The Real Costs of Running A Website

Business owners should not be deterred by the many costs of running a website. Some companies lure customers in with promises of one-time payments. As good as this sounds, beware. Websites have maintenance fees (usually paid monthly or yearly) that can’t be escaped. Any company that claims otherwise is being dishonest.

The first thing you will have to buy is the domain. The domain is the web address that your customers will type in to get to your site. The best domains are simple and related to your business name, like www.yourbusinessname.com. You can never fully own a domain outright. Yearly fees must be paid in order to maintain the rights. Expect to pay between $9-20 per year. 

After purchasing a domain, you must find a company to provide hosting. The domain is like the physical address and the big sign outside the store. Hosting makes the inside of the store accessible, the most valuable part. To get details on all the different types of hosting, see our other blog about hosting types.  The costs vary depending on the specifics of the type of hosting, but average for a small site is about $20 a month. Large sites, however, may cost thousands.

Hosting and domain fees make up the minimum costs everyone pays for a website. There is no way around those charges.  Once the required fees are paid, there are optional features that can enhance your website, but they are not free.

What good is a website if no one knows about it? That’s why marketing is key. These days, word of mouth isn’t enough. You have to get your business out there in cyberspace. There are two main types internet advertising. They will both be covered next.

The first type is search engine marketing. This involves placing short, to-the-point ads on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. These ads are sent to your potential customers, and depending on the keywords you use and the level on competition there are for those words, prices can range from $50 to many thousands. Thousands of dollars may sound ridiculous, but it can bring large numbers of new customers in a very short period of time, so it is worth it.

The second type is Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO. This type of marketing doesn’t cost anything necessarily, but it is hard to get good results if you don’t know what you’re doing. For this reason, many companies turn to experts to produce the type of web content that gets real results. The cost varies, but it is usually between $100 and $1000 monthly. This form of marketing is more cost effective and produces better results generally, but it takes much more time and skill to find success.

Once your website is in good working order, you may think you’re done. You’re not. If you want to keep the site visits up, you’ll have to service the site regularly to keep the content fresh and interesting. If it gets stale, your business will suffer. (If you’re not sure how often to update your site, see our blog about servicing it every 3,000 visitors.) The most effective sites are maintained monthly, but not everyone has this kind of time. In this case, it is a good choice to hire a professional to update your site for at least a few hours a month.

No business owner likes the idea of having to spend even more money, but a well-serviced website will bring you far more than you spend. The money you spend monthly is nothing compared to the money you’ll lose if you do not have an online presence. According to studies, most companies go out of business if they do not have a working website within 5 years of opening.

Maintaining a website may sound like a lot of money and time, but it is definitely worth it. Looking for a good company? Consider Miami, FL-based Farin Innovations, a miami web design and website development company. They have been building successful websites since 1999. Check out their portfolio to see some of their happy clients.