Your website isn’t a “set it and forget it” asset. Did you know that 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses? Most UK companies still treat their site like a brochure, not a 24/7 business system.
If you’re a busy director or owner, you need a clear buying checklist. Simple questions. Straight answers. Lower risk. Better outcomes. We know tech, so you don’t have to.
At GorillaHub, we deliver fully managed websites with fixed, transparent pricing, 24/7 GorillaBot monitoring, care plans from £1/day, and deep integrations with your CRM and business tools.
Here are 10 checks to make before you buy a website support service.
1. Partnership and accountability
You need a partner, not a fixer. Clear ownership reduces risk and keeps momentum.
Ask and verify:
- Who is your named contact and escalation path?
- What do they own vs what you own (content, approvals, third-party tools)?
- How are requests logged, prioritised and tracked?
- What are the response and resolution targets for different priorities?
- How often will you get proactive reviews and recommendations?
GorillaHub care plans: fully managed, proactive support with 24/7 GorillaBot monitoring and plain-English monthly reports.
2. Scope of service (what’s included and what’s not)
Know exactly what you get for the monthly fee.
Ask and verify:
- Core platform, theme and plugin updates — how often?
- Security hardening and patching — included or extra?
- Content edits — how many per month?
- Performance tuning and speed optimisation — ongoing or ad-hoc?
- SEO maintenance — included or optional?
- Integrations with your CRM and business tools — build and support?
- Emergency support — included, with what limits?
- What’s explicitly out of scope and the rates for extra work?
Smart businesses choose providers who make the scope clear up front to avoid surprises.
3. Pricing clarity and contract terms
No hidden fees. No mystery “extras.”
Ask and verify:
- Fixed, transparent monthly pricing with a clear inclusions list
- Overage rates for additional work and how approval is handled
- Minimum term, notice period and cancellation process
- How and when prices may change
- Who pays third-party licences, hosting and CDN fees
- Invoicing and payment terms
At GorillaHub, care plans start from £1/day with fixed, transparent pricing.
4. Security standards that reduce risk
Protect customer data and your reputation.
Ask and verify:
- 24/7 security monitoring and active threat prevention (WAF)
- Critical patch SLAs (e.g. apply within hours, not weeks)
- Malware scanning and guaranteed clean-up included
- MFA for all admin access and least-privilege permissions
- Audit logs and change tracking
- SSL/TLS certificate management and HSTS
- Encrypted, off-site backups
- Documented incident response and breach notification
- GDPR compliance and a Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
GorillaHub’s GorillaBot provides real-time security monitoring so issues are caught before customers notice.
5. Speed, uptime and SLAs
Speed converts. Uptime protects revenue.
Ask and verify:
- Uptime SLA (e.g. 99.9% or better) and how it’s measured
- Monitoring frequency (every 1–5 minutes) and out-of-hours cover
- Response and resolution targets by priority (e.g. P1: respond within 15 minutes)
- Page speed targets and Core Web Vitals thresholds
- CDN, caching and server-level optimisation included
- Root-cause analysis reports for incidents
- Planned maintenance windows and notifications
Quick check: want a fast risk review of your site? Book a no-pressure 15-minute call.
6. Integrations and automation
Your website should work with your business, not sit beside it.
Ask and verify:
- CRM integration for lead capture and follow-up
- Booking, payment and invoicing workflows
- Reviews and social proof feeds
- Web chat for sales and support (e.g. Gorilla Chat)
- API/webhook automations and error handling
- Who owns API keys and where credentials are stored
- Test plans and rollbacks for integration changes
7. Monitoring, backups and recovery
Assume things will go wrong. Plan to recover fast.
Ask and verify:
- 24/7 automated uptime and journey monitoring with alerts to both teams
- Backup frequency (daily/hourly), retention (e.g. 30–90 days), and off-site encrypted storage
- Regular test restores and documented recovery steps
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
- Disaster recovery plan and communication templates
- Who gets notified and who leads during incidents
At GorillaHub, our GorillaBot checks sites every few minutes and we maintain encrypted, off-site backups with routine test restores.
8. Reporting and visibility
You need clear visibility so you can hold us to account.
Ask and verify:
- Monthly executive summary in plain English
- SLA performance: response times, resolution times, uptime
- Security, speed and Core Web Vitals trends
- Lead, booking and conversion reporting (where applicable)
- Access to a live dashboard and ticket history
- A clear action plan with owners and due dates
9. Access, ownership and handover
No lock-in. You stay in control.
Ask and verify:
- You own your domain, hosting, code and content
- You have admin access and permission management
- Passwords are stored in a secure vault and shared safely
- Documentation for setup, integrations and deployment
- Handover/offboarding steps and data export formats
- Licence keys registered to your company
- Change control for critical updates
10. Outcomes to expect
Buy results, not just hours.
Expect:
- Lower risk: fewer incidents and faster recovery
- Stronger security posture and compliance
- Faster pages and improved conversion rates
- Higher uptime and availability
- More qualified leads, bookings, reviews and payments from a smart website
- Predictable costs with fixed, transparent pricing
- Clear accountability with measurable SLAs and reports
Ask for case studies with before/after KPIs that match your goals.
Ready to choose with confidence?
Your website should be a 24/7 growth machine, not a liability. With GorillaHub you get fully managed websites, fixed transparent pricing, 24/7 GorillaBot monitoring, care plans from £1/day, and expert integrations with the tools you already use.
We focus on outcomes: qualified leads, bookings, reviews, payments and web chat — with accountability, SLAs and clear reporting.
Your business deserves website support that works as hard as you do.
