website management services cost
A clear, practical guide to understanding and controlling the ongoing costs of your website
Learn realistic price ranges, the right maintenance schedule, how much to budget for SEO, and cost-saving tactics you can implement this week.
What makes up website management costs?
Breaking costs into clear categories makes budgeting simple. Most websites have the same recurring and occasional costs — know these so you can plan.
Hosting & Infrastructure
What to expect:
- Shared hosting: $5–15/month — acceptable for small brochure sites.
- Managed or cloud hosting: $20–150+/month — faster and more secure for traffic or e‑commerce.
- CDN (optional): $10–50+/month for better global performance.
Maintenance & Updates
Common items and price signals:
- Minor text/image updates: if paid hourly expect $50–120/hr (2–4 updates per month typical).
- Security patching and backups: $0–30/month if included in subscription; $50–150 if outsourced.
- Feature work or dev tasks: $80–200+/hr depending on agency or freelancer.
SEO & Content
Two buckets:
- Initial SEO setup: $300–1,500 one-off (titles, meta, schema, sitemap, Google set up).
- Ongoing SEO: $200–2,500+/month depending on scope (local, national, content, link building).
Security, Domain, SSL
Notes:
- Domain: $10–20/year (unless included by a provider).
- SSL: usually free via Let's Encrypt or included in hosting.
- Advanced security services (WAF, DDoS): $20–200+/month for higher-risk sites.
How to create a realistic website management budget
Use this practical approach: estimate fixed monthly costs, plan for variable costs, and set aside an annual contingency.
Step 1 — Fixed vs Variable
- Fixed: hosting, subscription fees, domain renewals.
- Variable: content updates, dev tasks, seasonal campaigns, emergency fixes.
Step 2 — Example monthly budgets
Simple monthly budget template
Budgeting for SEO: what to expect
SEO is an investment. Decide if you need local SEO, national SEO, or content-driven growth — each has different cost profiles.
Initial SEO setup (one-off)
Includes keyword research, on-page meta tagging, sitemap, and Google business/profile setup.
- Small/local business: $300–800
- Medium site (10–30 pages): $800–1,800
Ongoing SEO (monthly)
What you get and typical ranges:
- Basic/local (content + citations): $200–600/month
- Growth (content + technical + link building): $800–2,500+/month
- Project-based campaigns: $1,500+ / month for aggressive national growth
How to prioritise SEO spend
- Fix technical issues first (speed, mobile, indexability).
- Ensure on-page SEO for your top 5 service pages.
- Invest in local citations and reviews for local businesses.
- Scale content and backlinks once technical base is solid.
Maintenance schedule & recommended costs
Regular maintenance prevents emergencies. Here’s a practical cadence and who should do it.
Weekly
- Backups (automated)
- Security scans
- Form checks
Monthly
- Core/plugin/theme updates
- Performance check (PageSpeed)
- Analytics review & quick wins
Quarterly / Annual
- Content audit & refresh
- SEO health audit
- Renew domain, review contracts
Estimated cost if outsourced: Basic maintenance package $50–200/month; full managed packages $200–800/month depending on features. If billed hourly for ad‑hoc tasks expect $50–150/hr.
Where you can safely save — and where not to skimp
Safe savings
- Use a reputable shared host for low-traffic brochure sites.
- Bundle domain + hosting with one provider for convenience.
- Use a subscription service that includes unlimited small updates — predictable monthly cost.
- Purchase stock photos vs expensive photo shoots when starting out.
Don’t cut corners on
- Security and backups — a compromise here can be catastrophic.
- Mobile experience — most customers visit on phones.
- Basic SEO — cheap site that no one finds is wasted spend.
- Reliable hosting if you run e-commerce or heavy traffic.
Working with vendors: questions to ask & contract tips
Must-ask questions
- What exactly is included in the monthly fee? (hosting, SSL, domain, updates, backups)
- How are update requests handled and what’s the turnaround time?
- Do you own my domain and content? How do I export my site?
- Is there a service level agreement (SLA) or uptime guarantee?
Contract tips
- Avoid long lock-in periods unless the price advantage is compelling.
- Prefer month-to-month or 90-day terms for flexibility.
- Get a clear change-order process for larger dev work and rates in writing.
- Ask about data portability — can you export content, customers, and analytics easily?
Quick action checklist
- List current monthly costs and map to categories (hosting, SEO, maintenance).
- Decide your monthly baseline and add 15% contingency.
- Schedule monthly maintenance tasks and assign owner.
- Book an annual SEO health check and content refresh.
- Get vendor terms in writing (SLA, update turnaround, export rights).
- Consider a subscription-managed website to simplify costs and get predictable updates.
Frequently asked questions
What is a typical monthly cost for a small local business?
How much should I budget for unexpected fixes?
Are subscriptions better than hourly retainers?
How much does SEO actually move the needle?
Stop guesswork. Plan your website budget with confidence.
Use the checklist above, set a realistic baseline, and choose a vendor or subscription model that makes costs predictable. If you'd like a simple, all-in monthly option that covers hosting, domain, updates and basic SEO, there are services built exactly for busy small businesses.
Updated for 2025 — prices are shown as typical ranges and may vary by provider or location.
