How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Website?

With well over 1 billion websites online, if you’re looking to join their ranks, you might be concerned about website maintenance cost. If you’re just starting your business or you’re running on a shoestring budget, it can be scary to think about adding more expenses.

There are different options when you want to keep your website running. Continue reading this article to learn more about website maintenance fees and how much you can expect to spend.

What Is Website Maintenance?

Someone might have told you that you’ll need website maintenance plans to keep your website up, but you might not know what it is. To put it simply, website maintenance is the act of consistently checking your website for any issues and fixing them as needed as well as keeping up with any necessary tools.

Domain Name

Before you can have a website, you have to have a domain. Domains cost anywhere from $10 – $20 per month, depending on your domain registration service.

Website Hosting

Your website hosting is where your website lives. The smaller your website is, the less hosting will cost you. Small blogs can start at $2 a month, while large eCommerce businesses may mean paying up to $500 a month.

Content Creation

Your website needs consistent content, which means you’ll either have to create it yourself, or you’ll have to pay for it. Most good writers start out at fifteen cents or more per word, so the more content you need — the more it costs. 

Email Server

Hosting providers usually offer an email server for around $5 per month.

Website Updates

General website updates or design updates will take up some of your website budget. You might hire someone to keep your website up to date technically and aesthetically.

General updates are less expensive at around $200 a month, but design updates can cost in the thousands depending on how big of an update you need.

Tech Support

If your website has a problem, who are you going to call to help you? Having a reliable company to depend on means you could pay a retainer fee, or you might pay by the incident.

A retainer might be anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to $3,000, or you can hire someone by the hour for around $60 an hour.

Security

Protecting yourself from spam, keeping your website updated, and warding off malicious attacks means you’ll need to put out around $100 per month.

Analytics and Tracking

Analytics might not cost anything if you’re happy with Google Analytics. If you need more complex and in-depth systems, then you might need to put out around $100 per month.

Marketing

Marketing your website can be considered maintenance. With no visitors, your website won’t be helpful to your business. You can either DIY your marketing and pay $0, or if you need more help, you can pay anywhere up to $10,000 depending on the level of help you’re getting.

Understanding Website Maintenance Cost

Now you know more about website maintenance cost. You can make a decision on which choices look like the best options for you.

Do you want to learn more about websites, business, and other important topics? Keep reading our website to learn more about topics that are important to you.