The 10 common website maintenance costs
Many website owners don’t calculate the website maintenance costs. Everyone knows that you have to invest money to build a website. Few understand that there are other expenses you have to settle to keep a website up and running. To keep your site functioning, you need to double your efforts and pay some expenses. Here, you will get a primer on website maintenance cost that you need to service.
What is the cost of maintaining a website? What are the outcomes of the maintenance? The answers to these two questions depend on the type of website you have. Here are some estimates of typical maintenance costs for diverse website categories.
A hobby website
You will only pay for the domain and hosting plan on this website because you will do other things independently. The cost ranges between USD3 to USD25 per month.
Personal blog or website
The maintenance costs here are somehow like those of a hobby website. When you use website builders, the costs are almost the same every month. You will need to part with USD3 to USD25 every month.
A business website
It costs between USD15 to USD2750 per month. The common factors in this website category are:
- Hosting
- Domain
- Email marketing
- Technical maintenance
- Graphics
Depending on the business size and your needs, you may find an upper or lower range.
e-Commerce site or an online store
Here you will pay between USD25 to USD6000 per month. You will pay for:
- Hosting
- Domain
- Graphics
- Email server
- Technical support
- Tracking, security
- Email marketing
- Analytics
The need and cost of the above categories depend on your store size.
Enterprise-level website
It’s the most expensive website you can own. For this type of business, be ready to pay between USD5150 and USD9740 per month. It’s costly to maintain this type of website. Here the services offered are top-notch features and architecture that come at a cost.
The common cost factors
The costs mentioned above are the bare minimums that you will face. Let’s now look at the common expense in detail.
Domain registration
The price of a domain depends on your domain registrar and the domain ending that you choose. The cost ranges between USD10 to USD20 per year.
Website hosting
Hosting needs depend on the size and type of the site. Extra performance and extra features will result in higher pricing. The cost runs between USD2 to USD500 per month.
Content
Content is vital in marketing to show the expertise level and get more visitors. It’s a type of a penny where maintenance can be costly. The rates for a good writer are about USD0.15 per word.
General updates
How much will you spend on keeping your website up to date? It will depend on the software you will use and whether you hire an expert to do it on your behalf. Hiring a developer to update your site will range between one to two hours per month. The cost will be between USD60 to USD80 per hour.
Designing updates
It involves design work like creating images for blog posts and making sales banners. It also deals with infographics, product images, and headers. You will pay between USD0 to USD 1,600 per month.
Technical support
It’s always good to hire an expert to offer support. You will pay between USD0 to USD3,000 per month.
Security
Security is very vital for your website to operate well. You will pay between USD0 to USD100 per year for this service.
Marketing, tracking and analytics
Tracking and analytics services will cost you up to USD300 per month. Marketing can cost you up to USD10,000 per month.
Conclusion
Website maintenance is vast and costly, depending on the location and type of the site. It’s good to maintain your site for it to survive well online.
