before it gets there.
You will also find posts on site rescues themselves: what a proper rescue involves, how long it typically takes, what a triage call should cover and how to hand over a site to a new developer in a way that does not waste their first month. Most rescues could have been avoided with twenty minutes a month and a decent backup policy.
If your site has been quiet on the maintenance front for a while, start with what maintenance actually includes and why websites fail after launch. For ongoing cover, the support and maintenance service sets out what I include in a retainer.
What makes WordPress hosting good or bad
WordPress hosting reviews date fast. The principles do not. Here is what separates good hosting from bad, regardless of which vendor is fashionable this year.
WordPress maintenance cost UK 2026: what you should be paying
WordPress maintenance pricing in the UK ranges from £15 a month to £2,000 a month for the same described service. The difference is what is actually being done.
What you are actually paying for when you buy WordPress maintenance
WordPress maintenance plans look similar on the sales page. They behave very differently when something breaks. Here is the tier-by-tier breakdown of what you actually buy.
Managed vs shared WordPress hosting: the real trade-offs
Managed hosting and shared hosting solve different problems. Here is what you actually trade between them, beyond the marketing.
Why where your WordPress site lives matters for UK businesses
GDPR, latency, jurisdiction and recovery. The real reasons hosting location matters for UK businesses and when it genuinely does not.
The hidden risks of cheap WordPress maintenance plans
The cheapest WordPress maintenance plans skip the work that prevents real incidents. What you save in pounds you pay in risk.
WordPress maintenance for agencies: what white-label should actually include
A practical guide for digital agencies hiring a white-label WordPress maintenance partner. SLAs, branded reporting, escalation, technical depth and the bits to get in writing.
The fix took five minutes but cost you three weeks
Small website fixes rarely take long to implement. The weeks you spend waiting for a response cost more than the work itself.
Why websites fail after launch
Most website problems start small. A missed update, a plugin conflict, a hosting change. Understanding why sites fail helps prevent it.
What maintenance actually includes
Website maintenance is often sold vaguely. Here is what it should include, what it should not, and how to evaluate what you are paying for.
How to de-risk CMS updates
CMS updates break things. Not always, but often enough to make people nervous. Here is how to reduce the risk without avoiding updates entirely.
When to rebuild vs refactor
The temptation to rebuild from scratch is strong when code becomes difficult. Usually, incremental refactoring is the safer path.
Core Web Vitals in plain English
Google uses Core Web Vitals for ranking. Here is what they measure, why they matter, and what you can actually do about them.