Understanding Website Maintenance Costs in 2023

 

Curious about the expenses of maintaining your website? This article provides a comprehensive breakdown of the nine crucial factors influencing website maintenance costs.

The cost of website maintenance can vary depending on the platform, features, and services. Knowing your requirements will enable you to establish a suitable budget for website upkeep.

Upon creating a website, there are eight fundamental expenses associated with website upkeep. The amount you’ll spend on website upkeep largely depends on the type of website you have.

This article presents the average monthly maintenance expenses for various types of websites, ranging from basic blogs to e-commerce stores.

The 8 Essential Website Maintenance Costs

1. Domain Name

• Average Annual Costs: R150 – R250 for registration, R100 -R200 for renewals
• Necessity Level: Essential

2. Web Hosting

• Average Monthly Costs: R100 – R150, based on provider, type, and subscription duration
• Necessity Level: Essential

3. SSL Certificate

• Annual Costs: Free, included in your hosting fees
• Necessity Level: Essential

4. Tech Support

• Monthly Costs: R500 – R1000
• Necessity Level: Important

5. Content Publishing

• Monthly Costs for Professional Design: R500 -R1000, depending on the amount of new content you publish each month
• Necessity Level: Important

6. Plugins and Extensions

• Monthly Costs: R0 – R500, depending on your subscription fees
• Necessity Level: Optional

7. eCommerce Features

• Monthly Costs for Regular-Sized Stores: R1000 – R2000
• Necessity Level: Essential

8. SEO

• Monthly Costs: R500 – R1500, depending on the number of pages in your website- Necessity Level: Important

Ultimately, you have two main approaches to website maintenance:

1. Do It Yourself: This is suitable for small business websites or personal blogs. Website owners who choose this option handle technical tasks independently to minimize maintenance costs.
2. Hire a Professional: This provides expertise and efficiency in exchange for higher website maintenance rates. It allows site owners to focus on tasks unrelated to website maintenance.

Certain website types, such as eCommerce sites, may incur additional maintenance expenses due to payment systems, inventory management plugins, and other necessary tools for running an online business.

Whether you are currently maintaining your own website, or you are outsourcing your maintenance, check out this maintenance checklist (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mUQeX5nDvqj4-6FGvOKLuRnI4Y-4y-1I/view?usp=share_link ) to make sure it’s being done properly!

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