There are many costs to running websites these days. Unfortunately, an effective website isn’t a one-time payment. Be careful of budget design firms that try to sell you on a one-time package! That is like an auto dealer selling you a car and telling you that gas is free for life. While that sounds awesome- it’s simply not realistic. In the real world, there are several monthly and even yearly costs involved in keeping your website up and running.
First up is your domain. A domain is the address that gets typed in to reach your website, such as “yourbusinessname.com”. This is always a per-year expense, and should come in around $9-20 per year.
Next is your website hosting. Hosting allows your website to have a presence on the internet. Just having a domain with no hosting is like someone ringing your doorbell- but no one is home to answer. There are many types of hosting available (for a breakdown- check out our previous blog on the different types) – so the cost may vary. Expect to pay anywhere from $20 per month for a smaller website and up to thousands for a large one.
Those are the bare minimum and required costs for every website. Without those, you simply do not exist on the internet. Now, we will get into the routine and optional costs.
Marketing your website is always important. These days, most of us aren’t so lucky to rely on word of mouth alone- so we need to get our business out there. We’ll cover the two main types of advertising/marketing on the internet:
Search Engine Marketing involves placing paid ads on top websites like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Depending on the “keywords” you choose and how much competition you have online, this can range from $50-$5000+ per month. For the right keywords, this type of marketing can generate tons of new customers very quickly.
Search Engine Optimization allows you to appear on Google and Yahoo “naturally”- without paying. This takes a lot of TIME and SKILL to achieve good results. Because of this, expect to pay experts (like Basch Solutions!) anywhere from $50-500+ per month depending again on your keywords. Compared to Search Engine Marketing, SEO is generally cheaper and more beneficial in the long run – but takes a lot longer to generate results.
Optimizing/servicing your website is also very important. In order to attract new and existing customers, your website needs to be engaging. This means keeping your articles up to date, keeping your services updated and much more. (Check out our blog about servicing your website every 3,000 visitors!) Servicing your website requires some time each month. If you can’t keep up with it, you should hire a webmaster for a few hours per month to keep your website fresh and insightful for your customers.
We hear you about the dent in your wallet- but don’t get discouraged. If your website was setup properly- it should be earning you fifty times the amount you put into it. The recurring costs are nothing compared to not having a website. Recent studies show that most businesses not online within 5 years will be out of business- and that is a cost that none of us can afford!
Basch Solutions, LLC – a Rochester NY Web Design and Website Development company, has been building websites for their clients in almost every industry since 1999. Have a look at their portfolio to see some of the many success stories they boast @ www.baschsolutions.com/
