How much does website maintenance cost?

There are about 1.09 billion websites in the world, while only 18% of them are actively used. With such harsh competition, it's ultimately important to offer your potential customers a high-performing and fresh-looking website. One way to achieve this is to run regular website maintenance and improve all the sides of your web resource from security to search engine optimization (SEO).

In this article, we'll explain what aspects and parts of your site need maintenance and try to define how to count the overall maintenance cost. We'll also introduce you to our DevOps services which are one of the factors that ensure the smooth operation of websites and web applications.

What is website maintenance, and what are its benefits?

Website maintenance refers to the ongoing process of updating, managing, and optimizing a website to ensure optimal performance and functionality. The purpose of this procedure is to check the web resource's overall health and find out if it's functioning as intended and if it engages and retains users and potential customers of the website owner.

Three key benefits of regular website maintenance include:

• Positive first impression — when users see a well-designed, easy-to-navigate, and fast-loading website, they are more likely to trust the company, make a conversion, and return to the website. On the contrary, users will soon leave the page if it fails to load fast or doesn't meet the user's expectations. The latest research from Google showed that the bounce rate rises sharply if the online resource doesn't load within 3 seconds.
• No income losses — if errors on your website are neglected or overlooked, they could lead to a website crash or damage, causing you to lose potential sales, revenue, and opportunities. Moreover, you might incur significant expenses to repair your website. Regular website maintenance helps to promptly identify and address minor issues, enabling smooth business operations to continue uninterrupted.
• Better search engine visibility — we tend to invest many resources into different means of marketing including email and social media campaigns. A high-quality and fast-loading website is a good means of marketing since it will be better promoted by Google. Good loading speed and high user behavior metrics are something that can be reached through ongoing website maintenance of both tech and UI/UX design parts.

Let's take a look at Facebook's example. Without the ongoing tech support and constant revamps, it would look outdated. Even outstanding and innovative web ideas need to be constantly updated, maintained, and revamped since otherwise they will fail the competition with other websites and web applications.

What aspects and website parts require constant tech support?

The website is a complex software, which is why many of its parts need to be checked and improved during maintenance. You may choose to get regular tech support and get weekly, yearly, or monthly website maintenance sessions. The frequency depends on your resources, access to technical expertise, and the extent you rely on your website in terms of marketing and sales. Below we have enumerated aspects that can be dealt with during website maintenance.

Security

According to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2023 a single cyber attack, be it a data breach, malware, ransomware or DDoS attack costs a company an average of $8,300 in 2023. That's why security is one of the first things that need to be taken into account during maintenance procedures.

Common security measures include regular software updates to patch vulnerabilities, installing and configuring firewalls to block malicious traffic, setting up secure login credentials, implementing SSL certificates for data encryption, conducting regular backups to prevent data loss, and monitoring for suspicious activities or malware. These steps collectively help to enhance the security posture of a website and protect it from cyberattacks.

Bug fixing

Thorough testing of the website's functionality and constant error tracking is one of the key purposes of the maintenance. During this process software development specialists check for broken links, fix coding errors, resolve issues with site responsiveness, and address compatibility problems across different devices and browsers.

More than that, feedback from users or monitoring tools may be used to pinpoint bugs that impact user experience. By promptly fixing these bugs, a website can deliver a seamless and error-free browsing experience to visitors.

Adding new features

After the website is launched, it can be enhanced with new features and improved based on the feedback from users. Versioning during website maintenance involves managing updates and upgrades to different components of the website, such as software, plugins, and design elements.

By implementing version control systems and release management procedures, websites can track changes, maintain a history of updates, and roll back to previous versions if necessary. This helps to streamline the software development process, monitor changes effectively, and ensure that the website remains up-to-date and continuously improved.

Performance optimization

According to recent studies, slow loading speed is one of the reasons why users will quickly abandon your website or mobile app. That's why performance optimization should become a key focus during website maintenance to enhance user experience and site efficiency.

Various measures can be taken to improve website performance. They include optimizing images and multimedia content to reduce load times, implementing caching mechanisms to store frequently accessed data for faster retrieval, minifying code to decrease file sizes and boost page loading speeds, and leveraging content delivery networks to distribute content geographically for quicker access.

More than that, regular performance tracking and analysis need to be conducted during the tech support, so the developers can identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement and identify the further scope of work.

