running a website cost
Clear breakdowns for hosting, design, SEO, ads and maintenance — plus practical tips to reduce your bills without sacrificing results.
Whether you run a small trade business, an ecommerce store, or a local service, this guide explains the typical running costs and shows proven ways to lower them while keeping performance high.
Typical Running Costs — At a glance
Below are the most common line items you’ll see when running a website. Numbers are approximate and will vary by location, traffic and business model.
Hosting & Infrastructure
Where your site lives. Options affect performance, security and price.
- Shared hosting: $5–$20/month — cheap but limited performance
- Managed WordPress / Cloud hosting: $20–$100+/month — better speed & support
- VPS / Dedicated: $50–$400+/month — for high traffic or ecommerce
- CDN (optional): $0–$100+/month — speeds up global delivery
- Backups & monitoring: $5–$30/month
Design & Setup
Cost depends on whether you use a template, a subscription builder, or a custom agency.
- DIY template builders: $0–$50 one-off + $10–$40/month platform fee
- Subscription & managed services: $30–$100/month (no upfront, includes design & updates)
- Freelancer or agency custom build: $500–$10,000+ (one-off)
- Ongoing design tweaks: $0 (if included) — or $50–$150/hr if billed hourly
SEO & Content
SEO is both a setup task and an ongoing investment.
- Basic on-page SEO setup: $0–$500 one-off (titles, meta, sitemap, schema)
- Local SEO / GBP optimisation: $50–$300 one-off or $50–$300/month ongoing
- Content creation (blogs, pages): $50–$300 per article depending on quality
- Ongoing SEO retainers: $300–$3,000+/month for competitive markets
Ads & Marketing
Paid campaigns are flexible but can quickly become your largest monthly cost.
- Google Ads / Bing: $100–$10,000+/month depending on goals
- Facebook / Meta ads: $50–$5,000+/month
- Remarketing / display: extra budget for broader reach
- Creative production: $50–$1,000+ per campaign asset
Ongoing maintenance & security costs
Running a healthy site requires ongoing attention — updates, backups, security and monitoring.
Ads: How to estimate budget & measure performance
Paid advertising costs are driven by industry competitiveness and target keywords. Here’s how to plan:
Estimate by cost-per-acquisition (CPA)
- Decide how much a new customer is worth to your business (CLV or first-sale value).
- Set a target CPA (e.g., if a lead is worth $200, target $40–$80 CPA).
- Calculate daily/monthly budget: target leads per month × CPA = monthly ad spend.
Quick CPC examples (2025 averages)
- Low competition local services: $0.20–$1.50 per click
- Competitive trades (plumbing/electrician in metro): $2–$8 per click
- High-value services (legal/finance): $5–$50+ per click
Practical ways to reduce your website costs (without losing results)
1. Bundle services with a managed subscription
A single monthly fee that includes hosting, domain, SSL, updates and SEO basics prevents surprise invoices. Congero offers an all-in managed website solution designed for busy small businesses.
2. Prioritise high-impact SEO
Focus on local SEO, service pages and Google Business Profile — these deliver consistent organic leads with a one-time setup plus occasional content updates.
3. Start ads small and scale
Run a 2–4 week test at a low budget, track CPA and scale winning ads. Avoid pouring money into untested campaigns.
4. Use templates smartly
A quality template + small custom tweaks gets you a professional look at a fraction of custom design cost.
5. Reduce plugin bloat
Every plugin can add maintenance overhead and security risk. Only use essential plugins and prefer managed features from your host.
6. Automate routine tasks
Automated backups, uptime checks and form-to-email automation save time and reduce hourly developer costs.
How to calculate the true cost & ROI of your website
Look beyond invoice totals. Include your time, missed opportunities and lead value.
Simple ROI formula
Monthly profit from web leads − Monthly web costs = Net gain
- Track leads from your website (calls, form submissions, tracked sales).
- Multiply by conversion rate and average sale value to estimate revenue from the site.
- Divide revenue by total monthly running costs to get ROI.
Low-cost ways to get started (and scale later)
Frequently asked questions
How much should I budget per month to run a simple local website?
Is it cheaper to pay upfront for a custom site?
How much should I spend on ads?
Can I reduce costs without hurting performance?
Stop guessing your website bills
Choose a predictable, all-in monthly plan that includes hosting, domain, SSL, updates and basic SEO so you can focus on customers — not invoices.
Congero builds managed, mobile-optimised websites with hosting, domain registration, SSL and local SEO for a single monthly fee. Live in 60 seconds and cancel anytime.
