So, you have successfully launched your website! It’s been a journey, but now you are at the finish line, and you are ready to open a bottle of champagne.
But wait:
Don’t celebrate just yet.
Have you considered the monthly maintenance costs of running your website? If not, don’t worry.
If you are wondering how much does it cost to maintain a website monthly, we’ve got the answer.
We have listed what you can expect to pay below.
Already know what to expect? Then you might consider checking out our “website designer near me” article, which contains tips on how to find the right web designer for your future endeavors.
What You Can Expect To Pay For Maintenance
The monthly cost of maintaining a website varies depending on its features.
With that said:
Monthly website maintenance runs anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars monthly.
Why the giant price gap, you might ask?
It’s all about the scale of your business, and your particular needs.
Some websites are huge and require a monumental amount of work to maintain. Other websites, mostly for small to medium-sized businesses, don’t require nearly the same effort.
Rest assured:
Wherever you are in your business journey, we offer professional solutions so that you can focus on running your business.
Remember, though, that whatever you do pay, the point is to ensure you fully understand what you are paying for, and why.
What exactly are the specific costs? Let’s take a look.
1. Web Hosting
The first cost is web hosting, which can be in the $15-$50 a month range for the bottom of the barrel solution. This is a place to park files, and recieve little to no support for your website.
For dedicated hosting, prices start around $100 monthly, and go up from there, depending on your needs.
2. Managed Web Services
Hosting alone is not the entire picture. A website is a living thing, requiring professional management to ensure its long term viability and health. Just parking your website files at one of the big box retailers and forgetting about it, is not a solution, and not recommended in any case. While this is a longer discussion, see this short video about what professional managed web services should be for any business, small or large:
3. Domain name
Your domain name will probably cost you $10 to $3o per year.
How much you pay depends on what domain name extension you are using. Dot com is the most expensive, and lesser-used domain extensions such as dot net and dot IO are cheaper. That being said, there are new TLD’s available and their initial cost could be more significant.
4. SSL Certificate
Every website should have an SSL certificate, some inexpensive hosting platforms charge separately, while professional managed web services such as ours includes this in the service.
5. Plugins
The cost for premium plugins ranges greatly. Some are free, some require a one time fee for use, while others are billed monthly or annually for licenses. The plugins you will need is specific to your use case, and should be planned in advance.
6. eCommerce
For eCommerce, we build with Shopify, and Woocommerce on WordPress. Pricing ranges for these services, but in short, WooCommerce is free out of the box, and premium plugin additions to it will improve its functionality.
Shopify plans range from $29 all the way up to $2,000 per month, plus transaction fees.
7. Web Maintenance Plans
Web design agencies offer site plans to take care of your updates and provide you with ongoing technical support. Remember, a website is a living thing, requiring care and attention. A lack of attention does not automatically mean disaster, but increases your chances of problems.
Ongoing support typically costs as little as $250 a month to potentially thousands of dollars monthly, again, very dependent upon your needs.
8. SEO and Digital Marketing
All SEO, content strategy, and digital marketing plans are bespoke. These are additional costs and depend heavily on your specific needs.