Integration updates

Not all the functionality on your website needs to be developed from scratch. Some parts such as payment features, blogs, sign up with social media are implemented with APIs that help to integrate the functionality of external services into your website.

At this stage of website maintenance, developers are updating all the integrations such as content management system (CMS), plugins, and other software components to the latest versions to access new features, bug fixes, and security patches. By staying current with software updates, websites can prevent vulnerabilities, improve functionality, and maintain compatibility with evolving web development standards.

Analytics and monitoring of important metrics

The website maintenance is connected not only to technical support but also to keeping the interface intuitive, up-to-date, and simple to use. One step towards this goal is to switch on the analytical tools on your website, for instance, Google Analytics.

With the help of analytical tools, you can track key behavior metrics to understand how users engage with the website content and if your website needs the UI/UX design overhaul. At this stage of website maintenance, we recommend checking the following metrics:

• Conversions — this metric shows how many website visitors become paying customers
• Time users spend on the website
• The depth of page view — that's how deep the users scroll each page.

If these metrics experience a long downfall, there might be something wrong with the website design. For example, it might take users too many steps to make a conversion or the pages might be too crowded with content and overwhelming. The overall look of the website might be unattractive, and that is why users might not be willing to spend more time looking through its content. All in all, analytical metrics are worth checking, especially if you want to sell your services through the website.

Website design

The downfall of the above-mentioned metrics is a reason to revamp your website design. There is nothing wrong with that, even big companies such as Apple strive to redesign their websites every 2—3 years to keep up with current trends. Apple's website has been redesigned at least 10 times since it was first launched.

Probably, your website won't need the full overhaul each year, however, you may get at least small changes to refresh its look. For instance, our team has recently helped the Lainappi team redesign their landing page and give it a new fresh look.

Mobile responsiveness

By prioritizing mobile responsiveness during website maintenance, businesses can reach a broader audience, improve user engagement, and stay competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape. At this stage, there is a need to test the site across several devices and understand if it functions equally well on all of them.

Search engine optimization

During website maintenance, SEO measures involve both technological and content optimizations. Technological SEO focuses on backend improvements like meta tags, schema markup, and site speed enhancements. The website's code should also be reviewed from the point of tech stack, and whether it affects better website visibility.

Content optimization includes updating and expanding content, optimizing titles and descriptions, improving internal linking, and integrating multimedia elements. By implementing these strategies, businesses can enhance their search engine visibility, attract relevant traffic, and improve user experience.

Legal compliances

Depending on the industry, the country you are running a business in, and the types of data your website collects, the website needs to comply with a different range of legal compliances. In most countries, your website will need to comply with data privacy legislations like GDPR, cookie requirements, accessibility rules, and many others.

In the process of running your tech support session, you may check if your website complies with old or newly launched law regulations to avoid fees and reputation loss.

As you can see, almost all the parts of website maintenance require some level of technical expertise and can't be dealt with without the help of a software development team, UI/UX designers, SEO specialists, and others. That's why to run technical support for your website, you might need the help of in-house or outsourced specialists.

IT infrastructure tech support

Websites and web applications can't exist on their own, they need to be deployed somewhere. That's why in the process of web development, we need to take care of both code and IT environments that provide the necessary infrastructure for hosting, storing, and delivering website content to users.

During website maintenance, various measures are taken to manage and enhance the IT infrastructure. This includes monitoring server performance, conducting routine backups to prevent data loss, updating software and security patches to mitigate vulnerabilities, optimizing server configurations for better efficiency, and implementing disaster recovery plans to ensure stable business functioning in case of unexpected events.

Ronas IT DevOps services

Our team offers comprehensive DevOps services for different types of software development projects. The key purpose of them is to deploy and provide tech support for IT environments where the app or website will be accessible to different groups of users. We can deploy 3 types of environments for the project:

• Development environment — the environment where software developers can access the website.
• Staging environment — we usually present the pieces of work we have done during the project development every 2-3 weeks. In this type of environment, our customers can check the results of our work and see if the website or app works as expected.
• Production environment — the end users of the website can access the developed app or website.

Our team provides several tariffs for this website maintenance service.

As a part of each subscription, we also guarantee:

Versatility: Our IT infrastructure services can match projects of any type: we can create and maintain environments for both web development projects and mobile apps. With our service we provide access to Expo tools for React Native apps and iOS developers account for smooth releases.

