Manage 20
like they're one.
One engineer, one dashboard, one report. Across your whole WordPress fleet. Same discipline whether you run 5 sites or 50.
What "fleet-grade" actually means
One update cadence
Every site on a rolling window. Staged first, smoke-tested, then production. Rollback ready before the button gets pressed.
Real monitoring
Uptime plus per-page integrity checks. If a homepage silently 500s or gets defaced, I know before your Slack does.
Verified backups
Off-site to independent storage, restore-tested monthly. A backup that hasn't been restored isn't a backup.
Fleet-level dashboard
One control plane. Green, amber, red across every site, every plugin, every backup. No hunting through 20 admin panels.
Single monthly report
Per-portfolio rollup: risk score, uptime, work done, work planned. In language your CMO can forward.
One human on WhatsApp
Same engineer, every time. No rotating ticket queue. No 'let me escalate.' No 'we'll look into it.'
“Running 20 sites isn't running one site 20 times. It's a different discipline.”
Who this fits
Franchises
Regional sites running the same template. 40 dentists, 20 gyms, 15 clinics. One template drift means 40 emergencies. Fleet cadence stops that.
Multi-brand operators
Holding companies running 5 to 20 distinct brands on WordPress. Different stacks, one operational rhythm.
In-house marketing teams
You have designers and content writers, not a devops person. I become the on-call WordPress engineer without the headcount.
Publishers with sub-sites
Main site plus microsites for campaigns, events, whitepapers. All need the same discipline. None justifies a full-time hire.
At 5+ sites. Flat-fee retainer above 25. Hour bank scales with fleet size.
Batched. Every site audited, hardened, backed up, and staged before its first update.
Site-down. Four hours degraded, next business day for cosmetic. One human on WhatsApp.
FAQ
Who is this for?
In-house marketing teams, franchises, multi-brand operators, and holding companies running 5 to 100 WordPress sites where updates, security, and uptime keep slipping between owners. If you're an agency reselling to clients, see the white-label page instead.
How is running 20 sites different from running 1?
One-off effort compounds. A plugin CVE means 20 update windows, 20 rollback plans, 20 smoke tests. Without a fleet-level cadence you either fall behind (security risk) or freeze updates (technical debt). I run this cadence for 150+ sites. Same rhythm every week.
What tools do you use for fleet management?
ManageWP or MainWP as the control plane. Uptime monitoring with per-page integrity checks (not just 200 OK, actual content-hash checks). Verified off-site backups to independent storage. A single monthly rollup report per portfolio.
Can you take over sites that are already messy?
Yes. That's most of the fleet on day one. Audit, hardening, backup baseline, staging, first update window. Nothing goes to production without a rollback plan. Older sites get triaged, not blindly updated.
What does a monthly report actually contain?
Per site: updates applied, updates rolled back and why, uptime %, security events, Core Web Vitals delta, backup verifications, and hours consumed vs plan. Portfolio-level: fleet-wide risk score, sites needing attention, and next month's planned work.
Can I add or remove sites mid-contract?
Yes. Fleet contracts are per-site, pro-rated. Add a site any time. Remove with 30 days' notice. No penalties for portfolio churn. That's normal for growing groups.
Where to go next
White-label version
Same fleet discipline, resold under your agency's brand at 30% off retail.
Read →Fleet architecture consulting
Not sure yet whether to consolidate, multisite, or stay distributed? Book a strategy hour.
Read →Per-site security audit
Standalone security review of any single site in a portfolio, at any time.
Read →