Importance of Website Maintenance
A website is the public face of your business and needs to look and function its best. Regular website maintenance ensures that customers and clients can find what they need, and just like any physical store, it requires regular upkeep to stay attractive, functional and secure. Here are some reasons why routine maintenance is important:
- Security: Regular updates and consistent maintenance protect your website from security threats, malware, and hacking attempts.
- Improved Performance: Optimising your website’s performance ensures that it loads quickly, is easy to navigate and offers a smooth user experience.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Keeping your website up-to-date with fresh content, relevant keywords, and current best practices can help improve your search engine rankings.
- Brand Reputation: A well-maintained website builds customer trust and conveys a professional image.
- Cost Savings: Regular maintenance can help detect and fix issues before they become major problems, saving you more money and time.
Factors That Influence Website Maintenance Costs
Complexity of the Website
Aside from the hidden costs of outsourcing development offshore, several factors influence the cost of a website maintenance. Understanding these factors can help you plan and budget for the upkeep of your site.
Size and Complexity of the Website
The size and complexity of your website affect the cost of maintenance. Large websites with many pages and complex features will require more time and effort to maintain.
Type of Website
The type of website you have also impacts maintenance costs. E-commerce websites or bespoke applications, for example, require more frequent updates and security measures than simple informational based websites.
Frequency of Updates
Regular updates ensure that your website functions correctly and remains secure. How frequent your update is will affect the maintenance costs; however, it is important to note that not all updates are equal in importance.
Integrations and Customisations
Customisations and integrations, such as third-party plugins or custom coding, can be additional maintenance costs.
Web Hosting Option
The cost of web hosting plans is an ongoing expense that is paid yearly or on a monthly basis.
Security
Website security is essential to protect your website and your users’ data. The cost of security measures, such as secure socket layer (SSL) certificates or firewalls, can impact maintenance costs.
Content Management
Writing additional blog posts, updating product information, or other content updates can add to maintenance costs. Proper content management is necessary to avoid extra costs.
Support
The availability of support, such as a help desk or dedicated webmaster, can impact maintenance costs. This allows you to focus more on the business offering than having to worry about bug fixes, website updates, etc.
Accessibility
Making an accessible website for people with disabilities can be a factor in maintenance costs. Extra features like screen readers, voice recognition, high contrast mode and closed captioning can affect monthly website maintenance costs.
Essential Website Maintenance Cost
Web Hosting
Website hosting is the service that enables you to make your website accessible to the public via the internet. Web hosting providers give you space on their private servers to store your website files, and the hosting service ensures that your website is accessible to visitors 24/7. Web hosting prices are an ongoing expense to keep your website live and accessible to users.
Domain Name
A domain name is a unique address that identifies your website on the internet. It's the part of the website's URL that comes after the "www" and before the ".com," ".org," or other domain extensions. The cost of renewing your website address ranges from $10-$50, depending on the popularity and availability of your chosen domain name.
Website Support and Backup
Website support is essential to ensure that your website stays up-to-date, secure, and functional. Website support can include various services, such as technical support, customer service team, software updates, security checks, and more.
Regular website backups protect your site in case of data loss, hacking, or other disasters. Website backup services cost may vary depending on the service provider and the frequency of backups.
Content Updates
Quality content is important in promoting your website's search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings. Regular content updates are necessary to keep the website fresh and relevant. Ecommerce site owners usually hire employees for content creation. The average price of content like a blog post may vary based on the frequency and complexity of updates and research needed.
Security Patch Updates
Routine security checks and maintenance are necessary to protect your website from hacking, security breaches and other ever-evolving security threats.
For example, DDoS protection services protect against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which can take down a website by overwhelming it with traffic. DDoS protection services can range from free to thousands of dollars monthly, depending on the level of protection and the website's size.
Analytics
Frequent website analytics are essential to monitor website traffic, user behaviour, and other metrics. The cost of website analytics services may vary based on the complexity of the analytics.
A third-party tool can be implemented onsite, which requires paying a monthly / annual subscription fee. An example is Mixpanel, a website analytics tool focusing on user behaviour and engagement. Its pricing starts at $25 USD monthly for up to 1,000 monthly tracked users. The alternative is to use data from Google Analytics; however, this requires training to know how to implement the tracking and analyse the data.
