Website Care Plan
A website care plan is a recurring service, usually billed monthly, in which a designer or agency looks after a client’s website after launch. It typically covers small content changes, updates, monitoring and support, with a set number of hours or requests included each month and extra work billed separately.
What a Website Care Plan Covers
Care plans vary, but most include some of the following:
- A set amount of edit time each month, such as an hour or a number of small requests.
- Content updates: new team members, prices, events, blog posts.
- Regular checks that forms, links, checkout and third-party tools still work.
- Basic search and performance reviews.
- A response time for requests, so the client knows when to expect an answer.
What’s outside the plan matters as much. New pages, redesigns and new features are usually quoted as separate projects.
Most designers offer two or three tiers that differ by hours included and response time. A care plan works best when it’s offered at launch, as the next step after handing off the site, rather than months later when the first urgent request arrives.
Care Plans on Squarespace
Squarespace is a hosted platform, so there are no plugins, themes or server software for you to patch. That changes what a Squarespace care plan is for. Clients aren’t paying you to keep the site running; they’re paying for your time, attention and skill.
In practice, that means content changes the client doesn’t want to make, design tweaks, checking custom code still works after Squarespace updates, keeping Code Injection tidy, and advice when they want to try something new. Our guide to running a Squarespace care plan covers pricing and setup.
Running a Care Plan Day to Day
The hard part of a care plan is not the work. It’s tracking requests across clients and knowing when a client has used their hours. Every request should be logged with the date, what was done and how long it took.
Bridge can handle the request side for Squarespace clients. Clients send requests from the editor widget or their client portal, each one becomes a task, and you can mark a task Hourly and run a timer on it. Work beyond the plan can be set to Fixed cost or Hourly and paid through your Stripe account. Bridge doesn’t send standalone invoices, so the monthly plan fee itself is billed however you bill today.
Common Care Plan Mistakes
- Selling “unlimited small changes.” Clients and designers rarely agree on what small means.
- Letting unused hours roll over forever, which turns into a backlog you owe.
- No written response time, so every request feels urgent.
- Taking requests by text and email, then forgetting one.
Common Questions
Does a Squarespace site need a care plan?
It doesn’t need one to stay online, because Squarespace handles hosting and software. Clients buy care plans for ongoing edits, checks and someone to call.
What is the difference between a care plan and a retainer?
The terms overlap. A care plan usually means a packaged maintenance service, while a retainer often reserves a block of a designer’s time for any kind of work.
How do you price a website care plan?
Most designers start from the hours they expect to spend each month and their hourly rate, then package it into tiers. Write down what each tier includes and what costs extra.
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