Your website is like an automobile- If you never check fluids or get a tune-up, it won’t work when you need it.
Maintenance of any website involves effort and those efforts are usually performed by a webmaster. If your business relies on the website to generate revenue it is considered a cost of doing business. The costs of development are known when you build the site but the cost to maintain a website is usually not apparent. Since the internet, search engines and code are constantly evolving you site must dance with the technology or lose your ranking.
So, when we discuss COST we must also include PERFORMANCE. Most websites are central to driving business revenue. To get more business, you’ll must ensure that your site stays current with the Internet technology changes, search engine deviations and programming code updates.
Large companies usually hire a webmaster as full-time employee who can troubleshoot their problems and keep the site current. Smaller businesses outsource. Both systems work if you hire the right person. A full-time webmaster salary starts at $6,000-10,000 per month or $40-65 per hour. Outsourced Webmasters charge from $50 per hour. Small website owners can expect to spend approximately $100 a month, and medium sized site owners (15-50 pages) can spend approximately $400 to $450 a month to a webmaster to monitor, consult, update, improve, change etc.
Here are the key elements that dictate the level of Webmaster support necessary. For these services you will need a webmaster who will be your go-to for monitoring and making updates-
- Hosting
Service
- Back Up Services
- Email Services
- Spam Services
- Virtual Private Networks
- Commercial Internet Connectivity
- Dedicated Servers
- Content Adding or Changes
- Design Changes
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Connectivity with 3rd party shopping
- PPC
- SEO
- Monitor Conversions
- Recommend New Features
- Keeping the site up to date
- Mobile responsive
- AMP Accelerate Mobile Pages
- SSL Certificates
- Cloudflare
- Credit Card processing
- Plugins
- Widget Support
All websites require maintenance, support, monitoring, changes and updates. You can include this cost in a contract as a monthly retainer or per hourly basis. The costs for maintenance can vary depending on what kind of website it is and the complexity. Prices range from $50/month for basic websites to $2,500/month for custom e-commerce sites.