Thursday 4 February 2016

Total Cost Regarding Website Maintenance



website maintenance cost

Ongoing website maintenance cost includes domain renewal, license fees, backups, hosting, site maintenance and software updates.

Domain Renewal


Though it is a small issue in terms of cost, but holds extreme importance. In case of new website and URL, it is good to purchase the web address, also known as domain through reputed providers like GoDaddy, Network Solutions etc. It is better to prepay for multiple years in advance in order to ensure automatic renewal.

Its cost is generally between $10 and $20 on yearly basis. In case somebody forget to renew the domain, the site will definitely go down. In serious cases, the site may not come back at original state ever. Hence, domain renewal must not be taken for granted.

Hosting


There are a myriad of hosting options available. The companies selling web address also offers hosting. The cost for the same is generally less than $10 per month, but may go up to $100 or more as per situation. The range depends upon the size of web traffic along with the size and complexity of the website.

The bottom line is that in case of a small to medium-sized business, the monthly website maintenance cost can be expected to be in lower range. Some considerations that are more than expense include security, reliability, up-time and support.

Backups


This is the only area about which maximum companies do not think about until it gets too late. Taking backup of the entire website frequently is a good idea. It will be better to have it backed up in a separate location from where the site is currently hosted.

In case of an e-commerce company or presence of a lot of highly important data on the website, a disaster recovery plan can literally save the business in case of getting hacked or if something goes wrong with primary hosting. There are many companies that offer backup services where the cost of backups will be similar to the range of hosting.

In case the website goes down, technical assistance will be helpful in restoring the site through backup.

License Fees


Until the site is built up in pure HTML/CSS, one will require in need of some type of special software to facilitate some important functionality. Even popular open-source CMA which includes WordPress, Drupal and Joomla require downloads of software and certain types of servers for proper functionality.

Open source CMS are generally free, i.e., requires no license fees. Other CMS options require license fees that can go into the range of thousands of dollars.

Software Updates and Site Maintenance


This is the place where real expenses take place. It must be noted that free CMS options like WordPress require a lot of software updates. Most of the WordPress sites comprise of software plug-ins to create various functionality on the website. It is not uncommon to have about 10-20 plug-ins on a site.


Each and every piece of software requires updates over time. Though WordPress itself hold upgrades, where each and every plug-in requires upgrades.

Technical expertise costs ranges between $60/hr and $150/hr.

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