Website Maintenance Essentials and Cost Guide for Your Business
In addition to routine maintenance, costs such as website plugins, design updates, and search engine optimization (SEO) are essential to enhancing your site’s functionality and driving traffic. The amount you invest in these areas will depend on the unique needs of your website.
Domain Registration ($10-$20/year)
A professional website requires a domain. While free domains under a subdomain are available, they are typically not suitable for anything beyond hobby sites. The annual cost of your domain depends on the registrar you choose and the domain extension. Unless you're after something particularly unique, you can expect to pay within this range.
Web Hosting ($200-$500/month)
The size and complexity of your website will determine its hosting needs, and more advanced features and better performance will lead to higher costs. For a professionally focused website, you’ll need to budget for a paid hosting plan, as free options are generally insufficient for business use.
Monthly Content Updates ($0-$3,000+)
Content is key to marketing, showcasing expertise, and attracting search engine traffic. While creating content yourself only costs time, many businesses opt to outsource writing. Freelancers charge around $0.15 per word, meaning four 2,000-word articles per month could cost around $1,200. Premium writers may charge more, and your content needs will vary depending on your strategy, potentially pushing costs up to $3,000 or more.
General Website Updates ($0-$200/month)
The cost of keeping your website up to date depends on the software you use and whether you hire professionals. If you manage updates yourself through platforms like WordPress, there may be no cost other than for paid themes or plugins. However, hiring a developer to handle updates costs around $60-$80 per hour, with most updates taking one to two hours each month.
Design Updates ($0-$1,600/month)
Ongoing design work involves tasks like creating graphics for blog posts, banners, and product images. While you can handle this yourself using various tools, hiring a professional web designer ensures high-quality results. Rates typically start at $65 per hour.
Technical Support ($0-$3,000+/month)
The amount you spend on technical Support depends on how much you handle yourself versus what you outsource. For simple tasks, you can hire developers on platforms like Codeable for around $60/hour. If you need ongoing technical Support or a comprehensive maintenance plan, expect to budget at least $60 per month.
Website Security and Insurance ($0-$100/year)
Cybersecurity is essential for every website. This includes spam protection, backups, malware scans, and more. Depending on your web host and security requirements, you may need additional measures such as premium security plugins ($51-$100/year). If you manage sensitive information, an SSL certificate is a must, which ranges from free options (e.g., Let’s Encrypt) to paid certificates ($9.99-$64.99/year).
Analytics and Tracking ($0-$300/month)
Monitoring website performance is crucial for making informed decisions. Google Analytics is a popular free tool, but there are premium options with advanced features, which can range in cost depending on your needs.
Marketing ($0-$10,000+/month)
To grow your website’s audience and sales, marketing is essential. Costs can vary dramatically depending on your approach, from free tactics like social media engagement to paid options like email marketing, Google Ads, and SEO services . While the sky’s the limit in terms of how much you can spend, your marketing budget should align with your business goals, ensuring that you're generating more revenue than you’re investing.
A Breakdown of Website Maintenance Costs by Category
Failing to maintain your website properly can leave it vulnerable to security breaches, making it easier for hackers to access your site. Worse yet, without proper backups or updates, you may not be able to recover your site if it's compromised.
You’re probably asking, “How much will it cost to keep my website up to date?” and “What should I expect?” The answer depends on the type of website you have. Below is an estimated breakdown of average website maintenance services costs for different types of sites:
Personal Website or Blog ($3-$250/month)
Maintenance costs for a personal site or blog are similar to those of a hobby website. Platforms like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace typically offer monthly rates within this range.
Business Website ($15-$2750/month)
For a business website, expenses may include domain registration, hosting, email marketing, graphics, and technical upkeep. Costs will vary depending on the complexity of the site and the scale of the business.
E-Commerce Website/Online Store ($25-$6000+/month)
E-commerce sites will incur additional costs, including domains, hosting, email servers, security features, email marketing, technical Support, analytics, and graphics. The specific expenses depend on the size and needs of the online store.
Enterprise-Level Website ($5150-$9740+/month)
Enterprise websites are the most resource-intensive to maintain. These sites require advanced features, high-end design, and ongoing technical Support, resulting in significantly higher costs.
Website hosting and maintenance services for all websites typically include expenses like renewing domain names, web hosting fees, and securing SSL certificates, which are essential for keeping your website online and secure.
What Your Website Maintenance Provider Should Be Doing
It's essential to offer a comprehensive package of website hosting and maintenance services when maintaining a website. Here are the key services that should be included:
Regular Updates
Keeping your website updated is crucial for optimal functionality. No matter which CMS is being used, checking for and applying updates regularly is a must. This includes script updates, which help protect against vulnerabilities. Without consistent updates, websites become more prone to hacking.
Backup Management
Routine backups are non-negotiable for website maintenance. In case of a server failure or a cyberattack, having a backup of your site’s data and content ensures it can be restored quickly. It's critical to regularly back up the site's content, media, and templates and verify that these backups work by restoring them as needed to ensure continuous operation.
Security Protocols
Even high-profile websites are vulnerable to hacking, whether it’s defaced pages or malicious security breaches. Hackers can exploit unnoticed vulnerabilities, gaining access to the backend to use it for malicious activities like spam campaigns, which can cause significant slowdowns or get the site blacklisted. Every maintenance plan must include the latest security measures to protect against these threats.
Site Monitoring
Monitoring the website involves ongoing checks to ensure its availability and performance. This process includes automated testing or real-time user tracking to ensure everything is functioning as expected. Monitoring can be broken into three main categories:
-
Availability monitoring ensures the site or service is live.
-
Performance monitoring evaluates speed and efficiency.
-
Operational monitoring checks the overall functionality of the website.
Data Analytics
Analyzing visitor behavior and site performance through data analytics is an essential service. By regularly reviewing analytics, you can provide clients with insights that help them improve their site's engagement and effectiveness. Offering this as part of your service package allows you to help your clients grow while keeping them informed of key metrics.
Content Management
Consistently updating a website with fresh content is crucial for growth and visibility in search engines like Google. Most website owners don’t have the time to create or optimize new content regularly. By offering content creation or optimization services, you can help fill this gap. Providing tailored SEO content improves search rankings and site traffic, making it a win-win for both your clients and your business.
Website Support And Maintenance Services
Support is a catch-all service that ensures clients have somewhere to turn whenever they encounter issues. Common problems clients may face include content errors, user access difficulties, system crashes, hosting issues, and more. Offering round-the-clock Support will give your clients peace of mind, knowing that help is available 24/7. Understanding a client's needs early in the process can help tailor the Support they require for long-term success.
Key website maintenance tasks typically include:
-
Regular updates
-
Performing routine backups
-
Addressing 404 errors and redirects
-
Removing spam comments
-
Updating content
-
Testing page loading speeds
-
Checking opt-in forms and functionality