You mean I have to pay for my website to be designed AND pay for ongoing maintenance?
You better betcha!
Your website does many wild and wonderful things, but it doesn’t have a mind of its own.
Like the Great and Powerful Oz, you need a man (or woman) behind the curtain, pulling the right strings to keep everything running smoothly.
Times change. Styles and trends evolve. Websites glitch. Plugins and code become outdated.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on what Google thinks of “static” websites that just sit around on their bums.
Before we jump into specific pricing, let’s cover some basics: why WordPress website maintenance is necessary and what factors can play into the cost.
Why Does My WordPress Website Need Ongoing Maintenance?
When you hire an agency (or a freelancer) to maintain your website, they’ll check it regularly for glitches, mistakes, and potential issues.
Web maintenance is ongoing and repeats year over year. Specific tasks should be done weekly, monthly, quarterly, and once a year to keep everything in tip-top shape. A healthy website is essential in helping you continue to grow your business successfully.
Updates and Security
WordPress needs to be updated and backed up frequently. The designer of the template used to build your website may add new features that could benefit your business. Plugins and software often need updating to get rid of bugs and outdated components. Keeping your website up to date will also help it work faster and more efficiently for visitors and customers.
Security updates are the number one reason you need website maintenance. Security-related tasks can be time-sensitive. If someone isn’t watching and updating your website regularly, it could become a dangerous platform for anyone who uses it.
Someone could hack into your site and steal information, which happens every 39 seconds (2,244 times per day). You could have spammers running rampant if you don’t pay close enough attention. Malware could sink its dirty claws in and do some nasty damage.
According to Varonis, 64% of Americans never check for data breaches. But the cost to fix a data breach can be millions of dollars – $8.64 million on average in the U.S., to be precise. Scared yet?
Sometimes, components of your website stop working for no apparent reason. If you notice something’s wrong or acting funny, call your web designer to fix it for you as soon as possible – especially if it has to do with security.
Google and SEO
You need to update your website content continually so that everything remains current and relevant to your target audience. If your content becomes outdated, links break, or other SEO-related issues arise, Google can penalize your website. When this happens, your content can drop in rankings, throwing all of your hard work off-kilter. If it’s really bad, Google might even deindex some of your pages.
Analyzing your website statistics regularly and making updates accordingly to continue improving content and user experience will keep search engines happy.
Customer Engagement
When someone’s looking for a service like yours or for a product you offer, they want to find a solution quickly. And they want to buy from a company that looks trustworthy and established.
They’ll choose to work with a business with a quality website – one that’s secure, attractive, modern, and has killer content. You simply can’t accomplish all that with an outdated or unmonitored website.
What will website maintenance cost to outsource?
The answer to this question depends on several factors:
- Size
- Purpose
- Audience
- Complexity
If you have a personal blog or small hobby website, web maintenance won’t cost you much because your website will have few needs. WordPress is a self-hosted platform. You’ll be required to pay for your domain and hosting, but you can get away with just that if you want.
Personal websites can cost as little as $15 to $30 per month. Personal bloggers often update their own websites. Just make sure to stay on top of it if you do!
A small business website will cost a bit more and require more attention – around $30 to $100 a month for standard maintenance.
A large business or e-commerce website could cost $100 to over $2,000 per month, depending on the size and complexity.
Last but not least, a custom-built website that requires more time, attention, and care could cost over $2,000 monthly to maintain. If you need your custom site to be in top working condition at all times, you may need to hire an expert team of developers to make it happen.
Keep in mind that it can potentially cost more in the long run not to maintain your website (cue security breach). Make sure you prioritize value over cost when looking to outsource website maintenance tasks. The future of your business could depend on it.
WordPress Website Maintenance
If you’re not already updating your website regularly, it’s time to get on it. Ongoing maintenance will make your website more secure, faster, easier to use, and so much more fun to visit.
Our website maintenance packages include security and updates, ongoing support (a real person!), regular backups, hosting, and SEO. We’ll handle all the important stuff so you don’t have to worry a smidge.
Book a consult with us for a no-cost phone call. We’ll have a chat about your business website and let you know how we can help you best.