FAQ
Questions, asked frequently.
Do I need a WordPress maintenance service?
That depends. Do you want to:
- Stop spending so much time working on WordPress?
- Optimize performance?
- Improve website security?
- Take advantage of new features?
- Backup your site frequently & securely?
- Get access to expert technical support & customer service?
These are the biggest reasons our members sign up for WordPress maintenance services. If you answered yes to any of the above, you could benefit from our services as well.
Expert WordPress maintenance keeps your site healthy so it can help grow your business. It’s hard to generate sales when your website is down, or Chrome flags it as unsafe, or you’re spending so much time on your site that you don’t have time for anything else.
Generally, if you have a business website and DON’T have a dedicated website developer/team, you probably need WordPress maintenance services. (Even if you do have a website developer, they might want to do more than troubleshoot the site all day. We recommend asking their opinion on this matter.)
Learn more about our top six reasons why we think you should use Barrel Roll.
Which plan do I need?
If you sell things on your website, you need the Premium plan. That gives us more development time to work with each month so we can be sure things are running smoothly.
If you’re not selling things online, things get more complicated. It comes down to a few things:
- Do you need more than one hour of development time per month on a regular basis? If so, you’ll want to look at Premium.
- Do you care about how your website ranks organically? Premium includes search engine optimization (SEO) services.
- Do you want to know when your most critical pages don’t look the way they should? Our visual content comparison system monitors them daily in the Premium plan.
- If you update your site frequently, you may want to consider Premium over Advanced as it includes daily backups rather than weekly.
Still have questions? Reach out. We’re happy to answer them.
What is your refund policy?
We think you’ll love Barrel Roll, but if for any reason you’d like to cancel your account after the first thirty days we’ll provide a prorated refund for any unused time left in your plan.
Do monthly development hours rollover?
Monthly development hours do not rollover. There are three reasons for this:
- It’s really tedious to track development time already – adding rollover would make that even more complicated.
- If we allowed members to rollover their time, we’re pretty sure a lot of folks would sit on their hours until the end of the year and then want to launch the next big thing right before the holidays. That’s not a good idea on a lot of levels.
- Most importantly, we want our members to stay engaged and excited about their websites. The best way to make your website work for you is for you (and us!) to work on it, and if you ignore it for most of the year, the return isn’t going to be there. By staying engaged with us and working on your site, you’re going to see more traffic and better results over the long term.
What information will you need from me?
In order to provide comprehensive WordPress support we’ll need an administrator account in WordPress and access to your server, usually through CPANEL or via your hosting account, so we can get everything setup and take care of any issues that arise. Other than that we just collect standard billing information and an Email address for notifications.
Does it matter who hosts my site?
A quality web host makes a huge difference in your site’s performance and can even improve your search engine rankings. If you’re happy with your current host then there is a good chance that everything will be Jake. For members who are having issues with their host or are looking for more performance we can point you toward affordable, high quality hosting providers that are tailored to your needs. Learn more about hosting here.
Can I upgrade after signing up?
Yes, you can upgrade at any time after signing up. You’ll see an option when you view your account settings. You can downgrade at any time, too.
Do you offer a discount for multiple sites?
We do! If you have multiple websites or a WordPress multisite installation please contact us for more information on pricing.
What if something breaks my site?
If a WordPress core, plugin, or theme update breaks your site we’ll either fix it or restore a backup. We always have a site backup available before we apply updates and test after. Sometimes plugins simply aren’t compatible with the latest version of WordPress or they are no longer being maintained by their developer. In those cases, we’ll do our best to find a replacement to recommend.
What types of updates do your plans cover?
We’ll update any themes or plugins that are installed on your site, but premium plugins and themes – those that have been purchased – must have valid and active licenses. We apply the following updates for free for members:
- All WordPress core updates are included.
- Plugins that are available from the WordPress plugin repository are included. All other plugins can be optionally updated using development hours.
- Themes that are available from the WordPress theme repository are included. All other themes can be optionally updated using development hours.
We don’t include paid (premium) plugins and themes in our standard updates because they often take more time to configure and test, and since we won’t have your license information, you’ll need to provide the updated plugins files or input the license on your site so we can update them for you.
We try to be fair about the time spent updating premium plugins and themes. More and more, those updates are one-click and therefore wouldn’t count against your development hours. However, there are still many circumstances where they must be updated manually.
Do members get premium plugins and themes for free?
Yes! Our Premium members have access to many fantastic plugins and themes completely free of charge! Learn more here.
What happens after I sign up for a barrel roll plan?
After joining, the first thing we’ll need from you is some Site Access information. That includes a WordPress administrator account and FTP/Server access. We can help you find this information if needed.
Next, we’ll complete an initial site assessment and run a series of benchmarks of your site to get a baseline to compare to after we start optimizing. We are typically able to make significant improvements in performance for our members and these first tests are what we use to measure our success.
Then we’ll
Finally, we will fix any critical issues we found during our initial assessment and take care of your immediate concerns.
Any Other Questions?
Didn’t find what you were looking for? We’re happy to answer any questions you have about our services.