Maybe a customer told you your site sends them to a pharmacy page. Maybe your homepage was replaced, or a search for your business shows strange foreign-language listings. It feels personal, but it almost never is. Automated tools probe thousands of sites a day looking for old software and weak passwords, and yours was simply reachable. What matters now is the order you do things in.
The first hour
Do not try to fix the pages by hand yet. First, change the passwords for everything connected to the site: your hosting account, your site admin login, your domain registrar and the email address those accounts send reset links to. Do the email password first, because anyone who controls that inbox can reset all the others.
Then tell your host. Hosting companies see this every week and can often tell you what they found, whether other files were touched and whether the account has been suspended to protect other customers. Ask them to show you the dates of any recent backups, without assuming a clean one exists.
A calm checklist for the first day
- ✓Change passwords — email first, then host, registrar and site admin, each one different
- ✓Screenshot the damage — what visitors see, with the date, in case you need to explain it later
- ✓Check your other accounts — card processor, social pages and anything that shares a password with the site
- ✓Tell customers if needed — a short note on social media that the site has a problem and how to reach you
Why cleaning an old site is often the wrong goal
A hacked site usually has more than one problem. The way in was probably an out-of-date plugin, a weak login or a neglected theme, and those are still there after you delete the visible mess. Hidden files can sit quietly and reopen the door a week later. Many owners spend months cleaning and re-cleaning.
For a small business site that is mostly text, photos and a contact form, starting fresh on clean hosting is often faster and safer than trying to work out what is safe in the old one.
What we do
We rebuild your site from scratch on our managed hosting, using your logo, photos and the wording you can supply from the old pages. Nothing is copied across blindly. Your domain stays yours and we point it at the new site only after you approve it. Website Care at $30/month then covers HTTPS, backups, uptime checks and updates, so there is something to restore from next time.
We do not claim to remove malware from the old site, and we do not promise to recover its data or tell you how long a clean-up would take. We build a new, clean site and move your address onto it.
What helps us most
- ✓The web address — so we can see what is live right now
- ✓Screenshots of the problem — redirects, strange pages or warnings
- ✓Your logo and photos — or a note that they are missing
- ✓Your host and registrar names — so we can plan the domain switch
What to expect, honestly
- ✓We rebuild, we do not clean — the new site runs on our hosting, not on the compromised files
- ✓No data recovery promises — we work from what you can supply
- ✓No restoration time promised — scope decides the schedule, and we confirm it after we have looked
One example of what your site could look like
This is one sample we designed. Yours is built around your business, your photos and your words, and we have more examples if you want to compare directions.
What it costs
Websites are priced one-time by size, plus Website Care at $30/month for hosting, HTTPS, backups, weekly checks and A/B testing. Every package includes a consultation, mobile-friendly design, copy we write for you, a contact form, essential search setup and 10 revision rounds. Monthly SEO is an optional add-on when you are ready for it.
Optional add-ons, billed separately
The prices above are for your website. These two are separate monthly products you can add now or later. Neither is part of the website price.
Monthly SEO, from $50/month: new pages published on your site every month. See Monthly SEO →
Business Spotlight, from $30/month: articles about your business, labeled as paid, published on The Company Chronicle. See Business Spotlight →
How it works
1. Consultation
We learn your services, customers and goals, in English or Spanish.
2. We write and design
We draft the words and build the site around your business.
3. 10 revision rounds
You review and request changes until it is right.
4. Launch and care
We launch, then Website Care keeps it hosted, backed up, checked weekly and A/B tested.
Keep reading
My website is down · My host is shutting down · Who owns your website · How it works