Software and Plugin Updates
Regular software and plugin updates maintain website security and functionality. An example of a website plugin is Yoast. The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress offers a free version, while the premium version starts at $89 USD per year. The cost of updates may depend on the size of the website and the number of plugins used.
Website Types and Monthly Maintenance Costs
| Website Type | Monthly Maintenance Cost |
|---|---|
How Frequently Should Website Maintenance Be Performed
Website maintenance is an essential task that must be performed regularly to increase your website’s performance and ensure security and functionality. When a website is not maintained correctly, it can become slow, unresponsive, or even compromised by security threats. It is important to perform regular active maintenance to avoid such issues and ensure that your website performs well.
There is no set schedule for website maintenance, as the frequency can vary depending on the size and complexity of the website, as well as its specific needs. However, it is generally recommended to have ongoing website maintenance and perform security audits at least every quarter.
Should I Handle Website Maintenance Myself or Hire an agency?
Regarding website maintenance, site owners contemplate whether to handle the maintenance themselves or hire a professional website maintenance service. Yes, you can manage the maintenance yourself, but it is also important to understand that there are many benefits if you choose a professional website maintenance service.
Handling Maintenance Yourself
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Engaging an agency
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Tips for Reducing Website Maintenance Costs
How much does it cost to hire someone to build a website?
You can use several tips to reduce your website maintenance costs without sacrificing the quality or security of your website.
Here are some tips for reducing website maintenance costs:
- Use a reliable hosting service with high security and uptime guarantees.
- Automate routine maintenance tasks such as backups, updates and security scans to save time and reduce the need for manual maintenance.
- Use open-source software to save money on licensing fees and reduce the need for custom development.
- Regularly update software to prevent security breaches and reduce the need for more extensive maintenance.
- Minimise plugins as it can make troubleshooting and updating the website difficult.
- Implement caching to reduce website maintenance costs by reducing server load and improving website speed.
- Use a professional website maintenance service.
Website Maintenance Cost FAQs
What are the benefits of outsourcing website maintenance?
Several benefits of outsourcing website maintenance include:
- It saves you time and money
- You’ll have access to their expertise and resources
- Improve your website’s security
- You can get your website customised
What is included in a typical website maintenance package?
The specific services included in a website maintenance package can vary depending on the provider. Still, a typical website maintenance package may consist of regular software updates, security monitoring, backup services, technical support, performance optimisation, uptime monitoring and content management.
What are the risks of not performing regular website maintenance?
Failing to perform regular website maintenance can have serious consequences for businesses, including lost revenue, increased vulnerabilities, decreased search engine rankings, security breaches, website downtime and poor user experience. Irregular website maintenance can also result in a larger cost to upgrade to the current version as more extensions will be outdated.
Can website maintenance prevent cyber attacks and other security issues?
Routine website maintenance is essential for web security and can help prevent cyber-attacks and other security issues. Website owners can ensure their website is secure and protected from potential security threats by performing regular software updates, security scans, backups, password management, user access management, and using SSL certificates.
What kind of website maintenance tasks can I perform myself?
There are several website maintenance tasks that website owners can perform themselves without the need for professional assistance. Performing these tasks can help to keep your website running smoothly and efficiently and also save you money on website maintenance costs.
Here are some website maintenance tasks that you can perform yourself:
- Updating website content to improve user engagement and search engine rankings.
- Backing up website data to avoid data loss.
- Updating of website software, including the content management system and plugins; however automatic updates without taking the proper steps to ensure extension compatibility might result in undesired behaviour.
- Check the website for broken links to prevent user from running into error messages.
- Reviewing website security and ensuring that passwords and user access management are up-to-date to prevent security breaches.
- Taking caution when connecting to public WiFi connections.
Apply the Latest Trend on Your Website With Butterfly
Ready to take control of your website maintenance costs and ensure that your website runs smoothly and efficiently? Look no further than Butterfly – the leading digital agency in Melbourne, Australia. Our team of professional developers can help you with all aspects of website maintenance, from regular updates and security checks to website backups and performance optimisation. We offer affordable, customised solutions tailored to your unique needs and budget. Contact Butterfly now to learn more about our website maintenance services and take the first step toward improving your online presence.