Stability: Ronas IT developers will monitor your environments every day and fix issues that occur to guarantee 24/7 up-time for all of them. To track the environment states we implement monitoring technologies such as Grafana, Prometheus, and Loki tools. You won't need to pay for them.

Quick start: Our team will set up environments for your project within just 24 hours. Our methodology is highly automated and works out-of-box, which reduces the manual time we spend on environment setup.

Reasonable resource spending: If you decide to develop the app or website with another team, as a part of our DevOps services, we'll signalize if the resource spend is suboptimal and help you to identify poor architectural decisions.

How much does website maintenance cost?

The website maintenance cost largely depends on the complexity of your web resource, its size, and functionality. According to Clutch, web development projects typically cost less than $10,000.

It is commonly believed that the web maintenance cost makes up 1–2% of the entire web development budget. That's why monthly maintenance prices will fall somewhere between $200 and $4,000 per month.

We have created a list of points that can be included in the maintenance pricing and provide some data on how much each of the aspects will most likely cost.

Domain name

A domain name is the name of your site displayed in the URL bar. Users can type the name there to visit your website from the browser. The website owners need to pay for their domain names. The popular ones come at a higher price, while some of them can also come for free. According to Upwork, the domain name maintenance costs $10 to $20 per year.

Website hosting

Web hosting is the online service that makes your website's content accessible to users on the internet. When you pay a web hosting provider you buy space on a physical server to store your website's data and media files. The provider is responsible for the server maintenance, its security measures, and ensuring that website content is visible in the user's browser. The web hosting plan will depend on the type of server you are going to use. The shared hosting can cost up to $5 per month while dedicated ones may require fees as high as $100.

IT infrastructure and web hosting are separate entities in website maintenance. While web hosting focuses on storing and delivering website content, IT infrastructure involves managing a range of components like hardware, software, and security measures to support website operation. IT infrastructure and web hosting are different expenditure items included in website maintenance costs. Both of them are vital components that contribute to the overall cost of maintaining a functional and secure website.

SSL certificates

Another issue that adds to website maintenance costs is SSL certificates. SSL certificates are digital certificates that establish a secure connection between a web server and a browser. They encrypt the data transferred between the two, preventing unauthorized access or tampering. SSL certificates are essential for ensuring data security, building trust with visitors, and improving website ranking on search engines. Some hosting plans offer SSL certificates as a complimentary inclusion, while others may offer them for an extra fee ranging from $10 to $200 annually.

CMS license

A Content Management System (CMS) is a software application that allows users to create, manage, and modify digital content on a website without requiring technical expertise. While CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are commonly used for website management, even custom-made websites can integrate a CMS for content editing and updates.

By incorporating a CMS into custom websites, businesses can benefit from user-friendly content editing interfaces, streamlined publishing processes, and consistent content management practices, regardless of the website's unique design and functionality. The price of the CMS subscription depends on the number of features your business will use. This may range from $10 per month to several thousand per month.

Email marketing tools

If you plan to promote your goods and services via your web resource, you will have to include an email service fee in your website maintenance cost. Up-to-date email hosting allows you to create a custom email address and send emails and offers to your potential customers. Google's Workplace email hosting offers its services at $6 per month, most other services offer different tariffs whose payment fees rarely exceed $10.

Custom web design and web development

When it comes to website maintenance costs, custom web design and web development typically represent the most substantial expense. Engaging specialists with technical proficiency and a solid background in UI/UX design is crucial for effective website upkeep.

The website maintenance pricing varies based on factors such as the team's skill level and reputation, the intricacy of the tasks involved, and the geographical location of the agency. Let's take a look at the hourly rates of outsourcing IT agencies from different parts of the world according to Clutch.

Whether it's adding new features, running a website revamp, or bug fixing requiring professional website maintenance service, custom design, and development will most likely become the biggest expenditure item in your budget. That's why any changes and updates need to be done based on thorough analysis and data.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, website maintenance is a multifaceted process that involves various services and considerations to ensure the optimal performance, security, and user experience of a website. While costs associated with website maintenance can vary based on factors such as custom web design, web hosting, and IT infrastructure, investing in these services is essential for maintaining a competitive online presence and meeting user expectations. No matter what type of maintenance you require, you will need the help of tech professionals who can provide design or software development services for you. And, of course, you can always delegate all the tasks in these fields to the Ronas IT team. We'll analyze the issue and offer a solution that meets your needs.